I thought it was really interesting that Bartky compared the need or pressure that women feel to diet with discipline. As she says on page 96 "Dieting is one discipline imposed upon a body subject to the "tyranny of slenderness". Although there may be some men that diet, the majority of the population that go on diets are women. Or maybe women are just more vocal about their need to go on a diet. Does the amount of women who diet show that dieting is something that women have been conditioned to do in order to feel they belong in society? They have obviously felt some pressure at some point to change their outward appearance. And dieting is their way of disciplining their body (i.e. by eating certain foods, eating smaller amounts, etc...) even if it is not what their body wants. They have to control their body because they have been subjected to society's norms.
This article brought something very common to my attention in a different light. While I think a lot of women (and men) diet to get healthier and possibly to feel better about themselves it is interesting to think about underlying themes that may cause dieting as well.
You ask "Does the amount of women who diet show that dieting is something that women have been conditioned to do in order to feel they belong in society?"
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does seem that way. It was a subject of health class way back in high school and the discussion of what is healthy and what is not. However it would as a society we condition it so that people ignore what is scientifically healthy and instead substitute with what society decides is healthy regardless of scientific data.
In relation to the idea that women feel they need to diet and being conditioned to think this, there has been a fairly recent study that supports this. The study found that men and women tend to overguess the weight of women, and in their mind lower the weight cut-off that women look obese. [The article I posted does a better job at explaining the results].
ReplyDeleteThis study suggests that we have been conditioned to think women are fatter then they really are and this would explain why women diet often. The study also found that men tend to under-guess their weight and rated themselves at not obese when they were. This would explain why less men diet.
I think the dieting phenomenon is a circle. People start critiquing women's weight so women start dieting. Because women are dieting men and women think women are supposed to diet because women are overweight. And so more women diet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/men-believe-their-partners-are-fatter-than-they-really-are-study/article2352363/