the history of dieting is crazier than you think

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What I think is really interesting is that thin bodies are seen as more attractive if societes have very high food security. Fuller bodies are seen as more beautiful in societes with food scarcity. You can even follow these trends through the decades and different places in the world. This is of course just one aspect of the dynamic of body ideals.

"The fat person, usually a fat woman, is represented not as a person but as something encasing a person, something from which a person must escape." This made me cry, I have never found a more eloquent way to put it.

As a former anorexic, I'm happy to say I watched this while happily snacking on curly fries. Fuck dieting. I'm invested in my health and wellbeing, not my weight or appearance. For this reason I try to exercise regularly and eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full, and I try to get at least some veggies in every day. If I'm extra hungry, I eat extra. If I've got a major craving for curly fries, I'mma eat some curly fries.

"I'm so safe I can afford to ignore abundance" this is how I feel about minimalist and de-cluttering movements, sort of. Well, it makes sense. My grandma started hoarding as a response to scarcity and I start minimalism as a response to her burden.

As someone who's studied the history of dieting in grad school, this was a very well-researched video! I think a newer development with a lot of modern dieting is promoting this idea that your body doesn’t function properly Ex. Detoxes. Your liver already does that you don’t need to go on a juice cleanse.

I could listen to her explain anything. she makes everything so interesting.

The fact that dieting can be a form of empowerment to one generation and the antithesis of that to another generation is fascinating. It truly emphasizes the full grasp that these social constructs can have on an individual’s identity.

Body types should not be "fashionable." Can bodies just fucking exist?

It's important to note that the societal anxiety around women's fertility was very specifically about white women's fertility, and when people wrote about the race dying out because of (white) women attending college, it wasn't the human race they were talking about. This goes hand-in-hand with the image of Black women and Jewish women as fat and fecund - and this specific anxiety survives today, sometimes referred to as "The Great Replacement Theory."

I had an eating disorder my whole life till I was 28. My parents never kept a lot of food in the house and were always obsessed with my weight. I recovered from my disorder and gained weight which is understandable, but instead of being proud of me or praising me, my parents fat-shamed the F out of me. They shamed me on a constant basis and it's one of the reasons they are no longer in my life. I'm healthier than I've ever been today and that's what matters

i just wanna put this out here for everybody. beauty standards are impossible to keep up with. it does not matter what u do, it doesn’t matter how u dress, how much u weigh, or how u do ur makeup. ur never going to find true happiness or confidence if it roots in how society currently thinks u should look.

I use this video as a tool in my ED recovery. When I struggle to feed myself, I watch this while I prepare and eat food. Nothing gets me more in the mood to eat than saying "f*** you" to patriarchy. Thank you so much for posting this, you are a treasure and you are helping people.

Crazy that women in the 1920s are stereotyped as being very thin and clearly were thought of as thin by society at the time and yet by todays standards I wouldn’t describe any of women in photos from the 20s as being thin - we have pushed thinness to a wholeee new level in the last 30 years that I think would shock people of previous eras

The desire for thinness also came about in the late 19th century because of the romanticization of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was seen as an almost angelic disease (the same way people romanticize depression now) which left the sufferer with rosy cheeks, a gaunt frame, and tragic mortality. Poets wrote about TB extensively and the people given death sentences would often go on luxurious vacations to rest and relax. Susan Sontag wrote about it in Illness as Metaphor, which is a really interesting read!

I grew up in a household with NO speak of diets, body image or negativity surrounding food. When i grew up and went into the real world, I am still shocked to see how sad and bad diet culture is! My mother in law comments about feeling fat in front of her kids. The woman had 5 kids, and she is this harsh on herself! Its so damn sad to hear.

I love how you brought up how diet culture became racist, classist, etc. I really was touched by the mentioning of feminism because it made me think of a current experience I am having. I gave birth 7 months ago, and pregnancy was awful. And something outside of complications I will never forget is how I was treated while pregnant and after. A bit of background: before pregnancy, I was fit and muscular, plus size but no one noticed much. I never dealt with so much fat phobia until pregnancy. I also was objectified openly by men in public or struggled to find clothes that fit, and I still struggle. It's to the point it's not even just about weight anymore. I dont like having hips or breasts, I cry not just at fatness, but more I cannot stand seeing the things that make me feminine. This video made me realize that in a say diet culture was pushed toward women, and somehow we got "young, stick with no figure to show any feminity" is desirable, and in a way diet culture shames women for having feminine features. Ok, I feel this comment is verbal vomit, but I hope I make sense.

Great video again, Mina! And thank you for mentioning the difficult history dieting has in the Jewish community. It's not typically included in these discussions. <3

I've started eating disorder treatment recently and learning about nutrition from the perspective of like ... NOT diets has been absolutely mind blowing and transformative. Diet culture has really destroyed culture throughout history and where we've ended up as a society has so deeply ingrained such disordered behavior its honestly shocking to me more people don't have eating disorders. Also I've never been this early to your videos! I'm a huge fan and you've been such a big influence in me getting into fashion and makeup. Love you!! <3

The conversations about dieting being feminist sound a lot like the conversations we're having now about makeup and (especially) plastic surgery.