La dictature de la minceur

The contemporary medical message insists on the individual's responsibility in managing his own health. The messages relayed by the various media are often confusing and contradictory, to which are added all the publicities for “healthy foods” because they are “light” and will insure weight loss. The equation slimness or even thinness is a particularly strong representation, especially among young and very young women and has great influence on the food behaviour of adolescents. These lead to “small anorexia” as defined by J.-P. Corbeau. Obsession with diet leads to nutritional pathologies, negation of pleasure and conviviality that the moral condemnation of fatness will only increase.