Joan Jacobs Brumberg: "Body Projects"yourb

Young women's normal anxietiel
about their developing bodies
have been at the core of muk*'
ing srrategies since World War IL
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FOUR
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Graffiri on the wall of a Cornell Universiry building in I995 suggests how problematic the bodi
has become for young people in the past twenry years. ("Our Bodies, Ourselves" wu dp
oprimis[ic slogan of an earlier generation.) In addition to the pressure for physical perfection,
yorng *o*"r today must navigate a world where sexuality is both an oPtimum value and
also a real and present dmger.
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f n the twentietl cenrury, the body has become rhe central per_
I sonal proiect of American girls. This prioriry makes girls roday
I vasdy different from their Vcorian counrerparrs. Although
girls in the past and present display many common developmenral
characteristics-sudl as self-consciousness, sensitivity to peers,
and an interest in establishing an independent identity-before
the rwentieth century, girls simply
did not organize their thinking
about themselves around their bodies. Today, many young girls
of their bodies-especially shape, size,
tone-because they believe thar the body is the ulti-
worry about the contours
and muscle
mate expression
Archivcs,
Phoros on p 9* @Jt) Permission of H. C. Griswold Colleaion, Photographic
Louisville; (n2it) permission of Jcssica Fausty.
,$
of
the self
The body is a consuming projec for conremporary girls be, cause it provides an important means of self-definidon,
a way to
visibly announce who you are to the world. From a hisrorical per,spective, this particular form of adolescent expression
is a relatively recent phenomenon.
In the twentieth
cl
7
century, adolescent
rHE DODY pROIECT
BODY pRoIECTS
girls learned from their mothers, as well as from the larger culture,
THr CrNruRy oF SvErrr
that modern femininiry required some degree of exhibitionism.I
By the 1920s, both fashion and filrn had encouraged a massive
"unveiling" of the female body, which meanr that certain body
parts-such as arms and legs-were bared and displayed in ways
they had never been before. This new freedom to display the body
was accompanied, however, by demanding beauty and dietary regimens that involved money as well as self-discipline. Beginning in
the I920s, woment legs and underarms had to be smooth and
free of body hair; the torso had to be sveke; and the breasrs were
supposed to be small and firm. What American women did not
realize at the time was that rheir stunnin g new freedom actually
implied the need for greater internal control of the bodp an imperative that would intensi{, and become even more powerful by
the end
the twentieth century.
of this cultural and psydrological change from exto internal control of the body lie in vast societal transfor-
The
ternal
of
seeds
mations that characterized rhe moye from agrarian to industriai
sociery, and from a religious to a secular world. Bur
I want to bring
the story closer to home and focus on some characteristic "body
projects" that have absorbed the attention of adolescent girls
since the beginning of the twentieth cenrurF. These projecrs
demonstrate how the experience
of living in an adolescent body
is
always shaped by the historical momenr. They also show how cul-
tural pressures have accumulated, making American girls today, at
the close of the twentieth century, more.anxious than ever about
the size and shape of their bodies, as well as parricular body
Parts.2
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ii i:;:ir',?iIrirral
g8
In the I920s, for the first time,
teenage girls made systematic ef_
forts ro lower their weight by food
,.r,ii.rlo, and exercise. AI_
though advice on ,,slimming,, *d ,.reducing,,
was usually directed
at adult women, college and high
school girls also diercd',In 1924,
the Smith Colbge Wekl) printed a lemer
from srudenrs warning
about the newest craze on campus: ,.If
preventive measures
srrenuous dieting are not raken soon,
Smirh College
ngl.rrl
will b."com.
notorious not for sylphJike forms but
for haggardfaces and dull
lisdess eyes."3
Despite the rhreat
of ill
health, college girls
in the I920s
of wriring home happily
about weight gain and abundant eating,
f"mrl. coll"gi"rs irrd
worked hard to become slender. Instead
done in the
I880s and Ig90s, young
",
*o-"n at elite schools such
smith debated the virtues of differenr
diet prans and worried
fiction for younger girls, such
as Grace Harlow and Nancy
Drew, now had a fat chrrict., rvho
served as a humorous foil to the
wellJiked, smart
as
abour gaining weight. popular serial
protagonist,
who was always slim.a
The adolescent girls involved in rhe first
American ,,slimming
creze" were modvared
by anew ideal of female beaury that begai
to evolve around rhe turn of the century.
In I90g, paul poirei, a
Parisian designer, inrroduced a new
silhouette thar replaced the
voluptuous Vctorian hourglass, with
its tiny waist and exagger_
ated hips. Instead, poirer! dresses
shifred uir,r"l inr"r.st ro rhe
legs. The new, fashionable figure
was slender, IongJimbed, arrd
relatively flar-chested. American
rvomen of all ag"s donned the
short, popular chemise dress that
was rhe uniform of the ,,flapper" in the I920s. As rhey did so, they
bade farewell ,o .orr"*,
gs
BODY PROIECTS
THE tsODY PROIECT
to diet' or internalize control
shys, and Petticoats, and they began
"the censet the stage for what one writer called
of ,fr" bojy. Thi,
tury of svelte."S
weighed
I50
pounds.
seemed problematic
This
increase
in
in the 792Os, when
size was natural, but
a small, slender female
body was considered highly desirable. Yvonne told her diary that
she wanted
to be "slim and sylph like," like her favorite film
stars-or like the sophisticated women she saw in popular
Trts SlIr'TMING oF YvoNNs BI-ur
the ideal of slenderness
The story of Yvonne Blue reveals how
experience of American gids' Born
was first irr.orporrt"d into the
daughters in a Protestant
in I91I, Yvonne was the eldest of three
that surrounded
fr-ily living in Hyde Park, an intellectual mecca
ophthalmologist;
th. Urriu.rJiry ol Chicago' Her 6ther was an
a lirerary bent' Although the
her mother *", ho*t'iaker with
"
enjoyed sedate pleasures suclBlues were teetotaling Baptists who
as
the full repertoire of
golf and reading, their daughter tasted
everithing from comics and
novels' listened o iazz on the
women's magazines to best-selling
regularly' From- these
radio, and went to the moving pictures
University of Chicago
as well as from her peers at the
Ari.ri.".,
popular
.,ltt""' 'ht1t"d
sources,
that a slender body was
High School, Yvonne eventually learned
central to female success'
Blue had been unAs a girl of welve and thirteen' Yvonne
She was bookish then' imaginaconcerned. about her aPPearance'
to be a famous
filled with litt'"ry ambitions' She wanted
tive, and
or travel the world as Peter
author or the leader of a pirate gang'
ho*"uer' these lively literary and
Pan. By the time she was fif"""'
a new self-consciousness' Bedramatic projects were temPered by
underwent a growth spurt that
tween thirteen and fifteen, Yvonne
indres and her weight by over
increased her height by almost six
feet six inches tall and
forty pounds, so that she was nearly five
loo
it
zines and the rotogravure'
The skimpy dresses and frenetic Charleston
maga-
of the "flapper"
new
may be a clich6, but the flapper image really did capture the
emorional and social possibilities available to Yvonnet generation
and to adolescent gids ever since' After World War I' many girls
as
cut loose from traditional moorings to church and community'
well as from ties to rheir mothers and grandmothers. The adult
such as the
women who supervised single-sex grouPs in rhe I920s'
Girl Scouts, began to note a decline in membership and interest'
which they attributed
to all of the new entertainment options
In addition to new experiences with radio
rode in auand movies, adolescent girls went about unchaperoned'
tomobiles, and talked on the telephone, all of which increased
open to young women.6
mobility and autonomy' But
as young women became more inde-
and more knowledgeable about the
arworld, their self-esteem began to have more to do with external
character or
tributes than with inner qualities, such as strength of
pendent
of their rnothers
spirit. Since movies, magaziries' and department
,tor., in the I920s all gave primacy to a woman's visual image'
about their apeven young teenagers like Yvonne began to worry
to their bodies
pearance i., *ry, that required increased attention
genetosity
of
and made the bodY
into
a Project'7
Like most girls of the period, Yvonne! career as a flapper
and had my
began with a haircut. "Yesterday I went to the barber's
longer"' she
hair shingle bobbed cut in a bob just like a boy's only
and
wrote in 1923, theyear she entered high school' For Yvonne
THE BODY PROIECT
tsoDY pRoIECTS
her friends, the bob was an important symbol. In the nineteenth
which to lose thirry pounds_bur I,ll
do it_or die in the ar_
tempt." To that end, she sent away for
a booklet called ,,How to
century, hair was considered a woman's crowning glorp and the
more the better. Most girls grew their hair long so that
piled on top
of
the head as a declaration
it could be
Reduce: New Waisdines
of maturity, and they
nelly, the beaury ediror
sewing, and talking while they dried and brushed their hair. These
rituals-like the sewing
and
reading they accompanied--{isappeared once the bob became the
of the day. Short hair did not reguire the same kind of labor,
and it visually separated the young from the old. In addition, it
symbolized a new attitude toward the female body-an attitude
that proclaimed greater freedom but also required new internal
constraints, one of which was controlling food intake.
As Yvonne became more self-absorbed (which is not unusual
order
inanadolescent),sheaIsobecamemoredissatisfiedwiththeway
she1ooked.Atfifteen,socia1eventsthatshouldhavebeenfunbe.
came worrisome because she felt so large and ungainly. When she
to a special luncheon for talented young poets in the I
Chicago area, Yvonne dreaded going because she had to wear a i
"screaming red dress" that she tlought made her look like a "trick i
elephant." One particularly miserable day, she called herself a ,,
"fat, crude, uncouth misunderstood beast" and wallowed in the I
idea that she was a pariah at school. Like many girls in de Beaui
voir's "difficult patch," Yvonne was dramatic and prone to exag- :t
geration: "I wonder if anyone in the world has ever hated herself ,i
as I hate myself?"
i
What was new and modern about Yvonne's adolescent angst
was invited
was that she focused on weight loss as a solution to her problems.
As a result, she began to "slim," in the summet
of
7926, when
she
was fifteen. "I'm so tired of being fat!" she wrote. "I'm going back
to school weighing II9 pounds-l 5u7sx1 it. Three months in
at
the Chkago Tribune, and she
S.g* .
count calories, a relatiyely new concept
in the I92Or. Altf,orgh
had a fullJength mirror, the Blues,
Iike most middle_class
the
families in rhe I920s, did not own
a scale, so yvonne began rak_
ing trips to the drugsrore, or the
gymnasium ar rhe UnivJrsiry of
Chicago to weigh herself8
On some days, yvonne wrote down ever;rthing
she ate; on
.
spent long hours with their mothers and sisters reading aloud,
intimate, intergenerational grooming
for Old,,, wrimen by Antoinette Don_
others, she "forgot." Sometimes she
noted .p..id1"*ptarions,
such as ice cream or fried chicken.
One summer evening, to avoid
eating, she refused to enter a restaurant
wirh her A_i]y and sat
outside in t,e car while everyone
else went inside, There were a
number of unpleasent struggles with
her concerned parents, who
did not approve of adolescent diedng and
thought rfr.
fr"i"i yrr,
fins "Mother and Daddy rrr"k" *" ,o
,,Th"y
-rdl,,1h" wrore,
make me eat
femphasis in original]. Last night I dropped mosr ;
my meal in my lap and rolled it in
my.r"pki., *afta it to
Tar
Baby frhe dog] Iater.,, Although the
Chimgo Tribunereducing plan
recommended I,200-I,500 calories
a day, along with a pr;g;rrn
of exercise, Yvonne was so enthusiasric
and imparient ;ha;
she
keep her daily food intake down to
50 calories, allowing
:ad_t:
herself only lettuce, carrots, celery,tea,
and consomm6. .,No cake
or pie or ice cream or cookies or
candy or nuts or fruits or bread
or Potatoes or meats or anl.thing,',
she wrote unhappily. At one
point, she became fainr and her mother
insisted that sie ,.mair, ,t
home on the chaise, drinking cocoa
and eating fruit to restore her
energy.
Yvonne's flamboyant diedng angered
her parenrs, who had lit_
in seeing her lose *.ight. Altllorgh rhey
were progres_
. interest
de
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THE BODY pROIECT
BODY pROIECTS
for the r920s, they held ro rhe traditional vcrorian
idea that weight loss was not particularly healthy or attractive in a
growing girl. Yvonne and her friends had a very different idea,
however, and they alked incessantly about "slimming.,, One of
sive people
Yvonne's best friends, Mactie Van Ness, decided to join yvonne in
her diet even though she herself was nor at all large. Togerher, they
made dieting inro a game and a comperition. Mattie wrore ro
Yvonne from her family vacation tlat summer: ,,I had a dream
with you in it. You wore a lumberjack blouse and a checked skirt,
and you were so thin
I nearly died of
envy.
I
am terribly fat.,,
Weight was so often a subject
of conversation in sclool that
Yvonne developed a savq/ response to the familiar question, How
much do you weigh?: "I always ask people ro guess my weight
when they inquire it and I always give them as small a sum as
they'll swallow." By watching her sweets and denying herself all
carbohydrates and most meat, Yvonne reduced her weight m
about I25 pounds, which made her feel triumphant on her return
to school for her senior year, in September of 1926.
Iuacs Is IprNrrr:y
Yvonne Blue's body project feels modern because it reflects a deep
faith in the power of personai image, as well as the excitement and
potential
of
a "makeover," By changing rhe configuration
of
her
bodp she hoped to creare a new image for herself that would win
popularity and sratus at scfiool. Like many orlers who grew up in
the I920s, Yvonne was gready concerned about ',image.,, This
was a reflection of the world in whicl she came to maturity. Even
an ordinary girl without Yvonnei lirerary imagination could re(/
ro4
create herself
to
in a number of difGrenr ways. Every time
she went
a movie, opened amagazine,
entered a deparrrnent store dress_
ing room, or changed her lipsticJ<,
she could iry o., a new identity.
Because ir was no longer considered
sinful or shallow ,o ."r. ,lo
much about how you looked, girls
talked among themselves about
how to improve or change rheir hair,
face, and figure. In her bed_
room, Yvonne obsessed with Mattie
about the ways in which
Betty Bronson, a favorite film star,
changed her Iooks in order to
play different roles, and rhat moder
rr"yla with both of them as
they proceeded through high school.
Yvonne re-creared herself in a number
the course
of
of different
ways over
the nexr few years. Only a few
months before her
sixteenth birthday, she did something
that is characterisric of
modern girls: she deliberately changed
ier handwriting.
This kind
of self-conscious rransformation oi
h*d*riting did nor occur in
girls' diaries until the rg2os,when
girrs learned from popurar curture how flexible personal image
could be. yvonne,s new hand_
writing was exrremely artificiar and
sryrized. It did not sranr to the
right, according ro the palmer Merhod
taught in grade school;
certain lefters were executed in
crear defiance of th.*rures of .rpitalization; and there was an eclectic
mixture of cursive *ritirrg
and printing. By altering her image
on the page as well as in the
flesh, Yvonne hoped to convey
that she *", .rrr.rr,."l and talented,
instead
of ordinary
arld boring. (In the I9S0s,
lng my handwriting so rhat
I would
f remember
chang_
appear more mature and fem_
inine. Because
Joni James was a popular vocalist then, I began
spelling my first name the way
she did, domi.rg the i wich a litde
circle and making my letters
as round as possible.)e
Yyonne devoced even more attention
her image at the Universiry
man
in 1927. Nthough
of Chicago
to the construction of
where she became a fresh_
she lived at home
with her parenrs, col_
THE BODY pROIECT
BODY pROIECTS
lege represented a new social world that was exciting but also
sion to announce her maruriry (and her intenrions)
to the world.
frightening. The night before she entered college, she wrote opri-
On her own, without the advice of her morher, she went to
a
downtown Chicago department srore and boughr a tight, clay_
mistically that tomorrow "will be the mosr importanr day
life so far." But within days Yvonne was feeling ill at
adequate because
of the social pressures
of
my
ease and
in-
associated with Freshman
Week and rushing a sorority. She feared that she would be un-
popular again
in
college, as she thought she had been
in high
"I
colored, crepe de chine dress that dung ro the figure
*J"...rrru_
ated her lower torso and breasts. This was an important
purchase
,,im_
for a young woman who thought so much about ,,types,,
and
ages" and also wanted ro display ',sex appeal,,, a
quality she had
am miserable," she wrote, "because Helen [a high
school friend] is being rushed for two sororities and I am not. I
read about in woment magazines and popular advice
books. (She
dont want to go to 1ls sysng5-lheyie all bridge suppers or
dances-[but] it's the principle of the thing. Evidently our high
school records precede us. Itt not fair and I resent it."
In this difficult moment of transition, Yvonne paid close at-
Afair.)'o Yvorrr" rcalizedthat her new silk dress was ,"u.rl_
ing. In her diary, she wrote with no embarrassmenr thar ,,fit
it
like
school.
tention to her figure, her hait and her clothes. Eventually, she was
invited to join the Acoth Club, and she was sufficiently impressed
of her sororiry sisters to write about them in her
"[They]
talked of nothing but boys, smoked incessantly,
diary:
and scattered 'O -y GodsJ' quite liberally through their conversaby the behavior
tion." lJnder their tutelage, she took up cigarettes, cut her hair in
the most severe bob possible, and began to dress only in black.
Two months into her freshman year, Yvonne wrote: "I have iost
sincerity and become a cynic. My yp. is now sophisdcated,
bored, blas6 and it is going over well on campus." But a year later
she was cultivating a different persona, and cast herself as a "smart
Northshore society girl," the clubby kind, who traveled around in
Whippet roadster.
Over the course of her college career, Yvonne Blue
a yellow
changed
her image as regularly as students change classes at the beginning
of each term. She also began to
actually took prolific nores on Doris Langley Moore,s hchntquu
tbe
on rhe wall," and she reported gleefully what the sales_
woman said when she came out of the dressing room ro
model it:
paper
"When you are young you should show every bump.,,
Yvonnet crepe de chine actually revealed more rJran her slim,
grown-up body. The slinky new dress was a symbol of rhe ways
in
which culture and fashion in rhe I920s had begun to blur
rhedis-
tinction between rhe privare and the public selfl Only ftfq,
years
before, Yvonnei display
a
of flesh would
have been unthinkable
for
of her class and background, and the words of the salesin Chicago would have made no sense. But by 1930, the
woman
woman
year Yvonne purchased the crepe de chine, even nice middle-class
girls understood that rheir bodies were in some ways
a public proj_
ect.In fact, girls like Yvonne intuited that modern femininiry
required some degree of exhibitionism or, at least, a willingness
to
display oneself as a decorative object. This sensibility has
made
girls
in the "century of sveke" extremely vulnerable to cukural
messages
about dieting and parricular body parrs.
demonstrate a lively interest in
of time thinking about ways to
attract them. At age eighteen, she chose a familiar form of expresyoung men, and spent a good deal
av"
ro6
oJ
Love
to7
THE tsODY pROIECT
BODY pRoIECTS
Bnsesr Buos AND THE "TRAINTNG"
BRA
trn every generation, small swellings around the nipples have an-
nounced the arrival of puberry. This development, known clinically as "breast buds," occurs before menarche and almost always
provokes wonder and self-scrutiny.
"I
began
to
examine myself
carefullp to search my armpits for hairs and my breasrs for signs
of swelling," wrote Kate Simon about coming of age in the Bronx
at the time
of World War L Although Simon
was
"horrified" by
the rapidity wirh which her chest developed, many girls, both in
literature and real life, long for this important mark of maturity.
In Jamaica Kincaid's ficdonal memoir of growing up in Anrigua,
the main character regarded her breasts as "treasured
shrubs, needing only the proper combination of water and sun-
Annie John,
light to make them flourish," In order ro ger rheir breasts to grow,
Annie and her best friend, Gwen, lay in a pasrure exposing their
small bosoms to the moonlight.Il
Breasts are particularly important
to girls in cultures or rime
periods that give powerful meaning or visual significance ro rhar
part of the body. Throughour history, different body parrs have
been eroticized in art, Iiterarure, photography, and film.
fn some
of female
sexuality.Iz But breasts were the particular preoccupation of
Americans in the years after World War II, when voluptuous stars,
eras, the ankle or upper arm was the ultimate sratement
such as Jayne Mansfield, Jane Russell, and
Marilp Monroe, were
popular box-office attractions. The mammary fixation of the
I950s extended beyond movie srars and shaped the experience of
adolescents of both genders. In that era, boys seemed to prefer
girls who were "busty," and American girls began to worry about
breast size as well as about weight This elaboration
of
the ideal
of
beaucy raised expecrarions
abour what adolescent girrs shourd
look like. It also required them ro
put even more energy and re_
sources into rheir body projecs,
beginning
an .arlier ag".
"t
The story of how this happened
is inrertwined wirh rhe his_
tory of the bra, an undergarment
that carr
rate from the corser, in the early
of twelve or thirteen typically wore a one_piece ,,waist,,
or
camisole that had no cuPs or
darts in front. As her breasts developed, she moved into different
styles of rhe ,"_. grr_.rr,,
twencierh:*Jil;;, il;;
br.r,
these had more construcdon,
such as stitching, tucks, and
bones,
that would accenruate the smallness
of her waist and shape the
rhose days, before the arrival of
the brassiere, there
were no "cups." The bosom
rryas worn low; there *",
nbrolrt"fr
no interest in uplift, and not a
hint
bosom.
In
of
cleavage.rr
The French wordbrassiire,which
actually means an infant,s
dergarment or harness, was used
in Vryuer,
un_
."rly as I9O7.In the
Unired Srares, the first boneless b*
to I."u. the midriff bare was
developed in I9I3 by Mary phelps
Jacobs, a New york Ciry
debutanre. Under the name Caresse'C-rbp
made
Jacobs marketed a bra
of two French lace handker.hi.f, suspended
from
shoulders. Many young women
BIue, bought their
in the r9z0s, such
rhe
as yvonne
first bras in order to achieve the kind
of slim,
boyrsh figure thar rhe characterisdc
chemise (or flapper) dr.r, ,._
quired. The
first bras were designed simply ,o fl*r"rr,
but they
were superseded by others intended
to shape and control the
breasrs. Our current cup sizes
(A, B, C, and D), as well as the idea
of circular stitching to enhance the roundness
of the breast,
emerged
in the I930s.
Adult women, not adolescents, were
the first market for bras.
Sexually maturing girls simply
moved into adult_size bras when rhey
were ready-2nd if their
parents had the
money. Many women and
u
$
ro8
log
:i
fr
]t
$
at
girls in the early twentieth century still made their own underwear
home, and some read the advertisemenB for bras with real longing'
to develop breasts in the I930s, Malvis Helmi' a
midwestern farm girl, remembered feeling embarrassed whenever
When
she began
she wore an old surnmer
di*i.y
that pulled and gaped across her ex-
panding chest. As a result, she spoke to her mother, considered the
brassieres in the Sears, Roebucl< catalog, and decided to purc'hase
two for fwenty-fiYe cents. HoweYer, when her hardworking father
"ouf kind of
saw rl,re order form, he vetoed the idea and declared,
Although
people cant afford to spend money on sudr nonsense'"
made her a makeshift bra, Malvis vowed that someday
she would have srore-bought brassieres. Home economics teac-hers
in the interwar years tried to get high school girls to make their own
h.. -oth.,
underwear because
it
saved money,
but the idea never caught on
once mass-produced bras became widely available'Ia
The transition from homemade to mass-Produced bras was
critical in how adolescent girls thought about their breasts' In genit
eral, mass-produced clothing fostered autonomy in girls because
took matters of style and taste outside the dominion of the
mother, who had traditionally made and supervised a girlt
had anwardrobe. But in the case of brassieres, buying probably
other effect. So long as clothing was made at home' the dimensions of the garment could be adjusted to the particular body
intended to wear it. But with store-bought clothes' the body had
to fit instantaneously into standard sizes that were constructed
from a pattern representing a norm' When clothing failed to fit
the body, particularly a Part as intimate as the breasts' young
women were aPt co perceive that there was something wrong
with their bodies. In this way' mass-Produced bras in standard cup
selfsizes probably increased, rarher than diminished, adolescent
consciousness about the breasts.Is
o
5-
ll('l'\' I'l(('lI(
l"()l)Y l'}K()ll.('I
Illl
Until tlie I950s, the budding
II'
breasrs
of
American girls received no special attention from either bra manufacturers, doc-
tors, or parents. Girls generally wore undershirts until they were
sufficiently developed to fill an adult-size bra. Morhers and
daughterc traditionally handled this transformarion in private, at
home. But in the gyms and locl<er rooms
schools, girls began
wear a bra. Many
of
to look around ro
of
postwar junior high
see who
did and did not
these girls had begun mensrruaring and de-
veloping earlier than their mothers had, and this visual informa-
tion was very powerful. In some circles, rhe abiliry ro wear and filt
a bra was cenftal to an adolescent girl's status and sense of self, "I
have a figure problem," a fourteen-year-old wrote
1952: " All
of my friends
are
to
Snenteen
in
tall and shapely while my figure still
remains up-and-down. Can you advise me?"16
In an
interest
of full-breasted women,
from all quarters: girls who
era distinguished by its worship
in
adolescent breasts came
wanted bras ac an earlier age than ever before; mothers who believed that they should help a daughrer acquire a "good" figure;
doctors who valued maternity over all other female roles; and mer-
profits in convincing girls and their parenrs
All of
this interest coalesced in the I950s to make the brassiere as critical as the sanitary napkin in making a girl's transition into adultchandisers who saw
that adolescent breasts needed to be tended in special ways.
hood both modern and successful.
The old idea that brassieres were frivolous or unnecessary for
young girls was replaced by a national discussion about their med-
"My daughter who is well develto wear a bra," wrote a mother in
ical and psychological benefits.
not yet twelve wants
Massad'rusetts to TodEI Heabh in 195I. 'I want her ro wear an undervest instead because I think it is befter nor to have anything
binding. What do you think about a preadolescent girl wearing a
oped but
BODY pROIECTS
THE BODY pRolECT
bra?" That same year a reader from Wilmington, Delaware, asked
Swenteen: "should a girl of fourteen wear a bra? There are some
older women who insist we dont need them." The editort arswer
was an unequivocal endorsement of earh bras: "Just as soon as
your breasts begin to show signs of development, you should start
wearing a bra."17 By the early I950s, "training" or "beginner"
bras were available in AAA and M sizes for girls whose chests
ography
of
the adolescenr busdine was to have the girl stand sidein a darkened room against a wall covered with white paper.
By shining a bright light on her and having her throw out her chesr
ways
at a provocative angle, a mother could trace a silhouette that indicated the actuai shape of her daughtert bosom. By placing a pen-
were essenrially flat but who wanred a bra nonetheless. Along with
acne creams, adyertisements for these brassieres were standard fare
cil under her armpit, and folding the arm that held ir across rhe
waist, mothers could also determine if their daughrert nipples
were in the right place. On a healthy breasr, che nipple was supposed to be at least halfway above the midway poinr berween the
in magazines for girls'
location
Physicians provided a medical rationale
for
purchasing bras
earll In 1952, inan article in Parents'Magazire, physician Frank H'
Crowell endorsed bras for young girls and spelled out a theory and
program
of
teenage breasr management.
"Unlike other organs
such as the stomach and intestines which have ligamenh that act
the
as guywires or slings to hold them in place," Crowell claimed'
breast was simply "a growrl developed from the skin and held up
only by the skin." An adolescent girl needed a bra in order to ptevent sagging breasts, stretcled blood vessels, and poor circulation'
all of which would creare problems in nursing her future children.
of
the pencil and rhe hollow
Breasts were actually only one part
of rhe elbow.
of a larger body projecr
en-
couraged by the foundation garment industry in postwar America.
In this era, both physicians and enffepreneurs promoted a general
philosophy of "junior figure conrrol." Companies such as Warners, Maidenform, Formfit, Belle Mode, and Perfect Form (as well
as popular magazines
like Gol
Housekuping)
all encouraged the
idea that young women needed both lightweight girdles and bras
to "start the figure
off to a beautiful future."Ie
of "support" was aided and abeffed by new materials-such as nylon netting and two-way strercl-r fabricsdeveloped during the war but applied afterward ro woment
The concept
In addition, a "dropped" breast was "not so attractive," Crowell
said, so it was important to get adolescents into bras early' before
underwear. By the early 1950s, a reenergized corset and brassiere
their breasts began to ,ag.I8 The "training" that
industry was poised for extraordinary profits.
a
training bra
was
accomplish was the first step toward motherhood
and a sexually alluring figure, as it was defined in the I950s'
In rhe interest of both beaury and health, mothers in tlle I950s
supposed
to
were encouraged to check their daughters' breasts regularly to see
they were developing propedy. This was not just a matter
if
of a
quick look and a word of reassurance. Instead, Crowell and others
suggested systematic scrutiny as often as every three months to see
if
the breasts were positioned correctly. One way to d-rart the
ge-
If "junior
figure con-
trol" became the ideal among the nationi mothers and daughters,
it would open up sales of bras and girdles to the largest generation
of adolescents in American history, the so-called baby boomers.
Once again, as in the case of menstruation and acne, the bodies of
adolescent girls had the potential to deliver considerable profit.
There was virtually no resistance to the idea that American girls
should wear bras and girdles in adolescence. Regardless
of whether
a
girl was thin or heavy, "junior figure control" was in order, and that
tt7
llll. l)()l)Y
l)NUlt-t.
BODY pROIECTS
I
phrase became a pervasive sales mantra. "Even slim youthfi'rl figures
will require foundation
i957. In both Saxnteen
assistance," advised Wmm\ War
Daill
n
and Compan,the two most PoPular magazines
group high school girls were urged to purchase special
foundation garments sudr as "Bobbie" bras and girdles by Formfit
and "Adagio" by Maidenform that were "teen-proportioned" and
for the
age
designed, allegedly, with the help
of
adolescent consultans' The
bras were available in pasrcl colors in a variety
of
special sizes, start-
gested in the sportswear and barhing suir secrions.2l
In home economics
thousands
ure Forum
classes, and also at the local women,s club,
of American girls
and
Facx
saw informational films such as Frg-
About Your Figure, made by the warner Brassiere
Company in the I950s. Films like these srressed the need for ap-
them especially feminine. In addition to holding up stockings, girdles were intended ro flanen rhe tummy and also provide light, but
firm, control for hips and butcod<s. The advertisements for "Bob-
propriate foundation garmenrs in yourh and provided girls with
scientific principles for selecdng rhem. They also raughr young
bie," in particular, suggested good things about gids who controlled
most
their flesh in this way: they were pretty, had lots of friends, and drank
Coca-Cola. As adults, they would have good figures and happy fu-
dle-class girls and their mothers embraced the code
developed aggressive educational Programs designed to spread the
gospel of "junior figure control." In order to make young women
"foundation conscious," Shillito's, a leading Cincinnati department store, tried to persuade girls and their mothers of the importance of having a professional fitting of the first bra' Throu$
local newspaper advertisements, and also Programs in home economics classes, Shillitot buyer, Edith Blincoe, promoted the idea
that the purc_hase of bras and girdles required special expertise,
which only department srores could provide. (Swenteen echoed her
"pretidea and advised a "trained fitter" for girls who wanted a
tier" bosom and a "smoother" figure.) Blincoe acknowledged that
teenage girls were abeady "IOOyo bra conscious," and she hoped
girdles' In order to
to develop the same level of attention to
PanrI
attract junior customers and get them to try on both items'
\i'
mothers shopped. Strapless bras were suggested on cards in the
dress and formal wear departments; Iighrweight girdles were sug-
ing with AAA, and they were decorated with lace and ribbon to make
tures because they had chosen correct underwear in their youth'2o
By the mid-I950s, department stores and specialty shops had
,D
had the corset department place advertising cards on the wans of
dressing rooms in sections of the store where teenagers and their
she
women how to bend over and lean into their bras, a maneuver that
of
us learned early and
still do automatically.22 Mosr midof "junior fig-
control" and spent time and money in pursuit of the correct
garments. Before a school dance in 1957, GloriaJames, a sixreenyear-old African-American girl, wrote in her diary: "Mommy and
I rushed to Perth Amboy [New Jersey] ro get me some slacks, bras
and a girdle. I donr even know how to ger ir
[the girdle] on.',23
In the posrwar world, the budding adolescent body was big
ure
business. Trade publications, such as Women's War Dail2, gave special attention to sales strategies and trends in markering to girls.
In
their reports from Cincinnati, Adanta, and Houston, one thing
was clear: wherever American girls purchased bras, they wanted to
be fteated as grown-ups, even
cup.2a
In
if
they wore only a AAA or AA
Aclanm, ar the Redwood Corser and Lingerie Shop
owner Sally Blye and her staff spoke persuasively ro young cus, tomers about the importance of "uplift"
in order "not to break
And at Houston's popular Teen Age Shop specially trained salesgids allowed young customers to look rhrough
I'the brassieres on their own, and then encouraged them to try on
muscle tissue."
ttl
THE DODY PROIECT
BODY pRoIECTS
items in the dressing room without their mothers. Although many
girls were shy at first, by the age of fourteen and fifteen most had
a"{at hog" after eating too much candy, her diary
reporrage was principally about the bosoms, rather
rhan the waisrlines, she saw ar school. Those who had ample bosoms
lost their initial self-consciousness. "They take the merchandise
and go right in [to the dressing room]," Blincoe said about her
teenage clientele. Girls who could not be reached by store or
school programs could send away to the Belle Mode Brassiere
Company for free booklets about "junior figure control" with titles such as "The Modern Miss-Misfit or Miss Fit" and "How
to Be Perfecdy Charming." L the effort to help girls focus on
their figures, Formfit, maker of the popular "Bobbies," offered a
free purse-size booklet on calorie counting.2s
Given all this attention, it's not surprising that bras and
breasts were a source of concern in adolescents' diaries written in
the I950s. Sandra Rubin got h", first bra in I95I, when she was
a twelve-year-old in Cleveland, but she did not try it on in a department store. Instead, her mother bought het a"braziere" while
she was away on a trip and sent it home. "It's very fancy," Sandra
wrote.
"I almost diedl I ran right upstairs to Put it on." When she
moved to New Yotk Ciry that Septembet and entered Roosevelt
]unior High School, Sandra got involved with a clique of seven
girls who called themselves the "78s," Their name was not about
their homeroom; it was about the cup size they wanted to be.
"Flat, Flatl The air vibrates with that narne as my friends and I
walk bp" Sandra wrote in a humorous but self-deprecating manner. By the dme she was sixteen, Sandra had dgveloped amply, so
that her breasts became a source of pride. One night she had an
intimate conversation with
a
male friend about the issue
of
chests:
"We talked about flat-chested women (of whicfi, he pointed out,
I
a
certainly am not [one])."26
Breasts, not weight, were the primary point
of
called herself
seemed to
travel through the hallways
from the perspective of
chested. "Busty" girls made desirabre friends because
they seemed
sophisticated, and they amraced boys.
In December I959, when
she planned a Friday-night pajama party, thirteen_year_old
Ruth
,.gorgeous,,
Teischman made a courageous move by
inviting the
Roslyn, a girl whom she wrore about frequently bur
rrr"lly orly
worshiped from afar. After a night of giggling and eating
*irt h.,
junior high school friends, Ruth revealed in her
diary the source of
Roslyn's power and beauty: "Roslyn is very big. (Bust
of course.)
I am very flat. I wish I would get bigger fast.,,27 Many girls in the
I950s perused the ads, usually in the back of womens magazines,
for exercise programs and creams guaranteed to make their
breasts
grow, allegedly in short order.28
The lament
develop my
of
rhe flat-chested
girl-,,I
musr,
I
must,
f
musr
bust"-was on many private hit
parades in the I950s.
There was a special intensiry about breasts because of
the attitudes of doctors, mothers, and advertisers, all
of whom considered breast development critical to aduk female identity
and
Although "junior figure control,, increased pressure on
the entire body, and many girls wore waist cinchers
as well as gir_
dles, it was anxiety about breasts, more than any oth.r
body part,
that characterized adolescent experience in these
years. As a resurt,
thousands, if nor millions, of girls in early adolescence jumped
the gun and bought "rraining bras,, ar rhe first
sight of br.art
buds, or they bought padded bras to disguise
their perceived in_
success.
comparison
adequacy.
among high school girls in the I950s. Although Sandra Rubin
regardless
,,5
in a veritable state of grace, at least
girls who considered themselves flat_
In the I950s, the bra was validated as a rite of passage:
of whether a girl was voluptuous or flat, ,h" *n, Iik.ly
tt7
}ld
llll
l'l rrll'
l',,,1,'
to purchase her first bra at an earlier
lir)1,\
I
age than had her mother.
This precocity was due, in part, to biology, but it was also
a
expect to make bras for their daughters the way earlier generations
had made their own sanitary napkins.
bras were a boon to the foundation garment industry,
but they also meant that girls' bodies were sexualized earlier. In
contemporary America, girls of nine or ten are shepherded from
undershirts into little underwear sets that come with tops that
are
proto-brassieres. Although this may seem innocuous arrd natural, it
is not the same as little giris "dressing up" in their mother's clothing. In our culture, traditional distinctions between adult clothing
and juvenile clothing have narrowed considerably, so that mature
women dress "down," in the garments of kids, just as often as lit-
tle girls dress "up."2e While the age homogeneity of the contemporary wardrobe helps adult women feel less matronly, dressing
little girls in adult clothing can have an insidious side effect. Because a bra shapes the breasts in accordance with fashion, it acts
very much like an interpreter, translating functional anatomy into
a
little girls in brassieres
or bikinis, we imply adult behaviors and, unwittingly, we mark
them as sexual objects. The training bras of the I950s loom large
sexual or erotic vocabulary. When we dress
in the history of adolescent girls
because they foreshadowed the
ways in which the nation's entrepreneurs would accornmodate, and
also encourage, precocious sexuality.
DrrrrNc: Tns CoNsTANT Vrcrr
result
of entrepreneurial interests aided and abetted by medical concern.
By the 1950s, American sociery was so consumer-oriented that
there were hrtdly any families, even among the poor, who would
taining
1,1.;rrllr l,r
As we near the end
of
the
,,century
of
svelte,,, the body projects
of middle-class American girls are more
habitu"l ,r,d irri"rrr. .hr,
rhey were in either the I920s
or the I950s. Although yvonne
Blue's experience feels familiar,
dieting was different in
the r92os
what ir is today. In the firrt pln.", yvonne
was fifreen years
[o1
old when she started to diet, instead
of nine or ren, the age of
many conremporary giris when they
begin ro monitor th.ir np_
petire. In addidon, yvonne,s efforrs
,o ,"du..
were regarded as
in-
appropriate by her parents, who neyer
made any accommodarion
to help her, such as purchasing special
foods. yvonne,s dieting was
confined to a single summer, and her
standard of slenderness was
not as exrreme as today,s. In I995,
middle_class white girls define
perfection as five feer seven inches rall
and I I0 pounds]and many
work long hours at exercise and body
sculpting in
the body
of rheir dreams. Although
order to achieve
some srudies suggest that
African-American girls are more relaxed
about and *o.. ,...prof different body types, this may well be a function
of eco_
nomic status rather than cultural
ing
differences. Exence,
that caters
a
magazine
to middle-class African_American women,
regularly
-a
runs_ srories on body_size
anxiety and eating disorders,
fact
which suggests that conventional ,,white,,standards
become more
relevant among women of color
as affluence increases.3o
In the I920s, dieting was a fashionable
game for yvonne and
her girlfriends; it was nor a way
of life as it
is for middle_class
women and girls at the close of the
twentieth century. Ever since
the I960s, adolescent diaries repeat,
oyer and over, the same con_
,,I,ve
cern: "I've been eating Iike
,,1
a
must starve myself
rr6
-a
ffilfilif
,;
,llriiii:llii
pig,,,
got to lose weight,,, or
" This preoccupation
is persistent rather than
THE BODY PROIECI
episodic;
it
characterizes
girls, regardless
of
BODY pROIECTS
the teen years of most middle-class
it underlies their struggles with self-
race; and
1968,
72O pounds."
identity, peer relationships, and even educational and occupational choices. When seventeen-year-old Heather Ellis was faced
with choosing a college in the late I980s, the New Jersey teenager
great for once." But by the beginning
factored her dieting into that important decision. Afrer she heard
her relationship to her diary: "I've been hiding from rhis book be-
that one of her choices, Mount Holyoke, had good food, she
wrote, "[That is] a drawback since I want to lose weight not
gain any."31
American girls are on guard constantly against gaining weight,
and, as a result, appetite control is a major feature
cent experience. "I'm too ugly. I'm too fat.
of their adoles*
I have a crummy
per-
sonality," wroce Carol Merano, a sixteen-year-old at Westport
High School in Connecticut in the late I960s. Carol was five feet
four inches tall and weighed I20 pounds. She had an ample supply of close girlfriends, dates with boys,
a
good school record, and
artistic hlent, but her self-esteem was surprisingly dependent on
back to
cult of fitness and exercise took hold in the I970s and 1980s,
of
the New year, Carol was
I20 again-unhappy and signing herself "Fatryl'Almost
everything in Carol's world was conditioned by what she ate, even
I haven't stud< to my diel"32
Like so many other girls in lare*rwenrieth-cenrury America,
Carol Merano felt good only when she fek thin. In the hope of
cause
getting
to
II0
pounds, her desired weight, she watched herself
like a hawk, restricted calories, and uied to avoid family meals.
For a few months, she ate only Carnation Instanr Breakfast for
supper. Although her morler disliked this kind of behavior because
it meant that Carol did not parricipare in the family's
not make Carol srop. No one in Wesrport
wanted a fat daughrer, and diedng seemed to be a normal part of
evening meal, she did
teenage life.
the numbers she saw on the bathroom scale. Before the current
of time thinking about the psycholas the conrent of differenr foods and their
Carol spent a great deal
ogy
of
eating, as well
weight was the primary concern, more than a lean, toned body.
effects on her body. In her diary she made nutritional pronounce-
Carol did not iog with her friends, "work out" at a health club, or
do aerobics. Thirry years ago, counting calories and skipping
ments that reflected dieting wisdom in the lare I960s. "No carbohydrates or fats. That's ir. Norhing more, norhing less." One
meals were
still the primary routes to weight reduction
among
adolescent girls.
Throughout high school and in her freshman year et George
Washington Universiry Carol weighed herself at least once a day
and tried all kinds of diets, including the Harper\ Bazaar 9-Day
Diet, the Doctor's Q"id< Weight Loss Diet, and the Air Force
Salad Diet. Carol's emotional life was grounded in the success or
failure of these efforts. When she did not lose weight, she berated
herself and her mood plummeted: "I'm very depressed tonight.
--S
I'm
A month later, in November
she was on top of the world: "I weigh II2. Everyrhing is
Same reason:
to 117 pounds, she vowed: "No
of hunger will drive me ro eat until supper time lemphasis in original] when I will eat tons and rons of vegetables and
whatever else is non-fatty." Despite her low-cal eating, Carol
evening, when her weight was up
great amount
sometimes lost control
of her apperire,
and rhis led her to ciga-
rettes, which she considered an effective appetite suppressant.
"I've really gone off my diet," she explained, "because I didnt have
AIl of this attention ro weight and
food meant that Carol watched her body very carefully, complainany cigarettes which is agony."
llll
|,r,lrr
ltlr{)ll(
15()l)Y l' l(()l l-t' l l'
I
ing about constipation and bloating at certain times of
the
month. Whenever she felt that her stomach was "out a mile," she
gave herself an enema, something she considered "gross," but
which also made her feel"very thin," and that made her happy.
hit I20 pounds and
Carol asked herself, "Why do I
As a frcshman, at a point when her weight
she felt like a "stuffed sausage,"
want to be thin?" Her initial answer had many layers: "So
I will fit
or the top
of that
range. By rhe dme she was twenty, the energy this
to wear on her. Although Carol did not
dieting, she began to think about what a relief it would
be if she coul<i only "stop rhinking about it." In effect, she admitvigilance required began
swear
off
ted her own emotional addicdon to weight and appetite control.
Few adolescent girls at the end
able to stop
of
the twenrieth cenrury
are
thinking about "ir." Instead of relaxing rhe imperative
in my clothes. To show up Penny [a close friend]. To be the skinni-
to lose weight and be thin, the pressure to conrrol the body
fdormitory] room. So I will be a changed and better Person ourwardly-to fit my inner self " But then she stopped to
consider her lisn "That's bull shit. I just want to be thin so I can stop
been ratc.heted upward by an even more demanding cultural ideal: a
est person in my
to II4 pounds,
she was still consumed by the same nagging issue. "All I've been
thinking about lately is how I look. Thatt because I look prery bad.
thinking about it." Yer even when Carol
was down
has
lean, taut, female body with visible musculature. This particular
feminine icon-epitom ized by Jane Fonda, Madonna, and the new
Oprah-requires even more atcention, work, and control than the
drin body desired by Carol Merano. In this aesrheric, the traditional softness
of
of roning,
to the velvet
rhe female body is devalued in favor
of
As soon as I look half-way decent again, I wont have to worry about
it so Goddam much," she wrote. Looking "half-way decent" meant
muscles, and strengrh. Instead
losing weight, and the persistence of that perceived need made
Carol's appetite control essendal to her sense of well-being.
mehl and building material. At any given
time of the day or night in the United Stares, a sizable number of
young women, as well as young men, are working out, trying to
acl-rieve "buns" and "abs" of steel, or legs and arms of iron. Companies like Procter & Gamble, maker of Secrer deodorant, have
developed special "feminine" products to aid young women in the
pursuit of a "hard" body. Advertisers porrraF young women in
Although weight and dieting were cenffal preoccuPations in
Carol Merano's adolescence, she did not have either anorexia nervosa or bulimia, two colrunon eating disorders that afflict contemporary girls in increasing numbers. Instead, Carol suffered from
what psychologist Judith Rodin, president of the University of
Pennsylvania, dubbed the "normative obsession" of American
*o*"r,.t' Just like millions of other women and girls in the late
twentieth century, this suburban Connecticut ceenager was sufficiently {ear{uL of fat to become a restrictive sx1g1-g}rag is, someone who habitually monitors food consumption. Because of her
vigilance, between the ages
of
sixteen and nineteen Carol kept her
poetic tributes
breast or the silken thigh, we give our highest praise to body parrs
whose textures suggest
athletic poses, making a connection between a lean body and their
particular product. Today, mosr adolescenr girls control their bodies from within, through diet and exercise, rarher than externallp
with corsets or girdles. Fashion is
nalization
a
major contributor to rhis inter-
of body controls: if you are going to bare your midriff
or your upper thighs, a girdle is not what helps you do ir.
weight within an eight-pound range, bur her self-esteem and per-
Our national infatuation with "hard bodies," combined with
sonal happiness were determined by whether she was at the bottom
the idea that bodies are perfectible, heightens the pressure on ado-
THE BODY pROIECT
Iescents and complicates che business
tsoDY PROIECTS
of adjusting ro a new, sexu-
ally maturing body. On the positive side, the currenr emphasis on
female muscles and strength could translate into less dieting (be-
of
nutrition (because of more
information about the content of differenr foods). Girls who go
regularly to g)rms and exercise studios, and those who participate in
cause
increased exercise) and better
organized sports, should be physically stronger than earlier, more
in 1989 thought their breasts were roo sman and 12
percenr admicted stuffing rheir bras.3a Teenagers in rhe I990s conmagazine poll
tinue to wear padded bras, and they also adopt new srylistic innoyations in brassieres, such as the recenr wonderbra, whose fame is
based on its ability to create seductive deavage on even the flactest
c}-rest.
Yet a bosom that is too small (or too large) is fixabre in
a
out" rather than "work
wodd where mammoplasry is accepted and accessible. Women be_
tween the ages of twelve and rwenry-two and berween thirry and
out." But there is a flip side to all this arrention to the body that is
neither positive nor benign. The fitness craze cen aggravate adoles-
forry are the mosr likely to have breast augmenrarion, although plas_
tic surgeons these days have to deal with muci younger girls who are
demure generations, or peers who "veg
cent self-consciousness and make girls desperately unhappy
neurodc) about their own bodies, particularly
if
(if not
ir is combined
already unhappy with their chesrs.3s
In dre I990s, the real heat
is on rhe lower body, especially thighs
with unrealistic expectations drawn from airbrushed and retoucled
and buttocks. The current emphasis on rhe lower body has ro do
in advertising, a.,d the seductive carnera angles and
body doubles so corrunon in television and movies. In addition,
there are all kinds of regular opportunitie5-in gls fitness room,
at the exercise studio, in the shower at the gym-to compare
with a commingling of aesrhetic, health, and sexual imperatives that
make a taut female pelvis, sleek thighs, and a sculpmred behind
photographs
both objects
of
desire and symbols
of
success.
our
currenr berow-
the-waist orientarion is reflected
physiques. Although eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and
in a national discourse about female thighs thar has generated new products and procedures, and
bulimia, are not caused by visual images alone, rhese pathologies
also increased female insecuriry and dissarisfacdon with the selfl
thrive in an environment in which so many "normal" people work
so hard (arrd spend so much money) in pursuit of the perfect body.
Americans have talked about glamorous "gams', ever since the
Rockettes made good legs a requiremenr back in the I930s, But
American taste in legs has changed considerably in the past halfcentury: the Rockettes of yesteryear had shorrer, chunkier limbs
than today's long-stemmed, Iean favorites. Changes in fashion account for rhe recenr emphasis on tight, narrow thighs. In the wake
of the I960s miniskirt, more adulr women than ever before began
HrrrrNc Below rHE BELT
,,jeaning
Because we see so many extraordinary, hyperbolic bodies, young
to worrl about rhis particular piece
women today grow up worrying about specific body parts as well
America" also promoted leaner thighs. As jeans became
as
their weight. At the moment, big breasts are not quite the fmhion
imperative they were in the I950s, yet anxiety about them has neyer
really disappeared. A third
of the 38,000 girls who replied to
a Sassy
of
anaromF.
The
a
of
national
uniform, particularly for adolescents, the upper leg, crorch, and.
buttocks were all brought into focus. But it was rhe bikini, and_
more recendy-bathing suits with Iegs cur upward toward the
tLl
llll litrlrr lrl'rrll'
lJ()l)y ItKrJll:ClS
I
pclvic bone, that really made the tone and shape of thighs suc}r a
"What body
pervasive female concern.s6 When she was asked
parts are women most concerned about?," Betsy Brown, founder
and presidenr
of
Great Bodies, Inc., had a succinct and definitive
answer based on experience
with
an exercise studio in Washington'
D.C.; "Thighs. And then abdomen. fBut] first, thunder thighs"'37
"Thunder thighs" entered the lexicon in the early I980s both
as shorthand
for female anxiety about the body and
as a misogy-
nistic slur. In separate, unrelarcd interviews, Debra Sue Maffet (a
Miss California who later became Miss America), Shari Ann
Moskau (anorher Miss california), cynthia Yantis (Miss Indiana),
and Meiissa Bradley (Miss Ohio), all complained to rePorters
about their "thunder thighs'" Two of these beauty queens admit-
of their thighs, they dreaded the swimsuit comthat
petition. The psychology of the modern beaury queen reveals
ted thar, because
.u.r, th" most "gorgeous" women in our sociely worry about this
comparticular body part, and that they use "fat talk," especially
pt"i.,r, about their thighs, as a way to exPress their insecurities'38
"Thunder thighs'; is also used against women in ways that
really sting.
In 1982,
can
sixteen-year-old Peggy Ward was dismissed
from her high school marching band in Monongahela' Pennsylvania, because she was alleged to be too {at'Peggy was five feet four
inches tall and weighed an unremarkable I24 pounds' yec the
band director at her school maintained that a majorette
of
her
height should weigh only I20 pounds' (He allowed five pounds
for every inch over five feet.) Although Peggy's family physician
tried to help by providing medical suPPort for her claim that she
on
was not overweight, the school system jusdfied the requirement
the ground that local fans jeered overweight majorettes' The girls
+
In Monongahela, the fans apparendy yelled "rhunder
thighs," as well as some of the old standards: "fatsq" "earrhquake," "tub of laid," and "beachball." Slurs like these heighten
female insecurity about rhe body; and tley contribute ro the audience for female self-help books, such as Wendy Stehling's 1982
best-seller Thin Tbighs in Thirtl Day,whici sold more rhan 425,OOO
copies within seven weeks of its release.3e
In middle-class America, girls grow up hearing adult women
heavy girls.
talk about how much they hate their own thighs. In the pasr two
decades, there has been a national crusade against cellulite, the
nonmedical term for a kind of dimpled f* that appears on the
Iegs and derrieres
of
many mature women, not just those who are
overweight As fashion and beauty experrs railed against thighs
that resemble "orange peel" or "cottage d1eese," the researdr and
of the cosmeric industry put a great deal of
into developing thigh creams that would
melt away this dreaded type of fat. Even the adolescent readers of
Young Miss were exposed to a "scientifically designed" Firm and
Trim Kit guaranteed to "fight the appearance of cellulite in problem areas." By 7995, American women and girls were spending
more rhan $i00 million on "cellulite busters," many of which
development divisions
energy and resources
needed to be applied liberally, at least once or twice a day, at a cost
of $50
a tube. Although scientific studies have never supported
their effecriveness, thigh creams are major business; and liposuction, a procedure that vacuums fat from the rhighs and buttocks,
has become the most popular
kind of cosmeric surgery in the
United States.4o
Our national concern about "thunder thighs"
says a
lot about
what Americans yalue. In fact, the way we rhink and ralk about rhe
of our
who marched with Peggy Ward did not suPPort her either' and
they accepted the litany of slurs that were roucinely hurled at
Iogical well-being. Psychological rests, known as "body cathexis
rzb
tL7
terrain
bodies is an important determinant
of our psycho-
THr tsODY pROlECl
BODY pROIECTS
scales," confirm that in the contemporary United States there is a
Why this classic indecision abour a pair of pants? And what
does it tell us about rhe contemporary body projecr? A girl trying
on a pair of jeans in rhe I990s has many things ro consider in addition to cost. Although teens generally look for brand names,
market research reveals that fit supersedes brand loyalry when it
comes to jeans. Thus, the teenage shopper must first determine
her size-which is no small mamer, given rhe way American man-
deep connection between an individual's sense
her level
of self
and his or
of satisfaction with different parts of the body. Not sur-
prisingly, there is more self-hatred among women than men, and
women tend to be especially dissatisfied about the lower
body*
the waist, hips, thighs, and buttocks.n' To put it another wey:
when an American woman dislikes her thighs, she is unlikely to
like herself, This sad realiry needs to be factored into our understanding of girls and the way in which they develop their sense
of self
ufacturers cut and label garments. Because every female clothing
company develops its own sizes and proportions, there is no standardized equivalent between body measuremenrs and size. Hips
that are thirty-six inches, for example, do nor always equal size
twelve.
The laissez-faire nature of sizing for American women makes
IN rnp DnsssrNc Roovr
shopping for jeans a physical, as well as a psychological, struggle
that is difficult at any age. However, it is particularly torturous for
Because the
body is a proxy for the
self,, selecting clothes
for it
is
of vital concern. American girls rypically evaluate the success or failure of their personal body project in dressing rooms at
always
of life, what a girl
determine her level of self-
the local mall or department store. At this stage
wears and how she looks
in it
acceptance, as well as her relations wirh her peers.
Adolescents are incredibly intuitive about the social meaning
ment
of their idendty.
is something
fit consistently into rhe
same "standard" size; others will reject a pair of jeans simply beSome girls assume there
wrong with their bodies when they cannot
cause they do
not want to wear that size, even though the number
(Of course, the connection between
idendry is not limited to adolescence. Plenty of adult
has no substantive meaning.a2
size and
of time and
of
energy in selecdng and trying on clothing. At home, they may try
on an insuffbrable number of different outfits before choosing
one; at the mall, they work conscientiously at making purchases
that express what they want to "say" to the world. With the possible exception of shopping for a bathing suit, buying jeans seems
to demand the most thought and consideration. In the retail business, the conunon wisdom is that gids try on approximately fourteen pairs of jeans for every one they eventually purchase.
In front of a three-way mirror, usually under harsh, uncompromising lights, the adolescent girl assesses herself in terms of
the current quest for bodily perfection. Studies indicate that
white, middle-class gids tend to strike a series of static poses
while trying on clothes; African-Americans are likely to be more
fluid, in order to see how "one moves." But almost all girls sit
down and bend in their jeans to see if they are comfortable, and
they also inspect the cur, color and details to make sure that a new
rz8
tzg
clothes, so they understandably invest a great deal
\N
adolescents who regard size, much like weight, as a definitive ele-
women do the same rhing throughout their lives.)
llll-
IJODY pKOlLCl
BODY pROIECTS
of piercing
pair "says" what they want ieans to say'43 Their real concern is
the body inside the pants, so they ask Do these jeans flatter my
body? Do they make my thighs look fat or my butt too big?
Is there a "wedgie"-that is, does the garment reveal the crack
between the buttocks? As the girl evaluates the aesthetics of her
lower bodp she imagines how she and her jeans will fare in the
tradition, contemporary teens face an array
world outside the dressing room,
cently expanded to include the eyebrow, nose, and navel. There are
Shopping is a narcissiscic pleasure for some young women,
but for many others it generates serious emotional anguish be-
also some audacious teenagers who pierce their lips, tongues,
it stirs up
about the body and its parts. "I'm afraid my legs are too fat for
it," a seventeen-year-old explained about the disappointment she
felt when a special outfit did not make her look the way she desired. "I hate my bodp" wrote another, who, at age twenty, was
cause
of
its s)rmbolic complexities and the insecurities
still trying to come to grips with che dissatisfaction she felt every
day and whenever she tried on new clothes. At the end of the
twentieth century, fear o{ fat, anxiety about body parts, and expectations of perfection in the dressing room have all coalesced
to make "I hate my body" into a powerful mantra that informs
the social and spiritual life
of
roo many American
gu.ls.M
just
as
options,
they do with food, music, cosmerics, and everything else in
American life. Many girls spend long hours pondering what part
they ought to pierce and what "piercewear" (i.e., jewelry) they like
best. Although multiple ear piercing has been srylish in the United
Srates for at least a decade, the repertoire
of
pierced parts has re-
ples, and genitals.
Most adolescent "piercees" are ordinary high school
college students who listen
to CDs,
and
use computers, and talk
openly about why and how they perforated their bodies. (Thrtoos are less popular because they are permanent and require ex-
pertise; holes, in contrast, can always be allowed
to
close up
if
the style passes, and they are also more easily done in the firsr
place.) Because state laws restrict body piercing and tattooing to
those who are eighteen and older, many younger adolescents
pierce themselves. Others seek out well-known body-piercing
studios, such as Gauntlet, which has establishments in New
York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; or they find someone Io-
callp perhaps through a beaury salon or via the Internet.
Point, a newsletter published
by the Association
The
of Professional
the part to be pierced is determined by long-standing rimal and
for information and referrals, but
there are also coundess interactive possibilities, such as: "Hi. I'm
making this inquirey (ok, so it's misspell.d...) on behalf of a
thirteen-year-old who is desperate to get her nose pierced. It
seems no one will do it for her because of her age. She has her
mom's permission-does anyone know a place/person in the
Cleveland/Akron/Kent area who can/will do it for her? If so,
please e-mail me. You will have the undying gratitude of an
eighth grader from the sticks." (Replies came swiftly, such as
tJo
t1l
Piercers, is available on-line
Prsncro Pnnrs
At the moment, there is anotler body project that is more flamboyant and provocative than either dieting or working out. Body
piercing, once regarded as characteristic of "primitive" people,
has emerged in the I990s as the latest form of self-expression
among American adolescents.as Unlike aboriginal societies, where
-\-
nip-
THt tsODY pROIECT
BODY pROIECTS
"Have you tried bringing the mother along? If the parent/legal
fashion-all "worlds" adolescents
value, follow closely, and imitate.4T In Ig9I, Madonna's controversial book, Sex, featured an artay of pierced male and female
body parts in a series of sadomasochistic fanmsies. Mosr Ameri-
guardian signs a consent form then they cannot sue.")
In the I990s, adolescent body piercing is a provocative sym-
bol of a powerful revolution in sexual mores and behavior that
brought gay culture into the mainstream of American life. While
previous generations associared body piercing with New Guinea
and exotic pictures in National
Geographk,
today's adolescents are aPt
to learn about piercing from ideas and behaviors emanating from
the Castro and Christopher Street, two important homosexual
communities in San Francisco and New York. Within the gay
in
music, sports, and
can teenagers never read this expensive, self-indulgent book, but
they did see Madonna flaunr her own navel ring in public, and
they knew that she had "lifted" rhe idea of personal hardware
from the gay men and women who were part of her entourage. On
MTV other musicians followed her lead: Green Day and the Red
Hot Chili Peppers displayed many different kinds of body piercing, and in 1993 an Aerosmirh video centered on an innocenr
of piercing practices, ranging
from simply piercing the left ear (in order to announce a homosexual orientation) to bizarre forms of sadomasochism. In I989,
schoolgirl who got a tamoo and had her belly button pierced. In
professional basketball, Dennis Rodman, rhe Chicago Bulls' su-
an avant-garde publisher in San Francisco issued a book that un-
perstar, forcefully moves his pierced and tattooed body around the
community, there is a diverse range
veiled the full range
of body piercing in the United
States: Modern
Pimitites: An lntutigation oJ Contnnporary Adornment and Rkual. The
book contained this warning: "Do not attemPt any of che body
modifications or practices described herein." But it also provided
of graphic photographs of extreme forms of
piercing, sFmpathedc interviews with some of piercingi most
dedicated devotees, and the narnes and locations of professional
an astonishin
g
affey
studios that served "piercing needs." Readers also learned about
Piercing Fans lnternational Quarur$ (now The Pierciry Magazin) and
how to mail-order nosuil screws, barbells for
ferent kinds
of rings for
tle
tongue, and dif-
the nipples, penis, labia, and ditoris.a6
tenagers today grow up in a world where rigid dichotomies
between gay (homosexual) and straight (heterosexual) behavior
are disappearing. They also see more people behaving in ways
once ascribed to homosexuals. This "homosexualization" of
American life, first described by Dennis Altman in the late I970s,
has become a notable feature
rft
ularly
of current popular culture-Partic-
court, demonstrating rhat this form
of
personal decoration has
traveled well beyond its gay roors into the world
of masculine ath-
letic prowess.
Piercing became even more fashionable among girls when
was introduced
in 1994 on the Paris runways
by designers
it
Jean
Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix. Soon afrerward, supermodels
Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell decided ro pierce their
navels. These developmenrs, combined
with the populariry of
midriff tlan
skirts, pants, and shirts designed to display more
ever before, made a bejeweled navel a potenr fashion starement,
particularly when
cording
it
was displayed on a flat, tight stomac-h. Ac-
to a poll by
Swsl
in 1994,
adolescent boys
think belly
rings are " sexy" or "cute," and most girls consider them desirable,
if you have rhe right kind of
body.a8 By elecrronic mail, an exciced
(but concerned) Long Island teenager senr out this message: "I
just got *f b"lly button pierced and the guy rhar did it was prercy
nervous, his hand was shaking as he did it. Anyway, I was wont71
I
dering
lll. l,()l)Y
l)K()ll.(.
tsoDY pROIECTS
I
if it may be too shallow, and how I could tell, cause the
ring really sdcks out. Is it possible to get a really small ring for it,
so that
it doesnt stick out?"
Other kinds
of
piercing, such as the eyebrow,
lip
nose, and
of
the
poll considered this kind of piercing "repulsive" and most middle-class parents dislike facing this kind of
Sassy
adornment across the dinner mble. As a result, body piercing can
become a contentious family issue. Rather than face her parents'
disapproval, one middle-class sixteen-year-old secretly pierced her
abandoning absurd weight goals, they droose something chat their elders and many of rheir peers regard as murilarive
of them seem ro enjoy the srigma, regarding
it as a clear-cut way to separate from those they consider'Wppies" and "princesses." "You dont see JApS
lJewish American
princesses] going around wearing nose
rings," a sixteen-year_old
with jewels in her face proclaimed wirh demonstrable pride.
Although piercing acts like a bumper stid<er for many young
women, there is a smaller group that takes delight in perforating
more intimate body parrs, sud-r as nipples and genirals. ,,When
hid it all winter, until the suruner months, when her
shorts revealed the truth to her outraged parents. Because of the
fierce battles that rage in some homes, talk-show host Jerry
Springer devoted an entire program to explaining piercers to par-
my boyfriend." Although some
ents and vice versa. Young women with rings in their eyebrows and
pierce their nipples and genitals
navel and
people look at you with a nose ring they automatically label you as
alternative," said a nineteen-year-old in upstate New york, ,,but
nobody knows about my fditoral] hood piercing excepr me and
women-borh
gay and
straight-
accommodation with mothers who all utter the same, unconvinc-
with the expecrarion that it will inerotic sensarion, rhe pierced high school and college srudenm.
I interviewed were hererosexuals and they never offered sexual plea-
ing refrain: "You looked prettier without it."
sure as an explanation. Instead, they spoke
jewels in their nose characteristically report long periods
of
silent
For those struggling for autonomy and independence, mater-
nal dismste for the piercing aesthedc is no deterrent. Piercing
proves, in a public wey, thet your body is your own ("I-can-fuckup-my-own-body-if-I want-to!" seems to be a common refrain).
It also signals your personal politics. If you become an "urban
aboriginal" at the end of the twentieth century, it is usually a sign
crease
about the special "secret" rhey shared
with girlish enthusiasm
with their boyfriend, and
how the genital decoration made them.feel "more feminine.,,
me
The notion that genital piercing was a "special secret,, made
think about rhe changing narure of intimacy in American so-
in which girls' bodies express these changes.
Rather than wear a boyfriend's school ring, tJre way eadier generciety, and the ways
of two things: sexual liberalism (because piercing symbolizes opposition to conventional sexual norms) and cultural relativism
(because it evokes the primitive and che exotic).
piece
Most young people explain the practice es a wey to differentiate themselves from bourgeois sociefy and mainstream youth cul-
school hallways, the way you flashed the ring worn on a chain
uound your neck when you were "going steady" in the I950s. A
ture. These are young women who self-consciously reject
ring on the clitoris is a very different kind of marker, intended
only for the ridllation of the "piercee" and her boyfriend. In an
" good/ pretty
6-
of
and disgusting. Mosr
tongue, are much more controversial. Seventy-five percent
teenagers in the
instead
girl" ideal presented in Snenteen
t74
end Mademoiselb,
the
But
ations did, these young women tingled at the idea thar they had a
of
love jewelry in (or on) the most inrimate parts of their
body. This was not a roken that could be displayed publicly in
t7l
tsoDY pROIECTS
THE tsODY PROIECT
era when the
distinction berween the public and private has all but
to decodisappeared, some teenage girls apparently feel the need
rate their genitals in order to have sometbing intimate-in effect'
to claim some degree of privacy in a world where the body has
been made public. (What was surprising was the pervasive sense
of romance and intimacy that the practice carried, despite the fact
that the hole and the jewelry were acquired in a commercial studio, through the intervention
of
a
paid person')
Most adolescent girls say "Yuc-k" when they think about piercing such delicate and personal body parts' But the genital-piercing
adolescent subculture
confusion, yet
it is constantly increased by commercial
as
the marketing
entire body, even its most private parts, as a message board.
is not some wild aberration unrelated to
fimiliar behavioral paffierns in late-rwentieth-century
American society. In a culture that pays such meticulous attention
broader, more
to the body, it is not a fluke that some adolescent girls have become
invoived in this particular body project' After all, looking good-all
over and everFvvhere-is a national priority, and
it
explains t}re eco-
Vctoria! Secret'
few
which has a sizablenumber of adolescent Paffons' In the past
offered teenage
years, a mai.l-order catalog from Delia! LLC has
dassicgirls an oppoftunity to purdrase their own version of the
nomic success
of
an upscale lingerie
ciain sucl
as
and seductive-blad< bra and panties'
Adolescent body piercers are rePresentatives of new sexual
and
mores, but they also proclaim the ways in which exhibitionism
commercial culture have come together at the end
of
the twenti-
eth century. Thirty years ago, sexually titillating underwear and
of
lingerie were, by and large, intended for adults' in the privacy
their bedrooms. Todap we are likely to see it-on both women
or even in the streets' When underwear beand girls-at
Parties
as it has in rhe past decade, adolescents of both
outerwear,
comes
of intimacy'
sexes are likely to become confused about the nature
At a time in life when sexual activity is beginning' this is no small
^)
t76
activi-
of lingerie or pierceweal-shxl sleds
the important distinction between the public and the private.
Although we m y not want to admit it, the current craze for body
piercing follows logically from the pared-down, segmented, increasingly exposed, part-by-part orientation toward the female
body that has emerged over the course of the twentieth century. In
fact, in a culture where everl'thing is "up close and personal," it
should not surprise us that some young women today regard the
1is5-5ugh
t77