„Daß Korpulenz eine Last ist, welche das Dasein verbittert, [...], weiß jeder Korpulente selbst, wenn er es auch nicht sagt.“ Diätkulturen um 1900 zwischen Stigmatisierung und Subjektivierung

Abstract

„Daß Korpulenz eine Last ist, welche das Dasein verbittert, [...], weiß jeder Korpulente selbst, wenn er es auch nicht sagt.“ Diet cultures between stigmatization and subjectivation

This paper deals with the emergence of modern diet cultures around 1900 in Habsburg Austria. The analysis of two Vienna-based bourgeois women’s magazines shows how the discourse on “corpulence” was less influenced by notions of “health” but rather focused on normative ideas of a diligent housewife. As bodies thus became a yardstick for bourgeois lifestyles, magazine articles advised readers to go on radical diets. They also provided a space for advertising “slimming products” and thus created a consumer market for their audience.