This article was downloaded by: [University of Arizona]On: 23 August 2014, At: 07:21Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health andIllnessPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gmea20

Hype and weightMark Nichter a & Mimi Nichter ba Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology ,University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ, 85721b Project manager for a NICHD‐funded Teen LifestyleProject , University of ArizonaPublished online: 12 May 2010.

To cite this article: Mark Nichter & Mimi Nichter (1991) Hype and weight, MedicalAnthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, 13:3, 249-284, DOI:10.1080/01459740.1991.9966051

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01459740.1991.9966051

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information(the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor& Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warrantieswhatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions andviews of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. Theaccuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independentlyverified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liablefor any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly inconnection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expresslyforbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Medical Anthropology, Vol. 13, pp. 249-284 ©1991 Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A.Reprints available directly from the publisher Printed in the United States of AmericaPhotocopying permitted by license only

Hype and WeightMark Nichter and Mimi Nichter

The function of power is not just to reprise and censor. Power is strong because itproduces effects at the level of desire and knowledge. Far from preventing knowledge,power produces it. [Foucault 1980: 59]

INTRODUCTION

In this paper, we will consider the preoccupation of American females with dietingand slimness at a time when fast food is served to 20% of the American populationon any given day, the dessert industry is flourishing, and the population at large isbecoming heavier (34 million are obese) while the advertising industry is "talkinglite."1 The slimming of America has a checkered history dating back to the turn ofthe century. The trend toward slimming among women has been influenced bydiverse factors ranging from concerns about health to fashion, empowerment,gender subjectification and political anatomy to patriotic duty (Bartky 1988; Brum-berg 1988; Habermas 1989; Schwartz 1986).2 In the last decade, slimness as a beautyideal has been the subject of countless magazine articles and popular books,constituting a cultural phenomenon in and of its own right. A majority of thesebooks focus on anorexia and bulimia which are typically analyzed as culturallyinduced illnesses; psychological forms of rebellion, withdrawal, or passive aggres-sion; addiction; expressions of narcissism; or combinations of the above.

Our interest in this paper is less the cultural history of slimness as an ideal ofbeauty among women and forms of abnormal behavior related to it, and morethose conditions currently influencing the naturalization of this ideal. We willmove from concepts to images to facilitate reflection on the embodiment of ideol-ogy engendered through dieting related practice, discourse and product consump-tion.3-4 Special attention will be paid to the role played by advertising as a "passiveimperative voice" (Barthes 1983), propagating cultivated dispositions which fosterexpressions of style and desire as well as perceptions of self and social relations.5

A central disposition perpetuated by advertising is a sense of dissatisfactionwith our bodies and all they have come to signify. Dissatisfaction and envyconstitute important ingredients in the business of selling transformation. Prog-ress is an ideal basic to the American dream, an ideal exploited by those engagedin marketing by transforming the work ethic from work site to body site and from

MARK NICHTER is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ85721. Among his research interests are the anthropology of the body and the semiotics of everyday life.MIMI NICHTER IS a project manager for a NICHD-funded Teen Lifestyle Project at the University of Arizona.

249

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

250 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

the pursuit of virtue to the pursuit of beauty as commodity fetishism.6 Being "selfmade" has given way to being "made over." Inspiring the work of the makeover aretypifications of unobtainable/unsustainable beauty found in the fantasy of air-brushed, body sculpted models of cover girl perfection.7 A subtle message embed-ded within the text and images of advertisements which tell us we need to work onourselves to achieve "natural" beauty as well as a look of sophistication is that weare inadequate as we are. Our basic human needs have come to include a new setof "bare essentials."^

In Part One of this paper we broadly consider the context in which dieting andslimness have taken on value in contemporary America. We will assess thesephenomena in relation to 'American Tough" values, paying credence to cultural-historical, political economic, psychohistorical and gender based perspectives.Our review is wide ranging, albeit selective.9 Attention will be drawn to theenvironment of ideals of anxieties in which slimness and dieting currently take onmeanings in performance and discourse.10 The way in which ideology is repro-duced at the site of the body will be considered, including the extended territoriesof self hailed by advertisements.11 Central to our discussion will be the manner inwhich ideological injunctions and paradoxical directives related to culturallysanctioned measures of control and release are experienced corporeally if notcognitively.12 Dieting will be situated within a marketing environment wherecontrol/release practices and products are sold as conventions and entitlements,fantasies of social relations in a context of social alienation, and the new Americandream: Having one's cake and eating it too!

In Part Two we examine socialization into the thin as beautiful body ideal. Wefocus on body image perceptions and dieting behavior among adolescent femalesin the U.S. Considered is the extent to which young women are "buying into" anultra thin body ideal, engaging in dieting and the use of weight loss fixes, andweighing themselves against others as well as in relation to inches and pounds.Data collected during the ethnographic stage of a longitudinal study on adolescentfemales are presented.13 This study of three hundred adolescent girls aged be-tween 12 and 18 in Tucson, Arizona, was initiated in 1989 following pilot work with60 high school students and undergraduates at the University of Arizona in 1988.Participants in the longitudinal study are being followed for three years. They areinterviewed three times a year and participate in focus groups as well as dietaryintake and survey exercises.

Considered in Part Two are teen's perceptions of an ideal body form, peer andparental pressure to work toward this ideal, self-monitoring, modes of popular andunpopular weight loss practice, the duration and frequency of weight loss efforts,knowledge about weight loss techniques, and impressions of what "most peopleare doing most of the time." Popular articles about weight obsession which citesurvey data in a cavalier fashion will be discussed as sources of hype about weightthat feed into the very behavior they purportedly critique. Also considered is theextent to which teens challenge conventionality by reappropriating the meaning ofgoods and the production of style (de Certeau 1984; Williamson 1986), yet embodysurplus meanings attached to thinness and dieting by advertisers.

In Part Three, we discuss hype about weight as part of a schismogenic cycle.Frustrated by accounts of the reproduction and embodiment of ideology which

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 251

undervalue the potential for reflection and change, we consider how an "evocative"anthropology based on Bateson's notion of "learning about learning" might facili-tate critical reflection among America's youth.14 We provide an example of evoca-tive anthropology employing Bateson's technique of multiple comparison. Consid-ered is the juxtaposition of images of beauty as slim in America and pale in Asia.Presented to university undergraduates, this juxtaposition fostered reflection onthe embodiment of ideology and the oppression of seemingly "normal" acts ofbeauty enhancement.

PART ONE: EMBODIED IDEOLOGY AND EMBODIED PARADOX

Dieting is, well, it's a normal part of life unless you are perfect or something. God, I'd giveanything to not have to diet! I'd probably do it anyway, though. I mean, I'd pig out and feelguilty even if it didn't show! [female 9th grader]

Being overweight by as little as ten pounds can often undermine a person's sense of self-confidence and self-worth. To the rest of the world, you may look fine . . . but to you, thoseextra pounds make you feel terrible about yourself. [Ad in American Health Magazine 1989]

That dress in the window, the one I'd love to fit into, is my savior. I must have fat cells orsomething. I mean, I look at chocolate and I can feel my thighs expanding. And wouldn'tyou know it, I love the stuff. The only thing which keeps me from eating a whole chocolatecake is that dress. Whenever I'm frustrated and ready to go for the cake I can see that dresslooking at me! I visit a shop every now and then just to see myself in that dress . . . No, Idon't usually try it on and no, I'll probably never buy it. I just look and say to myself, youcould wear this . . . this could be you, and I feel good about myself. I know it's a silly ritual. . . And sometimes the cake wins . . . but that dress hanging in the window is my self-control, my will power! [28-year-old college-educated social worker describing herself as"somewhat of a feminist"]

Our bodies as well as our sense of body time are subtly shaped by powerrelations that subject us through shared images of the ideal, perceptions of thenormal and natural, and a technology of measurement that fosters self-monitoring.As Foucault has pointed out at great length, the body is a site of subjectification anddisciplinary work. The body is inscribed (intextuated) through acts of terror as wellas aesthetic practice, punishment as well as pleasure. Children subtly learnculturally acceptable patterns of behavior involving time and resource allocation,investment and expenditure. In the course of learning facts and modes of classifica-tion in school, American children come to embody the cycle and structure of thework day and all it entails (Kelman 1976).15 Through a broad base of experience,children learn about appropriate cycles of control and release: day/night, weekday/weekend, work/vacation, and dieting/free eating. They learn that the day belongsto the workplace and the night to Michelob.

The injunction that one should exercise control to be entitled to a well-deservedrelease is a modified form of the Protestant work ethic which has served the needsof advanced capitalism well.16 Americans are placed in a double bind that isexperienced bodily as well as through social relations (Bell 1976; Crawford 1984;Rieff 1966). Control is required by capitalism in order that production proceedsmoothly and securely. The value of release as reward is necessary so that theendless array of products produced may be consumed. Capitalist ideology re-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

252 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

quires a legitimization of release in order to justify a technology of consumptionthat promotes insatiable desires, a demand for the seemingly unique, and adistorted image of personal need concordant with the requirements of perpetualproduction.17 To put this in simpler terms, and to echo a recent McDonald'scommercial, capitalist ideology requires us to work hard (at control) eight hours aday, and afterwards to feel that we deserve a break, sanctioned indulgence, be thisin the form of a Big Mac, a Snickers bar, a bottle of beer, or a shopping spree. Ofcourse, as we are reminded by "responsible" beer and car commercials, even whenreleasing we need to do so within limits, be this measured by sobriety or speed. Asthe Budweiser ad reminds us, we need to know when to say when! We need toengage in a cycle of control and release which drives the system but does notrender its inhabitants ultimately unproductive.

Among the white middle-class population (and beyond), it may be argued thatperiodic dieting constitutes a subtle cultural practice reminding us of the injunc-tion of knowing when to say when.18 After all, while our post-industrial environ-ment is characterized by increasing production, surplus, the perpetuation of desirethrough an endless stream of temptations and promises of immediate gratification,it is also characterized by fears of pollution associated with excess. We arereminded of the evils of excess through messages about hypertension and choles-terol, insecticides, and those other "things" commercials now depict products asnot having. Also pervasive is a long standing set of anxieties Americans have aboutthe paradoxical nature of strength and softness, derived in part from the belief thatluxury makes people physically, morally, and politically weak and dependent.

Cultural historians such as Wilkinson (1986) have pointed out that this anxietymirrors a broader and older tension between Puritanism and hedonism which ismasked but not mitigated by advertising. In American advertising, toughness andmastery have been transferred to the consumer.

Products of "soft" indulgence have been sold through symbolic associations withhard earned rewards, toughness of choice, and independence. Paradoxically,automobiles, which contribute to the soft life, have been anthropomorphized andportrayed as extensions of the consumer's mettle. Real men drive tough machines(e.g., Mustangs and Broncos) while using strong deodorant, fighting dandruff,and waging war against plaque. Women are depicted as flexing their consumermuscles during sales while making tough decisions about the "right" products tobring home in the war against cholesterol and weight gain. "When the going getstough, the tough go shopping."

The consumer, increasingly deprived of his role as a producer of useful things, is restored asa producer of symbolic effects only in so far as he accepts the consumer role. In other words,an original organic process of interaction between man and nature, resulting in theproduction of the means of subsistence, is superseded by an alienated process of "manufac-turing" an identity through the consumption of commodities. [Williamson 1978:155]

The shape of products and the ideal people who use them are marketed to mirroreach other in image and text. The very shape of products, from Coke bottles to cardesigns, have been altered to fit changing ideals of beauty, especially femininebeauty.19 These products are in turn advertised in relation to figures that represent"conventional beauty" as well as toughness in form, character, or competition.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 253

Marketers use interactive images that lead us to expect sets of products and peoplewhich naturally go together and signify identity types.

The American tough and capitalist ideologies converge and are embodied in anumber of different ways, including the following reconceptualization of theAmerican dream noted by a middle-class, male college student. The student wasasked during an interview to candidly give his impression of fat people:

(S): Fat people, they don't have much self-control. Nobody wants to look like that.They've got poor self-control or something.

(M.N.): It's their own fault then?(S): It's their responsibility. I mean, you can turn fat into muscle through hard work or

lose it through dieting if you have the will power.(M.N.): Turn fat into muscle?(S): Yeah. Burn down the fat, work out, tighten up.(M.N.): There are a lot of poor people who are fat. Some people say it's because of the

starchy food they have to eat because that's all they can afford.(S): Yeah, sure, lean beef is more expensive than chuck or spaghetti, and people who

eat lean beef are going to have an easier time keeping fit. Lean beef is muscle food.People who eat lean beef don't have to work so hard at working out and stuff tostay in shape. The poor, they've got to turn fat food into muscle through hardwork. It's like bacon. You have to fry it down to get to the meat. If poor peoplework hard they are okay. If they are lazy then those pounds are just going to pileon and they are going to get heart trouble, cholesterol and diseases like diabetes.

(M.N.): And dieting?(S): You don't have to have a good job or be rich to go on a diet do you? There is no

excuse for being fat. Anyone who wants to look good can. It's their choice. It's afree country, it's their life. Nobody is forcing them to eat!

The alchemy of turning fat to muscle espoused by this informant constitutes abodily expression of his belief in the American dream and equal opportunitywhich can be realized if one only toughs it out and works hard enough.20 Workinghard enough may be in the form of manually transforming fat into muscle ordieting work that requires the exercise of will power and knowing when to saywhen. Fundamental tenants of capitalist ideology are expressed in terms of thebody as a site of the freedom of choice.

An American tough mentality merging with capitalist ideology has also influ-enced the popularity of approaches to public health that focus on the individualbody, often to the neglect of the social body. At a time when enormous occupationaland environmental health hazards loom near, public discourse on health as anindividual responsibility has centered on diet and exercise as individually em-powering. Political scientists such as Crawford (1984) and Neubaurer and Pratt(1981) have argued that an emphasis on individual responsibility for health directsattention away from broader societal responsibilities for environmental and occu-pational health.21 This constitutes a strategic move by the body politic which ishard pressed to clean up business at a time of intensive price competition andrising insurance costs.

Hailing American individualism and toughness is patriotic as are campaigns toenhance the fitness of citizens. However, what may start out as a noble enterprisecan deteriorate into an intolerant, highly self-righteous, and punitive campaign.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

254 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

One group within the promotive health movement, for example, has lobbied toapply economic punishment to those who "self-inflict" ill health by inappropriatebehavior. Included within their purview are not just "smokers" but self-indulgent"food addicts" who engage in overeating and suffer from hypertension (Kilwein1989). These advocates of a "just world" approach to public health, wherein people"get what they deserve and deserve what they get" (Allegrante and Sloan 1986),selectively apply their model. Left out of their purview are self-inflicted disordersthat are associated with undereating, being "addicted" to exercise, or being aworkaholic.

Douglas and Wildowski's (1983) study of social responses to risk and uncertaintysuggests another dimension to dieting and exercise-related behavior. Thesescholars point out that as individuals have less control over their outer environ-ments (be this social, socioeconomic, or natural) they tend to focus more intentlyon an immediate environment where they can reaffirm boundaries and exercisecontrol. This type of reasoning might help explain why going on a diet, redoingone's hair, or getting in shape often follows the breakup of a personal relationship(or other loss) as a form of coping behavior. Extending the logic, the appeal ofexercise clubs, dieting programs, and technical fix dietary aids may well indexfeelings of insecurity and risk at the societal level. In a high performance worldwhere the metaphor of trimming off excess fat and streamlining operations isincorporated into the discourse of business layoffs and government budget cuts, ameans of reducing feelings of powerlessness may well involve working within thesame metaphor at the site of the body.

Stein (1982) offers a complementary psychohistorical account of dieting andphysical fitness in America. He argues that this trend indexes a return of a 'survivalof the fittest mentality7 in middle-class America today. Stein suggests that theWellness syndrome, including dieting, has emerged as an unconscious ritualisticsolution to a sense of loss of control over the societal body. Concordant with theritualistic nature of the Wellness syndrome, forces of good (slimness) and evil(fatness) are pitted against each other in a morality play which takes the form ofgetting in shape.22 Evidence for this is found in dieting discourse that is repletewith references to dieting as "being good" and "doing right," and pigging out as"being so bad," leading one to "feel so guilty." Stein identifies the body as abattleground of magical control where fitness provides a personal path to salvationat a time when the spectre of a nuclear if not a viral holocaust hovers close at hand,yet is denied.

Be this as it may, being fat has particularly become a moral issue amongwomen.23 In addition to dieting constituting a symbolic means of controllinguncertainty, class and gender relations are expressed through this means ofdisciplining the body. Dieting is a final common pathway (Carr and Vitaliano 1982)for the expression of control. Norbert Elias (1978) as well as Pierre Bourdieu (1980)have written of a "civilizing process" which entails the progressive elaboration ofstates of control. These states correspond to market-defined social relations andclass identity. Left out of his discussion is a consideration of gender and the controlof women. In an age when forms of sexual control are diminishing as a result offactors ranging from biotechnology (the pill) to fashion (which now celebratesdesire), the bodies of women have been rendered docile in other ways. Like the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 255

control of sexuality, dieting constitutes a disciplining of the body's hungers suchthat women become less threatening and more compliant companions of men(Bartky 1988). At this juncture of history, a concern with being thin has eclipsedvirginity as a sign of compliance as older forms of domination have eroded.24

A fifty-year-old mother of a college student whom we interviewed explicitlydrew a parallel between the morality of sexuality in the 1950s and fatness in the1980s. She noted that "in her day" the moral code for a girl was to save herself forher husband. Today, she noted, sexuality is common fare in advertising, few girlsare virgins past 18, and one in six teenagers becomes pregnant. In her opinion, theissue of morality has shifted from sex to weight gain.

For my daughter and her friends, becoming fat, not engaging in premarital sex, is sinful anda source of guilt. It used to be said that once a girl had sex there was just no way ofcontrolling her, so she should wait. Now it's all changed. The indulgence kids are afraid ofis weight gain. My daughter is afraid that if she gains five pounds there is nothing stoppingher from slipping into obesity.

It is worth considering the extent to which a freer exchange of sexuality between1950 and 1990 might be related to changes in women's roles in the workplace andadvances in education. In the 1950s virginity was a prime source of symbolic capitalpossessed by women and exchanged for security through marriage to a breadwin-ner. With an increased number of women entering the job market, other forms ofcapital have been obtained, coinciding with greater freedom in sexual exchange.This type of neoMarxist analysis, which correlates changes in the mode of pro-duction with changes in the social relations in exchange and reproduction (includ-ing the popularity of birth control), is incomplete yet insightful. The informantquoted above went on to note:

Today what is important is holding a job and holding your man in a competitive world. It'snot just getting your looks, it's keeping them that counts, with the divorce rate so high anda l l . . . Divorce is happening all the time to people whom you never would have suspected.For a woman, the best insurance is a slim body and youthful looks. Jazzercise has becomean insurance policy for many women!

The use value and exchange value of the working woman's body merge (Bau-drillard 1981), the body becoming at once the producer of a commodity and acommodity that one may invest in and control in a marriage market that isunstable. Keeping one's looks, represented by staying slim, constitutes symboliccapital of a different order.

When Failure is Success

Dieting indexes far more than a social injunction of knowing when to say when, alinking of free will with will power, anxiety about moral flabbiness given bodilyform, a social response to uncertainty, and a means of diverting attention awayfrom environmental deterioration. Dieting is advantageous for advanced capitalistsociety precisely because it doesn't work for most people most of the time. Theconditions under which our economy will prosper are conditions of frustrationrendered by expectations that cannot be met. Schwartz (1986), in his book, Never

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

256 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Satisfied, claims that in the late stages of capitalism, when the prospect of marketglut appears imminent, a slim ideal of beauty and the practice of dieting "workswonders" because it leads to a frustration of desires, which keeps the market alive.

Dieters must constantly change wardrobes as their shapes and weights go in and out and upand down. Dieters always seek out new diet foods, diet books, new devices. Their cycles offamine and feast actually raise their physiological set points. After a time, those who havebeen dieting come to need more than ever before. [1986:328]

Research has indeed shown that dietary restraint increases the likelihood ofbinging (Polivy and Herman 1983). Repeated attempts at dieting disrupt normalmetabolism and increase the probability of weight gain (Garrow 1978). For a greatmany people, "yo-yo dieting" has become a way of life, a pattern triggered bypersonal markers of "goodness and badness" defined in relation to pounds, inches,or dress size, that takes on surplus meaning. One marker is often an ideal that onedreams of obtaining or strives to obtain for short periods, a second lies in the realmof the acceptable, while the third is a marker that one is out of control.25 Dependingon the person, the range between these markers may be narrow or broad.

A diet industry that promises one-week victories in the battle against the bulgehas flourished by keeping people aware of where they are in relation to idealmodels.26 For most people, battles are only momentarily won. The campaign goeson amidst much fanfare with the winner, as usual, being the arms dealer. In thecase of dieting, the most prosperous of arms dealers are the companies that haveenough vision to supply the public with both diet foods for control and mouthwatering temptations for release and "controlled release."27 Added to a 3.5 billiondollar ice cream industry has been a wide range of guilt-free ice milks, frozenyogurts, puddings and the like (Shields 1986). Americans' sweet tooth (Mintz 1985)and the bodily pursuit of pleasure, as well as the need to release in a cultural aswell as physical sense are being banked on.

One's sense of self-esteem and emotional well-being is closely related to a senseof body appearance.28 For many Americans the mirror mirror on the wall tellingthem who is the fairest of them all (or at least how they stack up) is television.According to the 1989 Nielsen ratings, the tube is on in the average American homesix to eight hours a day, depending on region. The dominant image of popularity,success, and happiness on the TV is slim, particularly among women (Aldebaran1975; Collins 1988; Garner et al. 1980; Horvath 1979, 1981).29 Another source ofcomparison can be found in advertisements that present conventional images ofbeauty. It has been estimated that an average person sees between 400 and 600ads a day, amounting to between 40-50 million ad exposures by the time a personis 60 years old. Downs and Harrison (1985) estimate that one in every 11 commer-cials includes a direct message about beauty.

For a growing number of American women, the image they see on television orin advertisements does not correspond with their own figures.30 Broad stereotypesassociating a thin body with positive personal and social characteristics such asintelligence, popularity, and attractiveness are daily reinforced in living color(Kaufman 1980). Any frustration which a comparison with TV characters fostersamong viewers is good for the business of selling products that promise totransform, camouflage or mask their bodies.31 Frustration with one's body, from

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 257

hair and skin tone down to our weight and its distribution, sells products becausewe are taught that our bodies are transformable objects, part by part.

Once dismembered in advertisements, sets of products are displayed for eachand every body part as well as all essences emanating from the body, from breathand perspiration to split ends. As one generation of products gives way to the next,new body areas are "developed" and new generations of products discovered toremove the unsightly residue of past generations of warpaint. Product presenta-tions often imply the need for additional products through subtle associationsbetween product usage and development of complete "look." Through advertise-ments we are reminded that we are imperfect and enjoined to engage in self-helpon multiple fronts. Made available to us are myriad products for each and everybody part, be these in the form of cosmetics or specialty fitness stations, dietaryaids, or specialty books on reducing the thighs, tightening the tummy, or thinkingthin through visualization.32

Notably, we are taught to maintain a positive attitude toward injunctionssuggesting that individuals need to work at "making up and making over"(Freedman 1984). Among the "byproducts" of messages that depict beauty againsta background of incompleteness and transformation are competition and envy. AsBerger has noted of glamour:

Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespreademotion. The industrial society which has moved towards democracy and then stopped halfway is the ideal society for generating such an emotion. [Berger 1972:148]

A popular advertisement states: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. I wasordinary but now because of product X, I am radiant. It won't happen overnightbut it will happen!" Messages of this type offer hope after undermining self-confidence in order to sell a product, indexing the American ideal of individualsuccess through self-improvement, free will, and personal destiny. Additionally,they encourage one to invest capital in the pursuit of enhancing one's "exchangevalue."33 Beauty becomes a commodity purchased at a cost, but then we are toldwe are worth it!

Other byproducts of body transformation messages are anxiety about retainingwhat one has worked for and regaining beauty that one will naturally lose due toage. The message of incompleteness may be particularly powerful among twogroups: those who feel they are losing their youth (falling apart) and amongadolescents struggling to create an identity (McRobbie 1982). Marketing messagesdirected toward adolescents promote the latest style, built around images of bodilyperfection embedded in a broader directive promoting consumption as a primaryvalue of life (Lasch 1979). The sense of a community of consumption is fosteredwherein possession of popular brands and styles are a means toward socialaffiliation. In the 1980s, brand labels appear to be more prominently displayed as ameans of declaring group affiliation.

Before considering the process of socialization into the thin as beauty idealamong adolescents, it is instructive to briefly examine the strategies which mar-keters employ in selling products through social relations and the naturalness of anactivity. A short digression to consider the marketing of cigarettes, liquor, andcoffee will provide insights into the marketing of hype about weight setting the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

258 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

stage for a discussion of adolescence and weight consciousness. This will providebackground data against which we can examine the impressions of teens in sectiontwo.

Marketing Environment: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too!

The mythology of capitalist realism (Schudson 1984), the vision of the good life, isachieved largely through commodity fetishism and the pleasure of the lure,advertising. Barthel (1988) has argued in Barthes' terms that advertising textengages both a sense of romantic pleasure (plaisir) associated with fairy tale orderand a sensual, faintly sinister, erotic release (jouissance).3* Women in America aretold by the anonymous voice of advertising (and those who interpret it) that it isnatural and desirable to participate in both forms of pleasure: to be wholesome andnaughty, slim yet give in to devil's food (cake). To participate, they need toalternatively engage measures of control and release, experiencing a double bindthat Crawford (1984) has suggested contributes to the cultural illness form, bu-limia.35

The American public has been subtly told that they can have it all throughproducts that are marketed to appeal simultaneously to control and release, be thisin the form of birth control or girth control.36 Nutri/System tongue sprays "allowyou to taste it"—to have your cake without eating it—while Weight Watchercommercials declare that "dieting is a piece of cake" and one can "have their cakeand eat it too!" Industry has been working overtime on chemical resolutions to thehuman control/release paradox.37 Our future is NutraSweet, full of pseudofoodsto be nonmetabolized, and budgets (like waistlines) to be mysteriously balanced(reduced), through mystification, ensuring that our lifestyle remains the same.

Boulding (1961) has pointed out that our sense of who we are and how we feellargely depends on social relational as well as value images. This is well known bymarketers whose business it is to sell 'formula fictions' (Keyser 1983). Many of theproducts related to control and release are sold to the American public throughrelational images and a process that Barthes (1975b) has aptly described in adiscussion of the marketing of coffee. Coffee, a stimulant, has been paradoxicallytransformed from a food substance into a "situation" of breaks, rest, and relax-ation. This transformation occurs in a context where objects structure the socialenvironment. Viewers learn to associate consumer goods with desired socialinteraction as well as desirable attributes.

Jordan and Goldberg (1977) have discussed the marketing of cigarettes andliquor in a complementary fashion. In a normal use environment, a smoker's reachfor a cigarette is often readable as an indication of anxiety about a task that is to beperformed (e.g., making a telephone call, taking the floor at a meeting, askingsomeone out). Marketers disassociate the cigarette from the tension that occasionsits use by either depicting the act of smoking as following the stressful event orpresenting the act of smoking in a highly relaxed atmosphere. One is given thesense that "a person is never alone when they have their cigarette, that theircigarette is a friend." Good friends (Benson and Hedges) and clean blue skies(Salems, Cool) comprise the background of a great many cigarette commercials.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 259

The background of liquor ads often evokes weekend activities when one isentitled to let go (release) identifying liquor as the proper consumable for aculturally marked occasion. Viewers of ads are given the impression that theconsumption of coffee, cigarettes, and liquor constitutes normal behavior inroutine situations. They are invited to the event and given a sense that "everyone isparticipating" in conventional behavior. A similar pattern may be discerned in thehype of diet food ads.

In contrast to the sharing of food as a mark of social interaction, dieting hastypically been a solitary, asocial activity, unless one diets as part of a supportgroup.38 One generally thinks of dieting as an activity associated with control inopposition to the abandon of a feast. In order to sell diet foods, marketers have hadto mediate this opposition. Dieting foods have been made sexy and associatedwith desire as well as heightened social interaction. The diet food consumer is notdepicted in ads as giving up her sauces, cakes, and ice cream, but rather asenjoying increased social interaction in a state of sublime thinness. Familiarpleasures are not denied. What is more, consumers are given the impression thateveryone, even those who appear to be a "ten," are dieting.

The diet food consumer is depicted as "always having dessert on the tip of hertongue" while looking ideally slim. The dessert looks luscious and only one bite ismissing. The image of pigging out is underplayed, but a desire for dessert isdeclared normal. Also portrayed as normal is consuming technical fix diet prod-ucts which allow one to control and enjoy simultaneously. A message implicitlyconveyed through lo-cal commercials is that one may have one's cake and eat it too,at least in private.39 Marketers play on the theme of "sweet revenge" where thedieter may live a double life, beat the system, cheat and get away with it, enjoyforbidden pleasures that are indeed sweet. In the work of body transformation,will power often wears thin, or is it biology that kicks in? Whatever the case, "letthem eat cake!"

PART TWO: IN THE WORLD OF TEENAGE GIRLS

Millions of three- and four-year-old girls equate fat with "badness" even before they canread. Katie will probably be on a self-imposed diet by the time she is nine (four out of fivefourth-grade girls are), and by the time she hits puberty will react to her body filling out witha distress that gradually gives way to disgust. [Heyn 1989]

It is not uncommon to read excerpts such as the above in the popular press. Towhat extent do they reflect the reality of youth in America? Are there data tosubstantiate such claims, or do they constitute more "hype about weight" broughtto the realm of the elementary school? Specifically, to what extent have Americanchildren, particularly females, embodied the cultural ideal of thinness?

Several studies have shown that stereotypes about fatness (i.e., fat is "bad") areinternalized at a young age. In one study (Kirkpatrick and Sanders 1978), childrenages six to nine were shown three body silhouettes and asked to ascribe behavioralcharacteristics to them. Results showed that children liked the thinner "normal"figures best, describing them as friendly, kind, happy, and polite. The fat figures,on the other hand, were seen most negatively and were described as lazy, lying,

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

260 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

and cheating. In another study (Richardson et al. 1961), children aged ten andeleven years old were shown drawings of other children and were asked "Whichgirl/boy do you like the most?" These informants consistently ranked drawings ofobese children the lowest, preferring drawings of children with missing limbs or achild in a wheelchair.

These studies lend support to the notion that, from a young age, Americanchildren ascribe positive characteristics to thin persons and negative qualities toheavy people. Such ideas were substantiated in ethnographic interviews withjunior high girls. Girls described overweight classmates as "very, very jealous—they don't like people that are skinnier than they are." A 9th grader describedobesity as a sickness:

I know that it sounds real stupid but I feel bad for fat people cause it's like, it's kind of like asickness. They're addicted to food, like someone is to alcohol.

One overweight girl in our study described how she was treated by others atschool:

I used to hang out with this really popular girl and they were going, "Oh God, she's so fat—about me. Why are you hanging out with her?" People are pretty mean.

Girls embody the thin ideal through play. Barbie, the most popular fashion dollin America, accounting for $450 million in annual sales, has a body which canrarely be achieved in real life. Ninety percent of all American girls ages three toeleven own one or more Barbies (Stewart 1989). For several of their formative years,girls engage in fantasy play of their grown-up life as they dress Barbie in one of her100 new seasonal outfits. Barbie's fashionable looks are created by a team of ninefull-time fashion designers and a roomful of hairstylists who gain inspiration byobserving teenagers at California malls (Stewart 1989). Barbie does not createfashion; her designers search for what signifies popularity among teenagers, andthe look if copied for Barbie. In other words, teens produce fashion (often byreappropriating adult fashion) as creative semiotic activity with marketers close athand to reproduce and alter the meaning of such statements.

Barbie serves as an important link in a feedback loop between adolescent girlsand younger girls. In television advertisements young girls are portrayed happilyplaying with Barbie, declaring her attributes: "she's cooltime Barbie, she's rad, she'sblonde, she's beautiful." Irrespective of the outfit she dons or subgroup her outfit isaffiliated with, Barbie is the prototype popular girl who conveys a subtle yetpowerful message: If you get the body you can get the guy.40 This same message istransmitted in teenzine advertisements. In a Seventeen magazine ad for WeightWatchers, a handsome life guard is seated on a tower at the beach. The copy reads"We can help you get the body you've always dreamed of." While the product wasdirected at adolescent girls, the message was that getting her body would meangetting his.

Ethnographic interviews with junior high and high school girls over the past twoyears have indeed shown that what is perceived as the ideal girl is close to adescription of Barbie. A significant proportion of our Caucasian informants,irrespective of social class or subgroup affiliations, described their "ideal girl" asbeing 5'7", 110 pounds, a size 5, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 261

Interestingly, a majority of the models in teenzines fit this ideal of beauty (Evans1990). A common attribute of this ideal girl is that she "eats whatever she wants andnever gains weight." Some junior high girls overtly described her as looking likeBarbie. When probed as to what would make their dream girl popular, girlsexplained, "her friends, her looks, her weight, and her attitude."

Females are socialized through a host of influences, including fantasy play withtheir dolls, that slenderness is essential for attractiveness and is an essentialcomponent for interpersonal success (Freedman 1984; Hawkins and Clement 1980).Many of the children of the "Weight Watchers" generation strive for the bodilyperfection depicted in the media (and in their dolls), believing that they aresomehow inadequate in comparison to the American ideal and would be accept-able if only they could lose more weight (Collins 1988).

Many girls were of the opinion that they needed to be thin to be popular. Acommon statement expressed by junior high informants was that "Popular girls arereally skinny, they're pretty." A 9th grader explained:

The more popular girls they always say that they're fat. But they're not. They're just moreconcerned, I guess, 'cause they think that if they gain weight the popular guys won't hangout with them.

"If I were thin I'd be totally happy" was a statement made by many of ourinformants. Being thinner was seen as a way to get control of one's appearance andto make one's social life better. The ubiquity of fashion advertisements, which playoff the theme that beauty leads to popularity and success, leads many teenage girlsto conclude that the "model look" is the ticket to a perfect life (Nichter and Moore1990). While the current popularity of "Don't worry be happy" teeshirts in juniorhigh schools may depict a carefree image of well being as release, self-control issubtly enjoined through messages about body shape inclusive of standards set bythe media and the clothing industry.

Adolescence: A Time of Transition and Self-Formation

At a time of dramatic bodily changes, post-pubescent girls are involved in anintensely comparative world where little goes unnoticed. Junior high school is atime when some girls still retain their girlish figures, with a height of under 5' and aweight of 80 pounds, while others have already reached 5'5" and may weight 125pounds. The early maturer often feels her body is out of control and fat. Girls atvarious stages of the developmental cycle compare themselves to their classmates,both in school and during lengthy phone rituals. Comparison, and by extensionenvy, among females is a characteristic supported by the popular media.

In group discussions, girls commonly voiced the opinion that boys did not haveas much competition to look good as girls did. The competition among girls is asmuch to gain popularity and acceptance among other girls as it is to get boyfriends.Some girls talked about shopping with their girlfriends for second opinions thatthey did not look fat in the clothes they selected, while others spoke of wearingonly those types of baggy clothes that "hid their fat." Interestingly, one girl notedthat "boys can come to school in their pajamas and no one would even care, but

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

262 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

girls . . . we really have to dress to look good." Adolescent girls spoke of lookinggood so boys would be attracted to them. Looking good was often judged bygirlfriends extending the critical gaze of "the other."

As girls in this age cohort (12-16 years) have no way of knowing how they willeventually turn out, they keenly observe other family members for informationalcues. Having female relatives who are heavy is unsettling for many youngadolescent girls, as fatness appears to them as a specter that might loom in theirfuture. One eighth grader noted, "I have a pot belly . . . my Mom told me to becareful because it's hereditary." Not uncommonly, mothers who perceived them-selves as overweight warned their daughters about overeating and monitored theirdaughter's food intake, even from a very young age. As one college freshmannoted:

I was brought up to think being thin . . . Like I'd say, "Mom, have a piece of pie" and she'dbe like "No, I'm on a diet." So I mean I've known diets since I was like in kindergarten.

Dissatisfaction with one's self, particularly one's looks, is commonplace amongteenagers. We asked groups of eighth and ninth grade girls the following question:"What did you think when you got up this morning and looked in the mirror?" Theoverall response from the numerous groups of girls addressed was, "Ugh—Ilooked horrible," followed by moans and grunts. When asked "What was wrong?",many volunteered problem areas such as face, uncooperative hair, zits, body (fatthighs, legs, big waist). Davies and Furnham (1986) have reported that slimness ofthe hips is the most desirable feature among adolescents ages 12-16, and that girlsreport great dissatisfaction with their hip measurement. Girls' dissatisfaction withhip size increased over the period when this feature shows the most change due tonormal hormonal influence.

Many of the girls whom we interviewed had embodied the notion that they needto be engaged in continual work on themselves in order to be popular andaccepted. When we questioned girls if they were ever satisfied with how theylooked, a few girls noted, to the approval of their peers, that "you can look good fora little while but it doesn't last; it goes away, then you have to work on it again."This work often resulted in continual (though largely unsuccessful) dieting at-tempts. As one college freshman explained:

When I reached the 7th or 8th grade I cared how I looked. Then I knew from that day on untilthe day I die I'm going to worry about what I eat. And I know I'm destined to diet in one wayor another.

In addition to dieting, what do girls do to make themselves more attractive? Formany adolescent girls, preparing for school was a lengthy process requiringbetween 45 minutes to an hour to apply makeup and fix their hair. Wearingmakeup was commonly seen as a necessary step in making oneself look "natural."As one girl explained: "Girls are supposed to have rosy cheeks and bright lips.Because I don't look like that, I need to wear makeup." Thus, for many teenagegirls, the advertised face in the magazine has become the face of comparison—thenatural look to achieve through the purchase of products. After one girl expresseddissatisfaction with her body in the course of an interview, she was asked where shegot ideas from and to whom she was comparing herself. She noted:

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 263

I look at magazines and on the front covers they always say "How to Lose Weight" or "How toLook Skinny" or they put "The Skinnier You." I think it's good 'cause they like give you tipsof how you can manage your weight and how you can lose your weight and stuff like that butI think it's bad too because then it's like 'Am I fat?" . . . 'Am I overweight?" Like, you neverthink about it until you look at it. That's what happens to me. . . . I start staying, "Hmmm. . . maybe I can lose weight . . . "

Media images are particularly salient to young girls who are searching for thelook that will make them fit in and be popular. In addition to the influence of one'speers and the media on a girl's perception of self, one's mother also significantlyimpacts on self-perception. In the pilot year of the Teen Lifestyle Project wesurveyed 182 junior high and high school girls. Over 30% reported that theirmothers had told them they needed to lose weight. Less then 5% of those girls wereclinically overweight. It is likely that a mother's advice reflects her own concernabout weight control. While 59% of our informants described their mother's weightas "just about right," 68% reported that their mothers were commonly dieting.Some girls noted that when their mothers began a diet, they would be encouragedto diet with them. As one eighth grade girl explained: "Well, me and my mom arelike, both built the same way, so if she gets fat that means that I have to go on adiet."

The embodiment of a thin ideal of beauty also takes place at the table. Aschildren and adolescents, females are taught to equate attractiveness with beingdelicate and petite (Freedman 1984). In order to appear feminine, girls learn at ayoung age to limit their food intake in front of boys. Girls in our study commonlydescribed how they would eat "just a few fries or a bite from a salad" if they werewith boys, so as not to appear "piggish." When asked if they had ever been called apig, girls explained that boys would not tell them to their face, but "he'll tell hisfriends and by the end of the day everyone will know." Other girls noted that boysmade indirect comments about the amount they were eating, like 'Aren't you doneyet?" Girls explained that guys didn't like to see girls eat, that it was somehowimpolite for them to do so. Boys, on the other hand, were described as "inhalingfood" or "scarfing it down." In general, girls felt that they were under more peerpressure than boys to look and act in particular ways. The data about adolescentgirls limiting their food intake, particularly around boys, have been substantiatedamong adult women (Chaiken and Pliner 1987).41

Weight Loss Behavior Contextual ¡zed

Does dissatisfaction with one's body result in dieting behavior among teenage girlsor just in talk about being fat and going on a diet? The plethora of survey dataamong adolescents on dieting behavior, particularly on anorexia and bulimia, hassuggested that fear of obesity and inappropriate eating behaviors are pervasiveamong adolescent girls. It has been reported that girls are adopting a variety ofweight reducing strategies including purging, fasting, exercising, and eating less.Adolescent behavior dieting surveys commonly decontextualize eating behavioramong teenagers failing to provide data on patterns of normal eating. The Teen

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

264 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Lifestyle Project survey (n = 182), conducted among junior high and high schoolgirls, revealed that over 50 percent of girls were dieting at the time of the survey.The question remains: "What does being on a diet mean to a teenager?" At issue iswhat constitutes a diet: By whose definition and, of equal importance, what is theaverage duration of a teenager's dieting act? Preliminary data from the first twoyears of the Teen Lifestyle Project suggests that reports of dieting among teenagersneed to be interpreted carefully as they often signify something other thansustained behavioral change. Sustained dietary change, on the other hand, mightnot be reported as dieting. Among teens, "dieting" often constitutes a ritualactivity wherein the consumption of token foods is suspended temporarily (Nich-ter and Moore 1990).

Girls reported a variety of methods for losing weight. Many girls explained thatthey did not "diet to lose weight" but rather "watched what they ate" continually. Insome cases, this response indexed notions of agency and reluctance to be con-trolled. "Being on a diet" constituted "being controlled" by the tyranny of astructure, such as the family. Watching what you ate placed the individual incontrol. One eleventh grader explained:

I think I'm always conscious of what I'm eating. Whether it's good or bad I'm alwaysthinking "What's this gonna do?" Especially, I mean, if I'm eating something like candy orsomething I go, "I shouldn't be doing this." But I don't really consider it being . . . I don'tlike saying I'm on a diet. I hate that when I go to my house and say "I'm on a diet" and for therest of the week my mom's pestering me and saying "You shouldn't be eating that." And I'mlike "OK, I'm not on a diet, I'm just eating carefully." You know, I don't like to phrase it thatway.

Of those girls who said they dieted, some noted that they stopped eating junkfoods and increased their consumption of salads, fruits, and vegetables. Amongother junior high girls, for whom eating is a very social activity, dieting meant"cutting down the number of snacks I eat from ten times a day to four." One girlexplained:

I'm always on a diet. But then I'll end up like, you know, eating something when I'm reallyhungry. You know, something really gross and then I'll feel really guilty about it. Then I'llstill be on that diet. . .

Other girls noted that they drank a diet Coke for breakfast or skipped the meal.Instead of eating lunch at school, they would drink a diet Coke and split a saladwith a friend. Some girls reported exercising as a strategy to lose weight. A fewinformants reported that they only exercised when they dieted because they didn'twant to turn fat into muscle. Few girls, however, reported the use of technical fixdiet products. Less that 5% of our survey sample (N = 182) reported using dietpills, laxatives, or throwing up as a means by which to lose weight. This contrastsmarkedly with magazine surveys. A recent Sassy magazine survey asked girls,"What have you done to lose weight?" Among their respondents, 49% reportedusing diet pills, 32% had forced themselves to vomit, and 13% had taken laxativesand diuretics to lose weight. It is likely that such responses reflect a one-time

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 265

attempt at a weight loss strategy rather than sustained use of a method. Thetargeted weight loss for a majority of our informants was ten pounds. Very fewgirls, however, achieved this goal. Most girls reported that they would start a diet inthe morning, but by lunch time, when they would see their friends with fries orcandy bars, they would say "nah, forget it." Eating the candy bar is oftenaccompanied by the rhetoric of dieting, "I shouldn't be eating this but later todayI'm going to go on a diet. . . ." Others described planning a diet on the phone atnight with friends, but then changing their minds in the morning. Other girlsdescribed how they had gone on a diet alone or with friends, but after a while (aday or two) had gotten "bored." An eleventh grader explained:

It's like people talk about it but there's not that much conviction about losing it, as I see it. Imean, they say they want to lose weight, but—and maybe they really do—but I don't seepeople really doing anything about it. Like, they'll go on a diet—well like I do (laughs). I goon a diet for a little while and exercise and stuff and then just stop.

Eighty-five percent of our informants noted that they rarely or never countedcalories, nor did they know how many calories were required for normal consump-tion. Estimates of required caloric intake for girls their age were often arbitrary andcommonly very low. When asked about the caloric values of various commonlyeaten foods, most girls in our sample had little idea.

The point to be stressed is that although most girls talk about being overweightand their desire to be slimmer, our ethnographic data indicates that discourseabout dieting practices (behavior) must be viewed critically. Media coverage of teendieting behavior focuses on anorexics and bulemics whose stories make goodpress. Normal eating behavior as well as dieting behavior among the vast majorityof adolescent girls remains unstudied. Survey reports regarding dieting, whilemisrepresenting actual behavior patterns, may reveal much about cultural values.We found that girls often claim to be on diets because they think they should be.After all, they aren't perfect.

The popular media has paid lip service to the national obsession with weightamong females. The format of articles on weight obsession within teen andwomen's magazines often smacks of irony. A recent Seventeen magazine articleentitled "Why Are Girls Obsessed with Their Weight?" (Kaplan 1989) is illustrative. Thearticle was sandwiched in between ads of near-anorexic models adorned with thelatest body-revealing fashions. At the same time that the magazines address theissue of weight obsession, they continue to perpetuate the problem by advocatingunrealistic sizes and styles. This mirrors the control and release theme discussedearlier in this paper. In a discussion of this double bind, in which the self is torninto two incompatible directions, Bordo (1990) has noted:

On television and in popular magazines with a flip of the page or barely a pause betweencommercials, images of luscious foods and the rhetoric of craving and desire are replaced byadvertisements for grapefruit diets, low calorie recipes, and exercise equipment. Even moredisquieting than these manifest oppositions, however, are the constant attempts by adver-tisers to mystify them, suggesting that the contradiction doesn't really exist—that one can"have it all."

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

266 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Adolescence and the Carnivalesque

People are never totally manipulated, never entirely incorporated. People are engaged instruggles with, within, and sometimes against, real tendential forces and determinations, intheir efforts to appropriate what they are given. Consequently, their relations to particularpractices and texts are complex and contradictory. [When] they lose ideological ground, theymay win a bit of emotional strength. [Grossberg 1988:4]

Thus far we have spoken of teenage girls as a general group. American adoles-cents are not a homogeneous social group to be defined by developmental stageand perceived as passively embodying capitalist ideology and reproducing afamiliar world. Just as there are bearers of Guess and Esprit, there are those whoframe their behavior and dress in opposition to that which is conventional.Established fashion is mocked or inverted. For example, high-top basketball shoesworn unlaced and shirt collars turned up stand in opposition to the tight-laced,button-down world of Mr. Right. Ripped jeans, although coopted by high fashion,make a statement about the fine lines of the designer world. The wearing of twoand three watches constitutes a fashion statement as well as a flaunting of a "time asmoney" hyperconsciousness. The mod look of pale skin, white makeup and blackhair stands in stark contrast to the blond-haired, blue-eyed concept of beautysignified by Barbie.

Teens live in a paradoxical world where they are asked to act responsibly whiletreated as a dependent. In opposition to subjugation and control, teens often actout through semiotic acts which defy norms or blow them out of proportion. Teensrefashion their world individually and as members of subgroups through dramaticfeats of bricolage engaged in for the fun (if not the power) of it (Hebdige 1979).

De Certeau (1984) has argued that such acts of reappropriating the meaning ofsigns within an imposed system constitutes popular resistance to hegemony,"putting one over," if not commenting critically on a pre-established game plan andnetwork of representations. Often engaged in by teenagers is the carnivalesque, aterm employed by Bakhtin (1968) to connote a world outside of and in oppositionto the disciplined social order of officialdom. The carnivalesque is marked byexcessiveness and momentary release from social definition. This brings to mindthe display of outrageous hairdos and clothing combinations by some teen sub-groups and the excessiveness of a girl's pig-out party. Repressions are temporarilygiven up and that which is denied is celebrated by the cake, carton or case.Temporary detachment from the system and one's identity in relation to it iscelebrated.

Popular resistance and the carnivalesque are important factors influencing teenfashion and body-related behavior. There are alternatives to conventions of popularfashion engaged in by those who do not have the cash, body, or inclination to fit in.There is flexibility to create one's own style or for an individual to affiliate with agroup that appreciates novelty and variation. While researching this, we have beenstruck by data suggesting that while hair and clothing are commonly sites forresistance or invention, ideals of body shape remain fairly constant and conven-tional. Irrespective of social group affiliation or fashion statement, the girls whomwe interviewed predominantly strive for a common ideal of beauty associated withthinness. Hegemony and resistance are coextensive.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 267

PART THREE: FROM SCHISMOGENESIS TO STAGE THREE LEARNING

Fashion—and more broadly consumption, which is inseparable from fashion—masks aprofound social inertia. It is itself a factor of social inertia, insofar as the demand for realsocial mobility frolics and loses itself in fashion, in the sudden and often cyclical changes ofobjects, clothes and ideas. And to the illusion of change is added the illusion of democracy.[Baudrillard 1981:50]

The most valid criticism of advertising is not that related to any particular abuse. It israther that advertising taken as a whole comprises a "privileged discourse." What is wrong isnot its presence, but rather the increasingly felt absence of any competing set of culturalmessages and values . . . of letting it do the talking for us. [Barthel 1988:186]

In American society the female body is invested in as a form of cultural capital.A slim and toned body has become a commodity which a woman may either workfor (e.g., through exercise) and/or purchase (e.g., through dieting aids, surgery). Itis procured at a cost. There are hidden costs of buying into the system, costsmeasured in terms of perceptions of self (as contingent upon dieting success/failure), social relations (envy and jealousy that accompany glamour), and healthdefined in its broadest sense. There are also tradeoffs. For example, for manyAmerican women the risks of continued tobacco use are balanced against a fear ofweight gain. Charlton (1984) has cited survey data suggesting that 43% of adoles-cent girls who smoke believe that smoking helps them keep their weight down. Inrecent years, the rate of smoking among men has fallen much faster than amongwomen. At the same time, lung cancer rates for women have increased more thanfivefold in the past two decades, reflecting rapid growth in smoking among womenaround midcentury. It is quite plausible that the increase in smoking amongwomen has followed their increased desire for thinness (Fielding 1987; Pirie,Murray, and Luepker 1991).42

Hype about weight is rampant in America, manifest in forms as diverse as adsfor weight loss clinics and tight fitting jeans to popular denunciations of thecultural ideal of thinness gone awry in the form of eating disorders. An uncor-rected feedback loop, which Gregory Bateson (1972) has described as schis-mogenesis, drives the production and reproduction of such hype. Increasedconsciousness of an ideal of thin, flawless beauty propagated by the media on abody-part basis results in greater demand/desire for products promising bodytransformation as a means of working toward this ideal. In turn, this demandincreases the supply of products developed to produce or parade this body form.To make the cycle complete, an increased number of products associated with thepromise of slimness increases public consciousness of this body form.43 Thefeedback loop accelerates. The conditions are set for the development and produc-tion of technical fix solutions to body image and weight management problems aswell as the embodied paradox of control and release. This constitutes progress ina world of rising expectations, hard-to-maintain temporary successes, and inse-curities about will power.

Journalistic critiques of the slim ideal which highlight anorexia nervosa orbulimia contribute to the schismogenic cycle by a process that Barthes (1973) hasdescribed as "inoculation." An inoculation effect refers to an apologistic stancewherein one distortion (or evil) is admitted, permitting greater distortions (evils) to

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

268 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

be concealed. A little confessed evil saves one from acknowledging a lot of hiddensin. Inoculation includes engaging in (or using) critique in an effort to diminishrecognition of more generalized subversion.44 In the present context, inoculationinvolves the placement of a short article on slimness addiction, anorexia andoverachievement between lavish fashion spreads or advertisements depicting ultraslim models living the fantasy of the perfect life. The use of inoculation as atechnique, like the coopting of feminist language within the script of an ad (e.g.,Virginia Slims), trivializes genuine efforts to deconstruct conventional behavior, laybare its ramifications, and seriously challenge a privileged discourse about theform of beauty and the ideology it entails.

How may feedback be introduced into the system as a means of increasingflexibility in the form of critical consciousness? Sontag (1977,1989), in her writingson the cultural overdetermination of diseases such as cancer and AIDS, has arguedthat a process of demetaphorization is necessary if we wish to free ourselves fromthe tyranny of cultural representations so that we may depoliticize our bodilyexperience.45 Can such an agenda be extended to the subtle domination of an idealof slim beauty, an ideal which most people cannot obtain but measure themselvesagainst, an ideal which undermines impressions of self-worth in addition tofostering unhealthy eating (and smoking) behavior?

It is exceedingly difficult to foster critical awareness of cultural dispositionsinvolving conventions of beauty and fashion that appear as (in the words of oneundergraduate female) "temporary expressions of style in a democracy." Theinculcation of such an awareness requires recognition of how ensembles of ideasand behaviors associated with thinness and dieting link together in a variety offormations from the seemingly harmless to the oppressive and coercive. To create alearning situation that facilitates reflection beyond one type of a formation to a classof interlinked formations which Bateson described as being of a higher logical type(Bateson 1972), attention needs to be directed not only to metaphor, but to thepower of metonymy.

It is through metonymy that images of thin happy people are linked to successand the state of "being in control" as well as to products ranging from cars tocigarettes and alcohol. While metaphor inspires imagination by exploiting concep-tual similarity, metonymy exploits contiguity between a thing, its attributes, andwhat accompanies it in a given environment. Metonymy engages us through anestablished set of expectations. We come to think in terms of ensembles of whatgoes with what, what works with what to create conventions of style, fashion, anddistinction.

A deconstruction of everyday behaviors such as dieting, smoking, driving, ordressing to be fashionable is the work of mythology as proposed by Barthes (1973).This endeavor engages the researcher in revealing signs hidden behind func-tions.46 When such an endeavor leads beyond the assessment of individual phe-nomena (in the style of Barthes) to a broader consideration of the manner in whichthe meaning of coexisting cultural productions inform one another and are interac-tive, homologous, and contiguous, a distinctive form of anthropology is emergent.While some anthropologists have chosen to speak of such an anthropology asliberating or consciousness raising, Bateson chooses to refer to it as increasingflexibility.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 269

Bateson describes flexibility in relation to a movement from what he termsdeutero-learning to stage three learning.47 Like Bourdieu's concept of doxa,deutero-learning entails the "habitual punctuating of a stream of events to giverepetitions of a certain type meaningful sequence."48 This type of contextuallearning from successive practice is economic, albeit privileged, and prone to self-validation. Stage three learning involves "learning about learning," consciousrecognition of how one has come to engage in deutero-learning. Given an economyof habit formation wherein the habitual is removed from critical introspection,rendering it "hard programmed," stage three learning increases flexibility definedas "uncommitted potential for change."49 Adaptation (change that leaves thesystem flexible) is juxtaposed to addiction (change that eats up system flexibility).Means by which to facilitate stage three learning, suggested by Bateson, includethe identification of paradox and the deployment of juxtaposition, comparison,and homology in an effort to discover metamessages. Metamessages are messagesabout context that are a higher logical type than individual messages themselves.

At present we are in the process of experimenting with sets of images to initiatedialogue among teens about the hidden ideology of body work, using Bateson'smethodology of multiple comparison (1972).50 Our aim is to confront teens withunspoken directives and paradoxes through montage and the genre of a multipleslide show.51 What may this evoke? The juxtaposition of two sets of images whichproved to be particularly evocative for us have effectively been used in under-graduate teaching.52 The sets of images juxtapose perceptions of beauty as slim inthe West and pale in Asia (and beyond). The first set is American while the secondset emerges from our fieldwork in India and the Philippines. Set one involves theStatue of Liberty, a sorority initiation ceremony, and a woman who had uninten-tionally caused her four-year-old daughter to suffer from moderate malnutrition inthe name of love.

During America's centennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty, a double eagle$50 coin bearing the likeness of the statue was commissioned. The coin replicatedthe famous double eagle $20 coin of 1932, considered to be one of the finest coinsculptures ever created. Both coins depict Liberty clutching a torch and an olivebranch. The difference between them, which caused quite a stir among membersof a national medallic sculpture association, is that Liberty's figure was reduced tomake her appear more fit and fashionable. Apparently the powers that be in theTreasury Department wanted Liberty to fit the conventions and style of the times.This appears to be harmless enough.

A second image in the set involves a freshman woman who, during the course ofan interview, told us why she opted not to join a particular sorority after goingthrough the rituals of "rush." As part of her initiation she and a number of otherpledges were lined up naked and blindfolded. Sisters then marked those parts ofher body in red ink which they felt were unsightly. These parts, she was told,should be "worked on" in order that she better fit the bodily ideal of the sorority.Following this event the informant not only dropped out of the sorority, shedeveloped extreme self-consciousness manifested in self-doubt.

The third image is overtly associated with the manner in which cultivateddispositions toward dieting, coupled with anxiety about being fat, can affect childsocialization. The image presented is from a 32-year-old single mother whom Mark

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

270 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Nichter interviewed during behavioral rounds in his role as a clinical anthropolo-gist. The mother was visiting her four-year-old daughter who had been admitted tothe hospital for malnutrition and a respiratory tract infection. During the interview,the mother explained why she had placed her daughter on a "special diet."

I don't give her fats in her diet and no sweets! I'm trying to keep down her number of fat cellsso she'll have an easier time of it when she grows up. I'm always dieting and it never worksfor long. Maybe it's in my blood 'cause my mother she was fat and so was one of my sisters.My other sister was blessed, she has always been thin. She is one of those finicky eaters soprobably she had less fat cells. I read an article about that. I want that for my daughter so Iput her on this special diet. The doctor scolded me. Now, it may appear to him that I don'tlove the girl, but he couldn't be more wrong. Someday she is going to hug me and say,"Mama, I don't know how to thank you:" And she is going to have her pick of the men whocome calling. Not like me.

The second set of images are cross-cultural and involve the ideal of whiteness asbeautiful and high status. The first of three images involves the technique ofapplying face powder in India and the Philippines. Women engage in this practicebefore venturing out in public. The art of applying a smooth layer of powderrequires considerable skill and patience if one is to acquire the desired mask ofpaleness associated with a natural looking paleness as opposed to a lumpy coating.The second image in the set once again involves red ink. While conducting researchin India we became intrigued by a technique developed by local marriage photo-graphers to manipulate negatives to accord with cultural conventions accordingstatus to paleness. Negatives are routinely touched up with red ink so as to makethe subject's skin appear lighter when a photograph is printed.

The third image involves a female rural development worker in the Philippineswho was a member of a leftist nationalist group. One evening during a discussionabout the presence of American military bases and business interests in thePhilippines, the use of face powder as a means of enhancing a woman's appearancewhen appearing in public came up in conversation. The woman initially laughed atthe practice. After a long silence she conveyed a story of how she had placed lyesolution on her arms and face as a college student as a means of depigmentation.The solution caused her skin to appear pale and pinkish, a change commentedupon positively by her friends. With her continued use of the solution, a violentallergic reaction resulted, causing the woman to abandon the practice as well asreflect upon its meaning. She confided to us that she had participated in leftistdiscussion groups centered on neocolonialism while engaging in skin depigmenta-tion. It was this bodily experience, she noted, that led her to consider the extent towhich the ideology of colonialism had been embodied by the Filipino people. Shethen noted that, as obvious as it might seem, she had never drawn a consciousconnection between her practice of depigmentation and continued use of powder.After all, she noted, powder use is "so common."53

American Ideal of Slimness Asian Ideal of Slitnnessslimming of the Statue of Liberty to application of face powder to con-fit convention of beauty form to beauty and purity

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 271

red inking of imperfections by so- red inking of marriage photo to hiderority imperfection of dark color

placing of four-year-old child on spe- placing caustic lye on the skin tocial diet leading to malnutrition in cause depigmentation in name ofname of beauty beauty

An important lesson is learned from this juxtaposition of images. The lessoninvolves the embodiment of ideology and the process of subjectification. Thisprocess begins in subtle and seemingly harmless acts, such as reducing the waist ofa statue depicted on a coin that will not be used in common currency, or applyingface powder. The process proceeds in an anonymous fashion to include acts ofcoercion and oppression unwittingly engaged in by sisters, performed by mothers,and inflicted upon one's self.

Conclusion

Two American dreams, Horatio Alger's working hard and getting ahead and theNutrasweet dream of having your cake and eating it too are pervasive in contem-porary society. These dreams constitute ideologies which are embodied in manysubtle ways. In this paper we have focused on dieting (behavior and discourse) andthe naturalization of the thin body ideal among women as expressive of theseideologies. While not claiming that advanced capitalism has created the thin bodyideal, we have suggested that this ideal is conducive to economic growth. Capital-ism has invested in the imagery of both American dreams as well as a corn-modification of the control release cycle.

Our objective has not been a critique of America's fitness movement, dieting orthe technology of diet products per se. When used "appropriately," the aforemen-tioned may save lives (e.g., through the lowering of blood pressure). Our aim hasrather been to call attention to the ideology which promotes dieting as a way of life,accompanies technical fix diet products, fosters self dissatisfaction and envy ofothers, and leads to objectification as well as a commodification of self. It is thisideology which underlies Ivan Mich's (1986) recent claim that 'the pursuit of ahealthy (beautiful) body' is iatrogenic and a major pathogen within contemporarysociety. Reassessing his former stance on medicalization, Illich notes:

During the '60s the medical profession was prominent in determining what the body is andhow it ought to feel. A new model has sprung that engenders people who objectifythemselves: those who conceive of themselves as "producers" of their bodies. It is a part ofa new epistemiological matrix which is in the process of formation.

Focusing on teenage girls, we have argued that the pursuit of beauty, inclusive ofa desire for thinness, plays an important role in their lives. The importance ofadvertising in the socialization of adolescents into a thin body ideal has beennoted. While paying credence to the findings of survey research which hasexplored perceptions of body image among teens, we have been critical of reportswhich decontextualize, if not exaggerate, the prevalence of dieting related activ-ities. Moving from the physical to the social body, we have emphasized that at least

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

272 M. Nichter, Ai. Nichter

as important as the number of girls who have frank eating disorders, are thenegative social relations and self doubts most girls are subjected to during theformative years of their development. Self-criticism and dissatisfaction of one'sperson is fostered by the propagation of images of an unobtainable thin bodydefined in relation to self help products marketed for each and every body part. Wehave also suggested that the sensationalism attached to popular reports of dieting(etc.) feed into the schismogenic cycle driving the thin body ideal. One means bywhich this happens is through what Barthes has termed an inoculation effect.

Another point made in this paper is that practices leading to hegemony oftencoexist with expressions of resistance. We have drawn attention to the site of thebody as a medium for both. Among teenagers we have observed that hair, skin andclothes are often maximized as sites for the expression of resistance. At the sametime, we have noted that in Arizona, the hegemony associated with the thin bodyideal is strongly invested in by all subgroups.

Given a general preoccupation with the thin body ideal among American womentoday, is there a role an evocative anthropology might play in leading youth toreflect on the ideology embodied through everyday practices and desires? Follow-ing Bateson's idea that greater flexibility may be engendered through a process ofstage three "learning about learning," we have experimented with the technique ofmultiple comparison as a means of facilitating reflection on the subtle oppression ofbeauty work. Discussed in brief is our attempt to juxtapose images of beauty asthin in America with images of beauty as 'pale' in Asia (and beyond). The point ofthis exercise and our ongoing attempts to create evocative montage is the fosteringof an awareness of the ways in which power dominates at the site of the body insubtle ways through desire, knowledge and hype which carries weight.

NOTES

1. It has been estimated that 65% of American adults will engage in at least one dieting effort during a12-month period. Marketing surveys conducted by the NPA, the nation's biggest dairy organization,found that the percentage of people dieting on any given two-week period rose from 17% in 1981 to26% in 1985. The Calorie Control Council estimated in 1986 that 65 million adults consideredthemselves on a diet while 78 million Americans aged 18 and over consumed low calorie products(up from 42 million in 1978). A majority of women (53%) consumed low calorie foods or beverages.Of the 30 million men who consumed these products it is estimated that 64% began doing so in thelast five years. In terms of dollars spent, Americans spend approximately 40 billion dollars on fastfood, a billion and a half on frozen entree dinners (40% are lo-cal products) and five billion dollarson weight loss products. If the definition of weight loss products is expanded to mean "lite" foodsand soda, over 30 billion dollars is spent annually. The NPA survey found that foods marketed fordieters were very frequently consumed by those who claimed that they were not on a diet, whiledieters were responsible for consuming a sizable proportion of foods supposedly avoided while oneis on a diet. For example, dieters ate approximately one-fifth of all cookies and ice cream consumed.A Lempert Report on the business of diet food (More Men Counting Calories 1986) sums up thesituation:

"Don't let all this talk of exercise and dieting fool you. Americans want to have their lo-cal dinnerand super premium dessert too. It's part of the workout/pigout syndrome—Americans' bad habit ofexercising and eating lite only to end the day with a rich gooey dessert, feeling that they have earnedit. While sales of diet foods have risen 7.4% last year, sales of chewy candy shot up 17% and thesuper-premium ice cream industry doubled since 1980."

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 273

Chocolate consumption has hit a new high in 1988, topping 11 pounds per capita. Curiously, themost explosive growth in the chocolate market has been white chocolate. The appeal lies in theperception of it as lighter and more delicate.

2. The slim ideal of beauty has been influenced by diverse factors in America. These range frommovements equating leanness with efficiency, health, and liberation to the creation and revision ofweight/height tables; popularization of the bathroom scale to a standardization of ready-madeclothing sizes facilitating the "democratization of the fashion industry"; world wars calling for atightening of the belt as a patriotic act to the tacit embodiment of gender relations. See historicalaccounts of the slim ideal summarized in Schwartz (1986) and Brumberg (1988).

3. Our use of the term image follows that of Satre (1972: 128) 'An image is like an incarnation of non-reflective thought. . . . Imaginative consciousness represents a certain type of thought: a thoughtwhich is constituted in and by its object." Thought takes the image form when it wishes to beintuitive, when it wants to ground its affirmations on the visions of an object." (Ibid: 140).

4. Embodiment refers to the interplay of the cognitive and the corporeal within socially constructedsituations wherein communication is at once inward and outward. Embodiment is nonconscious. Itis not, however, cut off from the conscious in the sense of the Freudian concept of the unconscious. Itentails habitual response to experiential frames that structure response. As Bateson (1972) hasargued there is an economy to habit formation, no organism being able to afford to be conscious ofmatters with which it could deal at an unconscious level. Bourdieu (1977: 78) argues that habitustakes the form of dispositions, perceptions and appreciations which permit the analogical applica-tion of solution schemes to similarly shaped problems. The habitus of members of a social class arestrongly influenced by shared experience situating variations in response within a sociohistoricalcontext. Comaroff (1985:5) as well as de Certeau (1984) and Giroux (1983) critique Bourdieu for"eclipsing consciousness" and presenting actors as mindlessly reproducing their worlds. We directour attention to the process of embodiment, acknowledging a fair amount of conflict, diversity andparadox within culture. We argue that through recognition of paradox, flexibility is engendered.Flexibility may take the form of rejection or reappropriation of convention, invention, tolerance ofdifference, or a strategic refusal of meaning through nonreception (Baudrillard 1983, 1985).

5. Our approach to the study of advertising also draws upon Foucault's (1979) discussion of the makingof 'docile bodies' through acts of self discipline and surveillance linked to imagined social visibility.Foucault's image of the panocticon is extended by Bartky (1988) in her discussion of women's selfpolicing of their bodies. This complements Barthes' discussion of the passive imperative voice. Itadds to this voice the gaze of a generalized male witness' exploited by advertising.

6. Brumberg (1988) argues that during advanced capitalism beauty has become something that can beearned, something a righteous women can achieve through her "good work." If beauty is somethingthat can be bought, then consumption becomes a form of self-improvement rather than self-indulgence.

7. Barthes (1983: 259) notes that the ideal incarnate body of the model has the value of an abstractinstitution, although the body is that of an individual. He likens this to the opposition: languageand speech. Barthes remarks that the essential function of the cover girl is to achieve a certain formalgenerality, a structure. Hence her body is nobody's body, it is a form. Individual attributes are playeddown such that the form is permeated by the fashion event.

8. We are playing on words here. We value Baudrillard's (1981) critique of Marx emphasizing that thereis no dear separation between use value and exchange value. Baudrillard employs Barthes' use ofthe term alibi to link "use value" to "exchange value." This connotes that use value is signified, thatthe very concept of use value is an alibi form of ideology.

9. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss in great detail the multiple cultural and interpersonalmeanings conveyed by and embodied through the practices (discipline) of dieting and fat talk(dieting discourse) as well as by therapeutic modalities engaged to interpret and treat eatingdisorders. This would require a more complete analysis of idioms of distress in the context ofculture as well as the body as a site for social praxis and hegemonic ordering vis-à-vis the bipolarpractices and formulations which characterize Foucault's notion of biopower (1980b:139-141). Theextensive literature on anorexia nervosa suggests that there are psychodynamic and social interac-tional as well as cultural dimensions to obsessive dieting behavior in America (e.g., Bruch 1978;Turner 1984; Brumberg 1988). Kim Chernin (1981, 1985), for example, suggests that fear of femalelargeness is fear of female power. Chernin, as well as O'Neill (1985), argue that obsession with

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

274: M. Nichter, M. Nichter

weight and food marks an arrest in developmental growth assodated with mother-daughterseparation struggles. Obsession marks the place where daughters come to challenge and surpassthe real or imagined potentialities of the mother. Family systems therapists such as Steiner-Adair(1986), on the other hand, associate anorexia with individuation problems in pathologically closefamilies. Gremillion (1989), in an insightful and concise critique of the ideologies underlyingtheories of anorexia, points out that each form of "objective" scientific discourse about anorexiaserves to reproduce and invigorate cultural assumptions.

Following Bordo (1988) who draws upon Foucault, we deem it counterproductive to fix blame onany "particular participants in the play of social forces" when assessing dieting and eating"disorders" in relation to political anatomy. Characterizing the power relations and layers ofcomplementary practice which support gender subordination at a particular juncture of history isone thing. Abstracting a conscious villain who engineers the shape of domination is another.

10. Discourse about fatness and going on a diet is the subject of a separate paper entitled "Fat Talk: BodyImage among Adolescent Females" (Nichter and Moore 1990).

11. Our use of the term "territory of self" draws upon Goffman's depictions of the "sheath" and"possessional territory" in his book Relations in Public (1971).

12. The dialectic between control and release figures prominently in many cultures in a variety of forms.In our own, it may be argued that it is associated with such oppositions as nature:culture,emotionrrationality, and female:male, as gender balance has been attached to roles, images, andmore blatant stereotypes. The tension between control:release and the manner in which this tensionis encultured and associated with the 'mechanics of power' as a means toward the disciplining of thebody is readily apparent in obstetrical practice (Davis-Floyd 1990) and in infant feeding advice(Millard 1990). It might be argued that infants embody a sense of control and release throughscheduled feeding practices. In terms of learning to mediate the opposition, the infant learns tosuck on a pacifier until it is time for the "real thing."

13. All data reported from the Teen Lifestyle Project has been abstracted from a year one project reportcompiled by the project co-principal investigators, Cheryl Ritenbaugh and Mark Nichter and projectmanager, Mimi Nichter. The project, Food Intake, Smoking and Diet among Adolescent Girls, isfunded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. SRC (9)5RO1 HD24737-03).

14. Our use of the term "evocative" differs from Tyler's use of the term in his book The Unspeakable (1987),a text calling for post-modern ethnography. Our use of the term "evocative" involves an emergentresponse that moves beyond language or the denotative meaning of an image. The evocative istherapeutic in the sense noted by Bateson (1972) in his discussion of art as therapeutic throughincreasing flexibility (potential for change). This is distinct from Freud's use of the term, whichinvolves giving language to that which is repressed in the unconscious, or Jay Haley's (1985) use ofthe term indexing a substitution of more adaptive metaphors to live by for less adaptive ones.

15. While the school system contributes to the embodiment of class and gender ideology, equallyimportant is peer group behavior (Willis 1981). Among girls this is apparent in both romantic(Holland and Eisenhart 1990) and dieting related expectations.

16. We do not suggest that the control-release cycle is specifically attributed to capitalism, but that itserves capitalism and has taken on particular salience in America. A cultural preoccupation withthinness likewise does not necessarily emanate from capitalism, but is symbolically meaningful inthe American context.

17. Bell (1976) has argued that American capitalism has lost its traditional legitimacy based on a moralsystem of reward rooted in the Protestant sanctification of work. Advanced capitalism requires atransformation of delayed gratification (entitlement to the promised land) to instant gratification.This entails a belief that the future can be realized in the present. Instant gratification is required tostimulate high demand for a constant stream of "unique" new goods. Bell argues that hedonism as away of life promoted by the marketing system constitutes a cultural contradiction. Lost is a symbolicexpression of any moral principle serving as a motivational or binding force. Baudrillard (1988) hasargued that characteristic of advanced capitalism is a system of needs constituting a force ofconsumption within a larger framework of production. Production includes the labor of significa-tion (the production of sign values). Consumption is a type of labor in that signs are invested withmeaning and manipulated in a marketplace where it is not objects which are consumed, but rather

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 275

systems of objects organized as indices of social membership. Consumption is not merely aresponse to individual needs, but the "most advanced form of rational systematization of productiveforces at the individual level." Baudrillard argues that there has been no revolution in morals;puritan ideology is still in place. Puritan ethics are still realized through sublimation and repressionwhich gives consumption its boundless character (1988:43).

18. We have not come across survey data that have attempted to measure the percentage of males/females in different social class groups who diet. Rosen and Gross (1987) suggest that highersocioeconomic states correlate with higher rates of dieting behavior among adolescent girls.

19. Ewen (1988) has traced the history of the transformation of the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. Theindustrial engineer Robert Lowey, the redesigner of the bottle in the 1960s, utilized the sameanthropomorphic idiom he had used to redesign the Studebaker car years earlier, setting thetrend of the depressed surface and starliner look. He altered the early shape, "a tribute in glass ofthe Victorian women," and designed a bottle according to the changed silhouette of femininity. Heput the bottle on a diet, giving it a slenderized look (Bertherat and Benstein 1979). Bottleshaping around the female figure was not limited to Coca Cola. Wesson oils ads in the early 1960sadvertised a slim waisted bottle 'made to hold,' 'easy to pick up.' Wesson was heralded asbrightening all flavors, but never adding a flavor of its own. The ideal polyunsaturated, pure oil withthe slim waist was wholesome and uncomplicated like the women deputed as using the product. Acompeting Mazola oil ad a few years later depicted a young bride promising to love, honor andpolyunsaturate.

20. There are other aspects of this notion of alchemical transformation worthy of study. Among them isa false consciousness of individual 'positive health' which mitigates concern about environmentaland occupational health. The informant further on in the interview noted: "The more built up youare, the more punishment your body can take." This script was offered as explanation to whysmoking and drinking would be indulged in by the strong and healthy with little "damage."Strength as protective vitality was also expressed through statements which linked 'working out' topreventing 'viruses and stuff.' Virtue conquers viruses!

21. The same may be said for "consumer health." In the U.S. public health environment, it is more ameasure of the individual consumer's toughness to see through marketing hype of product pressthan the responsibility of the body politic. This fosters victim blaming.

22. Gillick (1984) has characterized the popularity of jogging in the 1980s as a pursuit of the moral life aswell as a sense of personal power. Becker (1986) has likewise equated the health promotionmovement to a new religion wherein the body is worshipped and good health associated with moralsuperiority. We would emphasize that outward beauty is equated with good health and, in turn,moral superiority. Focusing attention on the surface of the body (through dieting and exercise) as asite of personal transformation merges health and body appearance ever more closely at a timewhen it has become stylish for women at cosmetic counters to wear white lab coats. We see thisvisible expression of health promotion as inspired by health commodification in a context where thequest for material goods has come to replace religious goals for many people. On this issue seeLears (1983).

23. Our reference here is primarily to Caucasian women. Body perceptions related to the distribution ofbody mass and weight distribution may well differ among Afro American women, while concernabout weight control may be shared.

24. In a popular article entitled "Slaves to the Scale," Janice Kaplan (1989) writes: "For many women,being thin is a sign of purity—it's the new virginity. Sexual denial is no longer the chosen means forproviding a woman's worth to a man, but there's been an odd transposition: Good girls denythemselves a different kind of pleasure by learning to say no to food." Lawrence (1984) has drawn aparallel between women's sexual and eating behavior, suggesting that a) food is replacing sex as thefocus of guilt in women's lives; b) behavior patterns involving both index anxieties associated withmeeting needs; c) faking orgasms is like saying we've had enough to eat when we haven't; and d)food pornography featuring tempting, sinful foods mirrors sexual pornography. On the relation-ship between pornography and advertising in the era of AIDS see Enrico (1987).

25. Nutri-System commercials quite blatantly state that in addition to losing weight people will feelthey can conquer the world. Orbach (1978) has noted that women's notion of an ideal "right weight"is magical. One's thin self is associated with success and happiness. However, when they obtain this

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

276 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

"right weight" they may well be confronted with a situation where success has not manifested itselfand they have lost their customary excuses and shields. This situation may feed into the control/release cycle as a person can unhappily gain weight, affording one the option of successfully losingweight in the future.

26. Bartky (1988:66) has likewise noted that the fantasy of selective body part reduction (spot reducing)is scientifically unsound and denies natural differences in body fat distribution. As a disciplinaryproject engaged toward the end of bodily perfection, self inflicted exercise torture yields resultswhich do not measure up to unrealized expectations.

27. Both for dieters and non-dieters alike, dessert choices are expanding. Products like the diet icecream "Sweet Victory" have been introduced into the market as "guilt-free goodies" meant to appealto those who want to have their health or low calories, but also want to indulge themselves ingustatory delights. A chief strategy employed by Weight Watchers to regain their market share afterthe entry of Lean Cuisine has been to step up its focus on individual servings of desserts (the "Thisis Living" Campaign). At a time when a majority of Americans claim to be watching their weight,the projected figure for non-diet premium quality desserts will reach a staggering 4.6 billion dollarsby 1990. Smaller sizes and individual portions are considered to be especially enticing to theconsumer who is going to indulge in a personal high-calorie splurge.

28. Women (as a general group) are more involved in self-checks on "physical presentation" and vigilantmonitoring of body weight and shape than men (Herman and Polivy 1980; Bartky 1988). It has beenwidely reported that slenderness is the single most important determinant of physical attractivenessto American females (Horvath 1979, 1981). Although weight and shape are also important issues tomen, they are not as central to their self-perceptions of attractiveness (Rodin et al. 1985). As rodinand colleagues have noted, "women primarily see their bodies as commodities, their physicalappearance serving as an interpersonal currency" (p. 289). Women report greater self-consciousnessand depression related to their weight and dieting efforts than do males (Klesges and Klesges 1988).Hayes and Ross (1986) suggest that because women traditionally had little bargaining power anddepended on their appearance for power, a lucrative market was created, aimed at helping womenbe attractive. Based on their research, they note that employed women are less concerned with theirappearance than women who are not employed. They suggest that this may be because employedwomen's jobs are a source of bargaining power so they do not have to rely solely on looks. Thisassessment is at odds with the results of a Glamour magazine survey in which readers were asked torank four wishes in order of importance. Weight reduction was selected by 42% of 33,000respondents as a first wish over greater success at work (22% ) or a date with an admired male (21%).When reading the reports of such surveys, one must keep in mind sampling procedures and claimsmade about "women in general." Research is needed on the meaning of appearance among differentgroups of women.

29. It is not just the content of TV programs which needs to be considered in relation to notions of thenormal, natural and desired, but the rate at which events progress. In a world where instantgratification is increasingly being promised through fixes, children are socialized to switch on andoff, follow compressed sequences of action and expect constant change. The media is not merelymarketing the dominant ideology as a vehicle of content. Its very form and means of operation effectsocial relations.

30. Silverstein et al. (1986) performed a content analysis of American television programs and found thedifferences between the portrayal of the sexes was striking. Whereas 69% of the female characterswere rated as thin, only 18% of the male characters were so rated. Only 5% of females on televisionwere rated as heavy compared to 26% of males. On a related note, England et al. (1981) found that inmagazine advertisements, 77% of women portrayed in ads appeared to be under 30, whereas only27% of U.S. adult women are under 30. While 57% of adult women are over 40 years old, only 4% ofwomen depicted in ads were portrayed as being that old. Among males, 37% appeared to be under30 and 27% to be in their forties.

31. We draw the distinction here between products which camouflage by concealing and productswhich mask by creating the illusion of an alternate presence.

32. Articles on dieting fit into a much larger phenomenon of "self-help," "how to" literature that Starker(1988) notes is so prevalent that it can not be dismissed "lightly." Starker quotes a study by Starker(1989) that documented 500,000 self-help groups operating in the U.S. over a decade ago. Self-helpbooks abound and are multiplying at a staggering rate in America. Starker's book, Oracle at the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 277

Supermarket, offers an insightful historical account of the self-help movement juxtaposing dieting,psychological development, life extension, and economic enhancement literature.

33. As this paper goes to press, a current Weight Watcher's advertisement plays off of the theme thatdiamonds are a girl's best friend. Diamonds are a conventional symbol of high exchange value,enduring value, social engagement and security. In the advertisement, diamonds are associatedwith both thinness and individual portion "rich desserts" having few calories.

34. Advertisements promise that both 'pleasures' are obtainable through products that link characteris-tics of the product to characteristics of a model image, which are to be transferred to the consumerwith use (or ownership). By connecting personally and socially desirable values and feelings withcommodities, advertising links the unattainable with the attainable, reassuring us that the former iswithin reach. Barthes' original use of the term puissance is more penetrating. It indexed the bodysensation of the reader of a text, merging the aesthetic with the erotic. In Barthes' words, "Thepleasure of the text is that moment when my body pursues its own ideas—for my body does nothave the same ideas that I do" (1975a:17).

35. This double bind also contributes to other forms of self fragmentation which place women inpositions of risk. For example, intoxicants are used to alter one's sense of self (consciousness)enabling one to be "virgin in cellophane" in one context and a "hot water bottle" in another (Hooper1932). The double bind is 'treated' by booze or drugs which mediate responsibility and compart-mentalize behavior.

36. Control/release double messages are not only structured around the body, but also extensions of ourbody, signifying territories of self. Car ads speak of control in terms of "hard bodies" as well as lowgas consumption, while promising the freedom and release of the road and the girl. After all, "it'snot just your car, it's your freedom," we are told. Enhanced freedom is subtly associated withenhanced power in ads suggesting that larger engine size nets greater driving pleasure.

Cigarettes are marketed as a product associated with both control (a subliminal dieting aid sincethe 1930s) and release-relaxation, a product that marks uniqueness and individuality (Camel man,Marlboro man) as well as an aid facilitating social participation, if not enhancing desirability."Kilowatt beach" sun tan parlors offer a "controlled, even" tan, a sign of release and leisure amongoffice dwellers too busy to go to the beach. Liquor is marketed as a release, yet associated with ameans of enhancing self-confidence and control before a date or a gun fight at the OK Corral.

37. Fueling this industry are expectations that science can produce miracles enabling one to eat as onelikes without weight gain. A good example of this is the popularity of starch blockers. Even whenpulled from the market as being ineffective, they were hoarded by consumers.

38. Group dieting has become increasingly important. Replacing social isolation is group participationand support. For some women, membership in a dieting group, like Overeaters Anonymous, hasbecome a secular form of religion wherein principles of life, not just dieting, are embodied and sinsconfessed. For other women, membership in a less structured group is a means of enhancing willpower through member checks.

39. The Weight Watcher's slogan, "This is not dieting, this is living," restates a "have your cake and eat ittoo" ideology which mediates paradox. Alienation is also mediated. One ad depicts a lone woman"deserted" on a tropical island, an image which to us suggests alienation. Life is okay, we are told,as long as one's treasure chest refrigerator contains lo-cal desserts and a parrot is available andcapable of whistling.

40. According to the marketing manager for Mattel, Barbie's manufacturer, Barbie's popularity is in partdue to the fact that she is not locked into one role. Barbie doesn't have a personality; she takes onmany different persona with each different outfit she adorns. In this sense, Barbie is like a flawlessmodel who is supposed to be polymorphous enough to take on any role.

41. One study (Mori, Chaiken and Pliner 1987) found that women who ate small meals were perceivedas more feminine and more attractive than women who ate large meals.

42. Another example of a trade-off would be the risk of breast enlargement procedures which,according to Dr. Norman Huge, can be expected to result in complications 25-33% of the time. It isestimated that one in every 100 women over the age of 18 years will undergo such a procedure. Thefemale to male ratio for cosmetic surgery is 10:1 (Feldman, Feldman, and Goodman 1988). Two morecommon tradeoffs would be risk to osteoporosis related to dieting and risk to skin cancer increasedby voluntary exposure to the sun or the technology of "sun lamps," all in the name of beauty.

43. Fostering this feedback loop is a dialectical relationship between the field of cultural production and

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

278 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

consumption. This dialectic has been discussed by Bourdieu (1984:231) in an analysis of transforma-tions in taste and systems of goods.

44. Inoculation strategies may take less obvious and more subtle forms. We would include as examplesof inoculation strategy liquor ads such as Budweiser's "Too much of a good time" and Seagram's"Seagrams goes with everything but driving." These messages are two-voiced. They at once appearto be prevention-oriented while conveying a positive message about alcohol consumption.

45. Sontag's argument, while compelling, is problematic. It is overly reductionistic in the sense that sheproposes that there is a "principal causal agent" responsible for each disease controllable by oneprogram of treatment. As Stein (1982) has noted, this repudiates a doctrine of multiple causality andinvalidates the exploration of the mind/body relationship. In her earlier work Sontag arguedforcefully for a process of demetaphorization of cancer which has been critiqued by Scheper-Hughes and Lock (1986). They at once point out the dangers of transforming metaphors intodiseases and the potential which exists for illness metaphors to be contested, reappropriated, andtransformed into critical commentary. In her later work on AIDS, Sontag has suggested a substitu-tion of metaphors. Her argument that military metaphors be replaced with metaphors that will openup more human and less privileged avenues of problem solving concords with suggestions made byMartin (1987) in her work on woman's health and our own work on the meaning of vaccination(Nichter 1990).

46. Barthes has argued that a characteristic of myth is to "naturalize" history and create what hedescribed as its "alibi." The substitution of myth for history leads to alienation from that whichmakes a group or individual unique. Barthes was himself a myth maker. A Marxist proclivity in hisearly writing led him to conceive of mythology strictly in terms of capitalism.

47. See Bateson's essays: "The Logical Categories of Learning and Communication"; "Social Planningand the Concept of Deutero-learning"; and "Style Grace and Information in Primitive Art." All threeessays are found in Steps to an Ecology of the Mind (1972).

48. Doxa entails the embodiment of ideology in much the same way as Althusser's "internal stateapparatus" and Gramsci's notion of hegemony. A limitation of these concepts is that they placeemphasis on reproduction while underappreciating the expense of recognizing diversity andconflict. On this point see Raymond Williams' (1977) discussion of residual and emergent ideologiescoexistent with dominant ideology as well as Comaroff's (1985) and de Certeau's (1984) discussionsof the reappropriation of the conventional.

49. A movement to stage three learning as discussed by Bateson resembles to a limited extentHabermas's discussion of reflexive communication as liberating in the sense of giving voice to thatwhich is tacit, an analogue experience to giving language to the unconscious—the hallmark ofpsychoanalysis. While Bateson recognizes the importance of the communicative act as constitutive("it takes two people to know one"), he appreciates that what is at stake is more than givinglanguage to the tacit (or the unconscious). Entailed is a process of learning about learning, that is,metalearning.

50. Our experimentation with methods of image juxtaposition as a means of deconstruction entails thecollaborative discovery of metonymical relationships upon which notions of the beautiful andsuccessful, despised and stigmatized, are formed. Our aim is to foster dialogue (or a series ofpolylogues) facilitating stage three learning, as distinct from the generation of consensus.

51. Our experimentation complements the critical media analysis advocated by Ellsworth and Larson(1986) as well as the politics of pleasure advocated by Freire and Giroux (1989).

52. The juxtaposition of images described has been incorporated in a course Mark Nichter teaches onculture and the individual to undergraduates at the University of Arizona. This course is beingdeveloped as part of a SIROW project sponsored by the Ford Foundation integrating minoritywomen's issues into undergraduate teaching in the liberal arts.

53. To further drive home this theme see Ngozi Onwurah's film Coffee Colored Children (1988) whichexplores the internalization of racism in England among children of black fathers and whitemothers. The film depicts examples of children attempting to wash their skin white with scouringpowder. On the black community's use of skin lighteners see Lakoff and Scherr (1984) and Peiss(1990). On the continuing impact of skin color on socioeconomic status and "life chances" in theblack community, see Hughes and Hertel (1990). As an historical note, during the 18th centurydepigmentation was practiced in Europe. The pale look signified social standing. Patent medicineswhich were sold commonly contained mercury or lead and poisoned the user. In America, paleness

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 279

as a sign of the leisure class gave way to the tan look in the early 1920s. Fashion designer CocoChanel cultivated the tan look to signify a class set apart from the drudgery of factory work. Theelite altered their style to retain a distinct identity associated with their privileged lifeworld. Today, itcould be argued, the petite bourgeoisie's investment in tanning sessions constitutes a form ofcommodity fetishism. This activity, like depigmentation, is harmful to the physical body, in thiscase predisposing one to skin cancer and premature aging of the skin. Depigmentation is not,however, universally linked to colonialism and European contact. See, for example, Ardener (1954)on the Ibo.

REFERENCES CITED

Aldebaran, V. M.1975 Upright and Hungry: The Contradiction in Psychology of Fat. Journal of Radical Therapy 5:

5-6.Allegrante, J., and R. Sloan

1986 Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace Health Promotion. Prevention Medicine 15:1-8.Althusser, L.

1971 Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Pp.127-186. New York: Monthly Review Press.

American Health Magazine1989 Thompson Medical Company advertisement, October.

Ardener, E. W.1954 Some Ibo Attitudes to Skin Pigmentation. MAN 101:71-73.

Bakhtin, M.1968 Rabelais and His World. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

Barthel, D.1988 Putting on Appearances: Gender and Advertising. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Barthes, R.1973 Mythologies. A. Davis, trans. London: Paladin.1975a The Pleasure of the Text. New York: Hill & Wang.1975b Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption. In European Diet from Pre-

Industrial to Modern Times. R. Elborg and R. Forster, eds. New York: Harper & Row.1983 The Fashion System. New York: Hill and Wang.

Bartky, S.1988 Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power. In Feminism and Foucault. I.

Diamond and L. Quinby, eds. Boston: Northeastern University.Bateson, G.

1972 Steps to an Ecology of the Mind. New York: Ballantine Books.Baudrillard, J.

1981 For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. St. Louis, MO: Telos Press.1983 In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities and Other Essays. New York: Semiotext.1985 The Masses: The Implosion of the Social in the Media. M. Maclean, trans. New Literary

History 16(3): 577-589.1988 Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings. Consumer Society. J. Mourrain, trans. In Mark Poster.

Stanford University Press.Becker, M.

1986 The Tyranny of Health Promotion. Public Health Review 14: 15-25.Bell, D.

1976 The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic Books.Berger, J.

1972 Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books.Betherat, T., and C. Benstein

1979 The Body Has Its Reasons. New York: Avon Books.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

280 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Bordo, S.1988 Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture. In I. Diamond and L.

Quinby, eds. Feminism and Foucault. Boston: Northeastern University Press.1990 Reading the Slender Body. In Body Politics: Women and the Discourses of Science. M. Jacobs,

E. Fox-Keller and S. Shuttleworth, eds. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Boulding, K.

1961 The Image. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Bourdieu, P

1977 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.1980 The Aristocracy of Culture. Media, Culture and Society 2:237-238.1984 Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Translated by R. Nice. New York:

Routledge and Kegan Paul.Bruch, H.

1978 The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress.

Brumberg, J. J.1988 Fasting Girls. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Carr, J. E., and P Vitaliano1982 Depression and the Culture Bound Syndromes: An Ethnobehavioral View. Paper presented at

Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November.Chaiken, S., and P Pliner

1987 Women, but Not Men, Are What They Eat: The Effect of Meal Size and Gender on PerceivedFemininity and Masculinity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 13:166-176.

Charlton, A.1984 Smoking and Weight Control in Teenagers. Public Health: London 98:277-281.

Chemin, K.1981 The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness. New York: Harper & Row.1985 The Hungry Self: Women, Eating & Identity. New York: Harper & Row.

Collins, M.1988 Education for Healthy Body Weight: Helping Adolescents Balance the Cultural Pressure for

Thinness. Journal of School Health (August) 58:227-231.Comaroff, J.

1985 Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: The Culture and History of a South African People.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Crawford, R.1984 A Cultural Account of "Health": Control, Release, and the Social Body. In Issues in the Political

Economy of Health Care. J. McKinley, ed. Pp. 60-101. London: Tavistock.Davies, E., and A. Furnham

1986 Body Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls. British Journal of Medical Psychology 59:279-287.Davis-Floyd, R.

1990 The Role of Obstetrical Rituals in the Resolution of Cultural Anomaly. Social Science andMedicine 31(2):175-189.

de Certeau, M.1984 The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Douglas, M., and A. Wildowski1983 Risk and Culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Downs, C. A., and S. K. Harrison1985 Embarrassing Age Spots or Just Plain Ugly? Physical Attractiveness Stereotyping as an

Instrument of Sexism on American Television Commercials. Sex Roles 13:9-19.Elias, M.

1978 The Civilizing Process: A History of Manners. New York: Pantheon.Ellsworth, E., and M. K.

1986 Critical Media Analysis, Radical Pedagogy, and MTV. Feminist Teacher 2(1).England, P., A. Kuhn, and T. Gardner

1981 The Ages of Men and Women in Magazine Advertising. Journalism Quarterly 58:468-471.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 281

Enrico, D.1987 Flouting Taboo, Sexy New Ads Raise Eyebrows and Ire. Adweek 37(50):50-58.

Evans, E. D., J. Rutberg, C. Sather, and C. Turnern.d. Content Analysis of Contemporary Teen Magazine. Unpublished manuscript.

Ewen, S.1988 All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture. New York: Basic Books.

Feldman, W., E. Feldman, and J. T. Goodman1988 Culture Versus Biology: Children's Attitudes Toward Thinness and Fatness. Pediatrics (Febru-

ary) 81:190-194.Fielding, J. E.

1987 Smoking and Women: Tragedy of the Majority. New England Journal of Medicine 317(21):1343-1345.

Food and Beverage Marketing1987 Low-Cal Foods Gain Favor. Food and Beverage (March):6.

Foucault, M.1979 Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage

Books.1980a Power and Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings. Brighton, England: Harvester.1980b The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1. New York: Vintage.

Freedman, R. J.1984 Reflections on Beauty as it Relates to Health in Adolescent Females. Women's Health 9:29-45.

Freire, P, and H. Giroux1989 Pedagogy, Popular Culture and Public Life: An Introduction. In H. Giroux and R. Simon, eds.

Popular Culture, Schooling, and Everyday Life. Boston: Bergin and Garvey.Garner, D. M., P. E. Garfinkel, D. Schwartz, and M. Thompson

1980 Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women. Psychological Reports 47:483-491.Garrow, J.

1978 The Regulation of Energy Expenditure. Recent Advances in Obesity Research 2:200-210.Gillick, M. R.

1984 Health Promotion, Jogging and the Pursuit of the Moral Life. Journal of Health Politics, Policyand Law 9:369-387.

Giroux, H.1983 Theory and Resistance in Education. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey.

Goffman, I.1971 Relations in Public. New York: Harper & Row.

Gremillion, H.1989 Psychiatry as Social Ordering: Anorexia Nervosa, a Paradigm. Paper presented at the Annual

Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, November.Grossberg, L.

1988 Putting the Pop Back into Post Modernism in Unusual Abandon? The Politics of Postmodern-ism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Habermas, T.1989 The Psychiatric History of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: Weight Concerns and

Bulemic Symptoms in Early Case Reports. International Journal of Earing Disorders 8:259-273.

Haley, J.1985 Problem Solving Therapy. New York: Harper & Row.

Hawkins, R. C., and P. E Clement1980 Development and Construction Validation of a Self-Report Measure of Binge Tendencies.

Addictive Behaviors 5:219-226-D.Hayes, D., and C. E. Ross

1986 Body and Mind: The Effect of Exercise, Overweight, and Physical Health on PsychologicalWell-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior (December) 27:387-400.

Hebdige, D.1979 Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Methuen.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

282 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Herman, C. P., and J. Polivy1980 Restrained Eating. In Obesity. A. J. Stunkard, ed. Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders.

Heyn, D.1989 Body Hate. Ms. Magazine, (July/August) 35-36.

Holland, D., and M. Eisenhart1990 Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement and College Culture. Chicago: University of

Chicago Press.Hooper, B.

1932 Virgins in Cellophane: From Maker to Consumer Untouched by Human Hand. New York:Long and Smith.

Horvath, T.1979 Correlates of Physical Beauty in Men and Women. Social Behavior and Personality 7:145-151.1981 Physical Attractiveness: The Influence of Selected Torso Parameters. Archives of Sexual

Behavior 10:21-24.Hughes, M., and B. Hertel

1990 The Significance of Color Remains: A Study of Life Chances, Mate Selection and EthnicConsciousness Among Black Americans. Social Forces 68(4):1105-1120.

Illich, I.1975 Medical Nemesis. London: Marion Boyars.1986 Body History. Lancet, Dec. 6: 1325-1327.

Jordan, B., and J. A. Goldberg1977 The Portrayal of Liquor and Liquor Consumption in Popular Magazine Advertisements in the

United States. In Proceedings of the 23rd International Institute on the Prevention andTreatment of Alcoholism, International Council on Alcohol and Addictions. Lausanne,Switzerland, June.

Kaplan, J.1989 Slaves to the Scale. Self Magazine (September) 192-195.

Kaufman, L.1980 Prime-Time Nutrition. Journal of Communication (Summer) 30.

Kelman, S.1976 The Social Nature of the Definition Problem in Health. International Journal of Health Services

5:625-642.Keyser, S. J.

1983 There is Method in their Adness: The Formal Structure of Advertisement. New LiteraryHistory (Winter)14(3):305-334.

Kilwein, J. H.1989 No Pain, No Gain: A Puritan Legacy. Health Education Quarterly (Spring) 16:9-12.

Kirkpatrick, S. W., and D. M. Sanders1978 Body Image Stereotypes: A Developmental Comparison. Journal of Genetic Psychology

132:87-95.Klesges, R., and L. Klesges

1988 Cigarette Smoking as a Dieting Strategy in a University Population. International Journal ofEating Disorders 7:413-419.

Lakoff, R., and R. Scherr1984 Face Value: The Politics of Beauty. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Lasch, C.1979 The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. New York:

Warner Books.Lawrence, M.

1979 Anorexia Nervosa: The Central Paradox. Women's Studies International Quarterly, 2, 93-101.1984 Education and Identity: Thoughts on the Social Origins of Anorexia. Women's Studies

International Forum 7:201-209.Lears, T. J.

1983 From Salvation to Self-realization: Advertising and the Therapeutic Roots of the ConsumerCulture, 1880-1930. In The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American History1880-1980. R. Fox and T. J. Lears, eds. New York: Pantheon Books.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

Hype and Weight 283

Lempert Report1986 More Men Counting Calories—Lo Cal Market Faltering. Dec. 31:3.

Martin, E.1987 The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

McCarthy, W. J., and E. R. Gritz1987 Madison Avenue as the Pied Piper: Cigarette Advertising and Teenage Smoking. Paper

presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York City,August.

McRobbie, A.1982 Jackie: An Ideology of Adolescent Femininity. In Popular Culture Past and Present. B. Waites,

T. Bennet, and G. Martin, eds. Pp. 263-283. London: Crown Helm/Open University Press.Millard, A.

1990 The Place of the Clock in Pediatric Advice: Rationales, Cultural Themes, and Impediments toBreastfeeding. Social Science and Medicine 31(2):211-221.

Mintz, S.1985 Sweetness and Power. New York: Penguin.

Mitchell, J.1987 "Going for the Burn" and "Pumping Iron" : What's Healthy about the Current Fitness Boom? In

M. Lawrence, ed. Fed Up and Hungry: Women, Oppression, and Food. New York: PeterBedrick Books.

Mori, D., K. Chaikin, and P. Pliner1987 Eating Lightly and the Self-Presentation of Femininity. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology 53:693-702.Morse, M.

1987 Artemis Aging: Exercise and the Female Body on Video. Discourse X (l):20-53.Neubauer, D., and R. Pratt

1981 The Second Public Health Resolution: A Critical Appraisal. Journal of Health Politics, Policyand Law 6:205-228.

Nichter, M.1990 Vaccination in South Asia: False Expectations and Commanding Metaphors. In Anthropology

and Primary Health Care. J. Coreil and D. Mull, eds. Connecticut: Westwood Publishers.O'Neil, J.

1985 Five Bodies: The Human Shape of Modern Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Onwurah, N.

1988 Coffee Colored Children (film). United Kingdom.Orbach, S.

1978 Fat is a Feminist Issue. New York: Paddington Press.Peiss, K.

1990 Making Faces: The Cosmetics Industry and the Cultural Construction of Gender, 1890-1930.Genders 7.

Pirie, P., D. Murray, and R. Luepker1991 Cigarette Smoking and Quitting in a Cohort of Young Adults. American Journal of Public

Health 81(3).Polivy, J., and C. P. Herman

1983 Breaking the Diet Habit. New York: Basic Books.Progressive Grocer

1986 Who's On a Diet? Progressive Grocer (February): 12.Richardson, S. A., A. H. Hastorf, N. Goodman, and S. M. Dornbusch

1961 Cultural Uniformity in Reaction to Physical Disabilities. American Sociological Review 26:241-247.

Rieff, P.1966 Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud. New York: Harper & Row.

Rodin, J., L. R. Silberstein, and R. H. Striegel-Moore1985 Women and Weight: A Normative Discontent. In Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Psy-

chology and Gender. (Vol. 32) T. B. Sonderegger, ed. Pp. 267-307. Lincoln, NE: University ofNebraska Press.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014

284 M. Nichter, M. Nichter

Rosen, J., and J. Gross1987 Prevalence of Weight Reducing and Weight Gaining in Adolescent Girls and Boys. Health

Psychology 6(2):131-147.Satre, J. E

1972 The Psychology of Imagination. London: Methuen.Scheper-Hughes, N., and M. Lock

1986 Speaking Truth to Illness: Metaphor, Reification, and a Pedagogy for Patients. MedicalAnthropology Quarterly 17(5):137-140.

Schudson, M.1984 Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion. New York: Basic Books.

Schwartz, H.1986 Never Satisfied. New York: Free Press.

Seid, R. P.1988 Never Too Thin: Why Women Are at War With Their Bodies. New York: Prentice Hall.

Seventeen Magazine1989 Why Are Girls Obsessed. Seventeen (October): 118-119.

Shields, M. J.1986 Diet Ice Cream: Sweet Reception? Adweek (January 6) 27:1, 6.

Silverstein, B., L. Perdue, B. Peterson, and E. Kelly1986 The Role of the Mass Media in Promoting a Thin Standard of Bodily Attractiveness for Women.

Sex Roles 14:519-532.Sontag, S.

1977 Illness as Metaphor. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.1989 AIDS and Its Metaphors. Toronto: Collins.

Starker, S.1989 Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation with Self-Help Books. New

Brunswick: Transaction Books.Stein, H. F.

1980 Illness as Metaphor. Journal of Psychological Anthropology 3:33-38.1982 Neo-Darwinism and Survival Through Fitness in Reagan's America. Journal of Psychohistory

10:163-187.Steiner-Adair, C.

1986 The Body Politic: Normal Female Development and the Development of Eating Disorders.Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis 14(1):95-114.

Stewart, D.1989 In the Cutthroat World of Toy Sales, Child's Play is Serious Business. Smithsonian (December):

73-83.Turner, B.

1984 The Body and Society. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Tyler, S.

1987 The Unspeakable: Discourse, Dialogue, Rhetoric in the Postmodern World. Madison: Univer-sity of Wisconsin Press.

Wilkinson, R.1986 American Tough: The Tough-Guy Tradition and American Character. New York: Harper

& Row.Williams, R.

1977 Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Williamson, J.

1978 Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. London: Marion Boyars.1986 Consuming Passions: The Dynamics of Popular Culture. London: Marion Boyars.

Willis, P.1981 Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. New York: Columbia

University Press.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f A

rizo

na]

at 0

7:21

23

Aug

ust 2

014