Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Stearns, Peter N., author.

Title Fat history : bodies and beauty in the modern West / Peter N. Stearns
Published New York : New York University Press, ©1997

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xvi, 294 pages) : illustrations
Series UPCC book collections on Project MUSE
Contents The turning point -- The medical path : physicians and faddists -- Fat as a turn-of-the-century target : why? -- The misogynist phase : 1920s-1960s -- Stepping up the pace : old motives, new methods -- Fat city : American weight gains in the twentieth century -- The evolution of weight control in France -- The French regime -- Atlantic crisscross : the Franco-American contrasts -- Conclusion : the fat's in the fire
Summary The modern struggle against fat cuts deeply and pervasively into American culture, as evidenced by the compulsion to stay thin, or at least to profess a desire to become thin. Dieting, weight consciousness, and widespread hostility to obesity form one of the fundamental themes of modern life in countries like the United States and France. Interestingly, while the French are renowned for their delight in all things gustatory, they are significantly trimmer and less diet obsessed than Americans
Fat History explores the meaning of fat and antifat in modern Western society, focusing on the uniquely moral component of dieting in America. Tracing how Western standards of beauty and physical morality have been radically transformed over the past century, Peter N. Stearns illustrates how the contemporary obsession with fat arose in tandem with the dramatic growth in consumer culture, women's increasing equality, and changes in women's sexual and maternal roles. Contrary to popular belief, fashion and nutrition have played only a secondary role in spurring the American aversion to fat, while the French distaste for obesity can be traced to different origins altogether
Analysis "Multi-User"
Notes OldControl:muse9780814739822
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-287) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Fat -- Social aspects -- France -- History
Fat -- Social aspects -- United States -- History
Body image -- France -- History
Body image -- United States -- History
Weight loss -- France -- History
Weight loss -- United States -- History
Obesity.
Weight loss.
Leanness -- United States -- History
Leanness -- France -- History
Obesity
Fat Body
Weight Loss
Body Image
HISTORY -- General.
Obesity
Leanness
Body image
Fat -- Social aspects
Weight loss
Vetzucht.
Vermageren.
Volksgezondheid.
Perte de poids -- États-Unis -- Histoire.
Perte de poids -- France -- Histoire.
Image du corps -- États-Unis -- Histoire.
Image du corps -- France -- Histoire.
Sociologie du corps.
France
United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 96045878
ISBN 9780814771020
0814771025
9780814780695
0814780695
9780814780701
0814780709