1975 diary shocker

[NorthernGirl1975]

As part of my PhD I'm looking at primary sources. I'm currently reading a diary from 50 years ago. The writer is obsessed with how she looks, what she eats and weighs and whether or not she's pretty.

There are lots of references to getting male attention. She goes to a summer gala with her friend and talks about the ice cream man being fit.

Then says she and the friend were chatted up on the bus and "Wolf whistled by two guys so that's not bad to say I'm a stone overweight". Earlier she's stated she weighs eight stone three. Says she's joining weight watchers as no guy would want to be seen around with a fat ugly girlfriend. Some guy who looks like Steve Harley keeps staring at her.

She went to buy a dress she liked but there was only one and it was a size 14 and too big. That's a 10 today isn't it? Christ knows what size she wanted to be. She's written measurements down as "35-25-35" and is obsessed with looking like one of Pam's People.

This is so depressing.

I kept a diary from the age of 12 to early 20s, so it effectively details my growing up in the 90s. I was well read, ambitious and thoughtful, with a keen interest in the world around me.

But you wouldn't get any of that from my diaries! They're gossipy and self obsessed. An external place to sort my head out.Early years wondering why I can't get a bf. Friendship issues, who's said what etc. Later years, blow by blow accounts of nights out and sexual encounters. My kids won't be allowed to read those until I'm dead. 😄

Yes, my diaries from late eighties just gossip about friends, where we went, what we did with who.

My family say,"He could start a fight in an empty room."

I ensured my teenage years in the 90s whilst the whole 'heroin chic' era was in full swing and I grew up hating my body, which is a damn shame given that I was in fact slim and very sporty at the time, but not the idealised bag of bones we apparently had to aspire to then. Kate Moss and her sodding 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' mantra was everywhere. I was really glad to see the back of that particular fashion movement. We did seem to move towards a healthier place when it all became about being stronger and eating well rather than just skinny. Now however we seem to be back to extremes of those desperate to be skinny (celebs falling over themselves to get on the jabs), or the other extreme where we ignore the health issues that come with being obese and celebrate it as a lifestyle choice and an affirmation of loving ourselves and being comfortable. Personally I'd like to see a move towards more of a middle ground where neither extreme is seen as something to aim for. That said I don't think there is ever a reality where there isn't money to be made in making people (women in particular) feel uncomfortable about themselves so I doubt we will ever end up in a place where women aren't judged by how they look and feel they need to conform to some ideal or the other.

The thread title doesn't give any hint about the content, so people clicking on it won't know what it's about until they read it.
I think the general public is extremely interested in weight loss and dieting.
Not just MN.

The thread title doesn't give any hint about the content, so people clicking on it won't know what it's about until they read it.

But the 'mysterious' thread title will entice posters in and then they will decide whether or not to engage - the same decision just a bit further down the line and maybe a somewhat different sample of posters

It is dramatic, immature and ethically concerning.

During training, medics are expected to treat cadavers with respect. This thread has shown that such respect has yet to extend to the social sciences, and in particular, PhD training.

I am quite sure that if the thread title had said

"Women were obsessed with their weight in 1975 - has nothing changed?"

..........then it would have attracted exactly the same responses.

It is dramatic, immature and ethically concerning.

What nonsense.

There have already been warnings about posts like yours. Report the thread if you are concerned. MN is not concerned and neither are the majority of posters. Its an interesting and informative thread.

But where has the OP shown disrespect to the diary's author?

If the OP had spoken the exact same words in the first post in a conference presentation - which happened to be recorded and uploaded to YouTube - I'm not convinced the critics on this thread would feel that that was a problem.

I'm not sure why. I wonder whether it's because in that situation, the research is presented in an academic space rather than a more open or democratic space. Perhaps by chatting about the research process, the OP is revealing that our practices are often quite mundane and our work is quite ordinary. And woe betide we enjoy doing research, when we're meant to be suffering for our art!

MN clarified that the ethics of the post were not their concern. That is not to say the university will take the same perspective.

This WAS a great thread...

We inherited my grandmas diaries when she died (born 1920). They were also full of what food she ate, and what she would do to lose weight. Endless talk about other people's bodies as well.
"Saw Elsie today, goodness me she's put on some weight. Her dress was terribly unflattering."
"Saw Joan today. She was wearing a disgusting hat."

It should. The key point is that the information is not attributable to origin.

I would be surprised that it wouldn't pass in a university though, given that academia is not exactly the most ethical of research environments.

On some level I wish I had been obsessed with my weight as a teen. Not ED of course but constantly monitoring it. I became overweight as a teen, I've struggled with it every day since. I suspect this woman went on to live a healthy active life. In a way it's a lot more 'shocking' that a teen like me got fat and everyone thinks that's ok.

Me too, same era - I got rid of them when I was pregnant! Part of me is a bit sad about that having preserved them for so long but my goodness I droned on.

Yes, I've heard similar from women who've had children - a regret that they didn't diet afterwards because the weight piled on after each child whereas the generally expressed viewpoint is that women who've had children in the last year shouldn't be thinking about their weight at all.

I would just like to mention something for the people who’ve pulled a vintage dress out of the attic and can no longer fit into it. On average women lose half an inch in height every decade, so two inches between the age of 30 and 70. So you may be the same weight as you used to be but your shape will be different. The fat will be sort of concertinaed down in pleats around your torso. Just wanted to say it’s not just a question of calories and exercise.

I remember in one of her books, the heroine taking a load of Ex-Lax the day before attending a party so that she could fit into her dress.

Ditto! I found some of my old diaries when I moved house and picked them up eagerly. I'm now a novelist and I wondered if those old notebooks would hold valuable insights into the way my mind worked, how I 'saw' things differently. I hoped that they'd be full of literary musings and book comparisons...

Well they were, in fact, full of witterings about which boy I fancied, how he'd looked at me, how I'd never find a boyfriend (I didn't, actually, I'd stopped keeping a diary by the time I met someone), what I'd seen on TV and who was in it and how I had a crush on them. And a hefty dose of who said what to whom and how they looked as they were saying it. Good grief they were dull.

So I burned them all. If I ever reach truly heroic levels of fame for my writing, I would NOT want that complete drivel immortalised in any biographies.

Strange but true - I am two inches taller in my 50s than I was in my 20s. I grew two inches after having a hysterectomy in my 40s. I have no idea why. My feet also went up a size.

Wow! That’s amazing!

🤯

Maybe they injected you with Miracle-Gro or something?!?!?!?

I was very happy with it as a 'side effect'.!