of inadequacy. In contemporary society young women easily cling to dieting precisely .
because it is widely practiced and an admired form of cultural expression.
In the twentieth century, the body "not the face "became the focus of female .
beauty. As a consequence of this media portrayal of beauty, dieting has moved from the .
border to the center of women's lives and culture. Nearly 50% of all women are on a diet .
at any given time (Bordo 140). The fact that women have such strong concerns about .
attractiveness is compelling evidence for the power of dieting message. Given western .
culture's longstanding admiration of thinness, it is no wonder that so many young women .
resort to dieting and that eating disorders have become part of the psychopathology of .
females.
With this in mind it is no wonder that the diet industry is booming on the promise .
of making everyone look the way they want to. Diet commercials are constantly .
appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose the weight, we will be .
happy, content, and successful. You stand in the check out line at the grocery store .
surrounded by magazines claiming to have the newest and best diet. Each month another .
new diet appears claiming to be the diet to end all diets. Dieting has become an obsession .
in modern western culture. Many of the diets on the market right now are unhealthy. .
They deprive you of the proper nutrition your body needs to survive and can lead to .
health problems.
The diet and fashion industries are not totally to blame for society's obsession .
with thinness. We are the ones keeping them in business. "It is clear that a very large .
percentage of American women are unhappy with their bodies," says Joan Jacobs .
Brumberg, author of "The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls," (1998). .
"That kind of unhappiness begins very, very early in life," she says. The rise of plastic .
surgery, the prevalence of dieting and the high number of women in therapy are examples .
