Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Women as Healers, Women as Food Producers
- 2 Medieval Theories of Nutrition and Health
- 3 The Special Problem of Nutrition and Women’s Health
- 4 Theoretical Medicine vs. Practical Medicine
- 5 The Trotula and the Works of Hildegard of Bingen
- 6 The Legacy of the Trotula
- 7 Women’s Diets and Standards of Beauty
- 8 Religious Conflict and Religious Accommodation
- 9 Evolving Advice for Women’s Health Through Diet
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Women’s Diets and Standards of Beauty
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Women as Healers, Women as Food Producers
- 2 Medieval Theories of Nutrition and Health
- 3 The Special Problem of Nutrition and Women’s Health
- 4 Theoretical Medicine vs. Practical Medicine
- 5 The Trotula and the Works of Hildegard of Bingen
- 6 The Legacy of the Trotula
- 7 Women’s Diets and Standards of Beauty
- 8 Religious Conflict and Religious Accommodation
- 9 Evolving Advice for Women’s Health Through Diet
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Looking beyond gynaecological issues, how did standards of beauty affect dietary recommendations, what women ate, and how they presented themselves? Obesity, while viewed differently than it is today, was considered a factor in women's fertility. It was also related the sin of gluttony and other sins which demonstrated a lack of self-mastery of bodily appetites. Examining conduct literature is one way to gain access to cultural expectations of the female body. Religious concerns about self-presentation could also manifest in what has been called “holy anorexia.” The anthropology of the body suggest that what women eat and how they look are deeply embedded social constructs which reveal culture attitudes towards gender difference, women, and power.
Keywords: obesity, gluttony, anthropology of the body, bodylore, fertility, conduct literature
Standards of female beauty have been the topic of literature and art for centuries. In our contemporary society, to be a female and to possess a body that is lean and toned, with skin not too light and not too dark, sporting long hair and a youthful appearance is to win the cultural lottery. Those who deviate from the accepted norm are either, at best, invisible to men, or, at worst, ridiculed. Men and women are both complicit in the reinforcement of societal standards of beauty. While the exact ideal body type varies by culture and time period, with a predilection for small or large breasts, narrow or curvy hips, strong or delicate body, light or tanned skin, long hair or short, advertisers and media keep us informed on the latest trends in female body shape and colour and suggest how to change our bodies to fit the ideal.
We also live in a society that, at the moment, is obsessed with thinness. The ‘diet industry’ makes large sums of money telling us how to eat, what to eat, how much to eat, how often to eat, whether one should eat more carbs or fewer, go low-fat or full-fat, whether we should eat ‘clean’ or concentrate on eating diet foods; keeping up with the latest trends can be about as confusing as keeping up with what our body should be like at any given time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Women, Food, and Diet in the Middle AgesBalancing the Humours, pp. 155 - 174Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020