Millions of American women are perpetual dieters: Many are stricken by devastating, sometimes fatal, eating disorders. Though diet and therapy books abound, few authors have tackled the complex sociocultural background that has influenced women and their view of themselves. Roberta Pollack Seid presents this perspective, tracing and assessing the origins of weight consciousness up to our current destructive mania.

Never Too Thin explains the startling reasons why women became obsessed with thinness. In the course of her investigation, Seid discovers a dangerous link, dating to the early part of this century, between medical prescriptives and fashion prerogatives. A complex network of influences-from politics and the rise of feminism to insurance company demographics and changes in the food industry-have subsequently reinforced and propogated the tie between "fitness" and "thinness."

Bringing to bear her expertise as a social historian and analyst of popular culture, Seid exposes our cherished axioms-"Thinner is healthier" and "Thinner is more beautiful"-as prejudices, not truths. Only from her original and comprehensive perspective can we understand how these have developed into a national obsession and how the obsession is embedded in our cultural norms and values. Only by understanding can women begin to free themselves from this obsession, from the terrible war it has made them unleash on their own bodies. - Publisher Description