In her article "Too "Close to the Bone": The Historical Context for Women's Obsession with Slenderness", Roberta Seid scrutinizes what she calls the historical context, as well as the negative effect of society's view of slenderness. Seid main point in the article is that the current ideal body size of humanity is much too emaciated to be beneficial. This essay will summarize and comment on Seid's ideas on the hunt for thinness as a religion, the social trend towards it, and why those who are mostly affected by it are women. (Seid).
In the article, Seid makes the declaration that the hunt for thinness has turned out to be more or less of a religion. She shows that there is compensation and punishment by society in following the doctrines of this religion, pounds, clothing sizes, body measurements show that virtue. Seid says that the ideal body weight has never been as thin as it has in today's society. Actually, Seid claims, past societies often ridiculed and felt sorry for thin people. Past generation thought that size meant that you were emotionally stable and you were happy (Seid).
In addition, Seid noticed a societal fad for slenderness that began after World War II. A large campaign to lose weight took place. The ideal of slenderness grew over the decades. Everyone was beginning to labeled each other as overweight. Critics thought that if you were overweight it was not anyone fault but your own. It meant you did not have any determination nor did you want lose it. Seid mention that the thinner people are not really healthier than large people are. She also states that attempts to achieve society's ideal weight have its downfalls; this is why many eating disorders come into existence. The pursuit of this slender body is why so many people live an unhappy life (Seid).
Finally, this struggle for thinness mainly affects women. She suggests that the societal ideal of weight is too close to that of a male and that most women cannot achieve that.
