{"id":458,"date":"2025-05-23T17:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T16:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/riotandreason\/?p=458"},"modified":"2025-06-05T16:23:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T15:23:52","slug":"diet-culture-control-feminism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/riotandreason\/2025\/05\/23\/diet-culture-control-feminism\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungry girls are quiet: The Politics of Not Shrinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u2018Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women\u2019s history.\u2019 – Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth. <\/em>
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Content warning: This article discusses dieting, eating disorders and body image. If you\u2019re struggling or feel triggered by this topic, please consider whether reading on is right for you today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re trying to lose weight, it takes hold of everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You count calories like they\u2019re sins<\/a>. You check your body in every reflection. Every waking thought is about food – when to eat, what to eat, what not to eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s little room for dreaming when you\u2019re hungry. There\u2019s certainly no room for rage, resistance or anything beyond obsessive, panoptical self-surveillance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s the point. Behind a glossy facade of \u2018wellness\u2019 and \u2018discipline\u2019 is something far darker\u2026 control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A now-classic study<\/a> by Fredrickson and Roberts tested what happens when women are made hyper-aware of their bodies. Two groups were asked to try on different clothing before sitting a difficult maths test. One group wore a jumper and the other wore a swimsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results? The women in swimsuits performed significantly worse. And men\u2019s scores were completely unaffected. The researchers argued that self-objectification – the internalised sense of being watched and judged – drains cognitive resources. You\u2019re so busy thinking about how you look that you can\u2019t think at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just about clothes. A 1995 study<\/a> by Green and Rogers from the University of Bristol found that women who were actively dieting also performed worse in cognitive tasks than those who weren\u2019t. Hunger consumes mental space and energy that could otherwise be used to speak, create, challenge or resist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diet culture doesn\u2019t just say \u2018be thinner.\u2019 It says be smaller, be quieter, take up less room – mentally, physically, politically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Beauty Myth<\/em>, author Naomi Wolf says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience.\u2019 <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In her book, she describes the psychological impact of restriction – women becoming anxious, emotional and docile. Subjects of semi-starvation experiments became obsessed with food, emotionally unstable and unable to concentrate – not unlike the millions now glued to calorie-counting apps and \u2018clean eating\u2019 TikToks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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@m111tski<\/a>

Progress #fyp<\/a> #foru<\/a> #glowup<\/a> #workoutmotivation<\/a> #healthyeating<\/a> #wlmotivation<\/a> #dlaciebie<\/a> #weightloss<\/a> #diet<\/a> #motivation<\/a> #slavicdoll<\/a> <\/p> \u266c original sound – beckywtheokhair<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote>