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This Continual Reinforcement Of The Message That Being Overweight Was ...

This continual reinforcement of the message that being overweight was unacceptable left a comfortable niche for marketers of weight-reducing schemes to claim.
The introduction of Lesley Hornby signified a major change for women on both continents. The British-born Hornbybetter known as ‘Twiggy'became an overnight international sensation. She is considered by many to be the ‘world's first supermodel'. Twiggy's debut onto the New York scene was another turning point. ‘Within a year after Twiggy's debut, the editorial and advertising cheering sections at women's magazines had shifted into high gear and added exercising to their lists of must-do's' explains Poulton. Thinnessas personified by Twiggywas an absolute must, and this dictum was treated with stringent rigidity. Poulton uses an excerpt from a Mademoiselle article of the period: ‘Creampuffs, there's no escape. Whip yourself into super shape and stay that way' (1997: 45). The attitudes taken were both imperative and encouragingnot to mention confusingand set a tone that in coming years would grow much more severe. McRobbie refers to the ‘boyish femininity of the girls' of this period as ‘best exemplified in the early fashion shots of Twiggy' (2000: 20).
The ‘Twiggy' standard has not really changed much since storming the scene in the 70s. ‘The standard of beauty crystallized into a single dominant body image mandated by those who, knowingly or unwittingly, were doing the bidding of marketers' notes Poulton (1997: 54). Styles changed radicallyhot pants, hip huggers, mini-skirts, maxi-skirtsthe list is endless. Throughout all this, the paradigm of thinness has remained the standard towards which women should strive. If thin was in, ‘too thin' was even more acceptableand encouraged: ‘In the magazines and on the fashion runways, the twirling girls grew thinner and younger by the year. . . . Meanwhile, real women were getting plumper with every technological advance that made physical labor obsolete, and with every new fat-laden food that came on the market' (Poulton, 1997: 5960).
Yet not all women were able to achieve this unrealistic standard, thus beginning a wave of isolation and rejection that did little for women's mental or physical health. Those who were unable to fit into this mold became alienated, and often internalised this alienation. As outcasts among their gender, their desires to be accepted would be used as a means of exploitation and manipulationthe diet industrythat would also make the manufacturers of those products very rich.


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