Abstract
In his recent bestselling fiction novel Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe uses the graphic term “social x-rays” to describe the gaunt, transparent appearance of the high society women who have starved themselves to become thin despite their advancing age. Horror to the middle-aged wife who finds one of her husband’s male friends is now married to a younger, and thinner, attractive woman. One does not have to be an observant social scientist to note the culturally endorsed emphasis on thinness, and now increasingly, fitness. The amateur social scientist needs only to take a stroll through daily life to collect numerous examples of the cultural preoccupation with thinness, especially for women: commercials for designer jeans, Virginia Slims cigarettes (targeted toward women), “Lite” foods, the constant running battle between food, body weight, and the bathing suit in the Cathy cartoons, and lead articles on check-out stand newspapers boasting a new plan for “Ten Days to Thinner Thighs!” are but a few examples.
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© 1994 Plenum Press, New York
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Mizes, J.S. (1994). Eating Disorders. In: Van Hasselt, V.B., Hersen, M. (eds) Advanced Abnormal Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0345-0_13
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