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6 Fat City : American Weigh t Gain s in th e Twentiet h Centur y No stud y o f the moder n America n hostilit y t o fat woul d b e com plete without explorin g it s great anomaly: during the very century in whic h die t standard s hav e bee n eve r mor e rigorousl y urged , average America n weigh t ha s gon e up , rathe r markedly . Thi s i s true eve n whe n weigh t gains ar e controlle d fo r height , whic h ha s also increased . Foreig n observer s ofte n not e thei r surpris e a t how heavy man y American s are , bu t homegrow n dat a ar e quit e ade quate to make the point. Indeed, a quite noticeable average weight gain during the 1980s and early 1990s made national news in 1995. It is just as important to note that even before this surge, American poundage expanded . This i s no t a historica l discovery , bu t i t als o ha s neve r bee n properly assessed. Hille l Schwartz' s histor y of dieting notes weight gains, bu t onl y i n passing . Schwart z clearl y finds i t amusin g tha t amid al l th e die t fanfar e American s becam e fatte r —and i t i s a real historica l iron y —but a s a n antidieter , h e largel y leave s hi s assessment wit h th e implicatio n tha t th e joke' s o n us . Studie s o f American eating provide useful data , but they have not done much with th e moder n die t craz e an d s o leav e th e obviou s question s unexplored. This is not a richly researched area , and the tendenc y to separat e wor k o n eatin g fro m wor k o n dietin g compound s th e problem. It is time to do better. Clearly, th e wave s o f die t advic e an d th e pervasiv e cultura l hostility t o fa t hav e no t bee n full y effective . Thi s doe s no t mea n that th e cultur e w e hav e bee n examinin g i s insignificant . Man y individual American s hav e followe d i t an d stil l mor e hav e tried , 127 128 I Fat City: American Weight Gains in the Twentieth Century and wher e increasin g fa t ha s seepe d throug h despit e th e culture , the resul t has been heightene d worr y and persona l insecurity . Bu t it does mean that the culture's impact is complex. It is not enough to characterize the culture as an obsession along the lines of some feminist analysi s without notin g that many, many Americans hav e ignored i t i n practic e — and women , mor e overweigh t tha n men , have headed the pack. A variety o f factors hav e worke d agains t th e ful l succes s o f the modern die t ethic . I t i s importan t t o remembe r tha t th e ne w standards bega n t o kic k i n fro m th e 1890 s onward , a tim e whe n more peopl e were becoming mor e sedentar y an d when bot h foo d and the money to afford rich food were becoming more abundant . Growing concer n abou t dieting was not simply caused b y the fac t that i t wa s no w easie r t o pu t o n weigh t —the ne w standards at tempted t o pres s fo r greate r slenderness , no t merel y maintainin g the status quo — but this was a factor. The inescapabl e datum that , for man y American s i n th e twentiet h century , actua l eatin g ha s outstripped actua l dietin g help s explai n th e growin g rigo r o f th e diet advice and the frequent desperatio n of many people who have found thei r bodies escaping their control . It is the...

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