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> People in the 50s weren't slimmer because they had ironclad determination to stay such.

No. They lived in an overall healthier environment. But they were also subject to much greater social pressure to stay slim and could endure fairly intense social judgment and stigmatization for weights that we consider normal (particularly women).




> They lived in an overall healthier environment.

They lived in a different environment. The universal appetite-reduction drug was nicotine, and the common methods of administration had a number of undesirable side effects.


Yup. Don't forget that using amphetamines for the same purpose was socially accepted/considered a worthwhile tradeoff.


And ample availability of calorie-free barbituates instead of just calorie-rich (and appetite-stimulating) ethanol


"Overall healthier environment". Meaning, food was relatively scarce. No Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, convenience store on every corner. Coca-cola was not available in 2-liter bottles or in 24 packs of cans. No Costco-sized mutlipacks of anything.

In the 1950s, malnutrition was a serious issue that many people in poor areas died from. When was the last time someone died because they didn't have access to food? Obviously, the other side of that coin is that food being so plentiful, people eat much, much more than ever before.


Starvation was not a major issue in the US in the 1950s.

Food abundance is good, but it is not the answer to this question. For example, in America today the richest locations tend to be the most physically fit.


That's kind of the point. Poor people today have no problem obtaining and consuming enormous quantities of food, and jave high obesity rates as a result. Unlike prior eras, being rich doesn't provide an advantage when it comes to accessing food (as opposed to housing, leisure time, luxury items, etc)


So rich people just have better eating habits bred into them genetically...?


Then why are people scrambling for Ozempic? If it were true that "people think being fat is totally fine or desirable now" then this wouldn't be a blockbuster drug.

Weak thesis.


Both things are true.

There was a far more vicious shaming culture 50-70 years ago about things like being obese. And culturally it's still looked down upon to be obese, it's just not as acceptable to be vicious about it (and of course sometimes people still are).

Today however there is a lot more "always on" pressure: social media is a huge component to social, social acceptance, socializing, social learning & sharing, getting to date people, et al. That's a form of individually focused media pressure that didn't exist back then. And sure you can turn it off, not partake, but there are usually serious consequences especially for younger people.

That's the context.


I didn't say it isn't true that people were shamed more often in the past, I said it has little to no explanatory power of the current health crisis because obviously there is no lack of desire from people to be slimmer.


I think it's a little bit of a silly thought to think that just because people want to be slimmer now, they want to do so just as much as they would have facing harsher social pressures in the 1950's.


How big were the health food, gym, and fitness industries in the 50s?

Answer: literally non-existent.


How big were the 'crash diet' and 'smoke cigarettes to stay thin' and 'use amphetamines to stay thin' industries?

Indeed, we have the inception of Weight Watchers at the start of the next decade, replacing far crazier things like the cabbage diet being used en masse.

Yes, it was easier in some ways to live a healthier life; one reason why was the rampant social policing of each other's weight.


The prevalence of dedicated dieting or weight loss efforts has increased over time. The success of those efforts has decreased over time.


> The prevalence of dedicated dieting or weight loss efforts has increased over time.

Perhaps, perhaps not. But you'd expect that if there's many different causes making weight gain more common and only one is changes in social pressures (as I've already stipulated in each post).

And, likewise, as stipulated above: overt social stigma is not the only reason why people might prefer to be of a lower weight.

> The success of those efforts has decreased over time.

Well, one reason for this is that we've reduced the use of obviously harmful but effective weight loss techniques like cigarettes and stimulants. The 1950s were the era of the rainbow diet pill clinic, where you'd walk in and get a personalized cocktail of amphetamines and thyroid drugs and laxatives and diuretics to help you control weight.


Non sense... There were not a particularly big stigma about being obese 50 or 70 years ago. Socially stigma were more about gender roles, sexuality etc...etc...


There was a huge stigma about being obese 50-70 years ago. It was wholly unacceptable for children, young persons and women in particular. Exclusively older men were allowed to be obese culturally without being shamed about it.

As recently as the 1980s movies were overloaded with jokes about fat people, it was extremely common. That's stigma in action culturally.


The 80's were 40 years ago... I am not sure where you get your reference from... Jokes about fat people and stigma about being fat aren't the same thing


They smoked.




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