In the final week of the topic, defining and contesting illness, the focus was put on natural approaches and healthism. Despite this, one of the other major intersections that became apparent through the three assigned readings was popular culture and its effect on health. We define the term healthism “as the preoccupation with personal health….a goal which is to be attained primarily through the modification of life styles, with or without therapeutic help.”[i] Not only are the readings illuminating the changing of lifestyles for personal health, but how those lifestyle changes can be affected by the wider popular culture. As our History 4250 class heads into our next section “Authority and Ideals,” it will be diving deeper into this very idea. In the Introduction of Bodily Subjects, this third theme discusses “the ways in which health, identity, and morality are closely linked in Western society and how they infuse popular culture.”[ii] Therefore healthism and popular culture intersect as the achievement of healthism is based on the popular culture norms of health.
In both the readings they get at this very idea of how popular culture can influence notions of health and the reciprocation of that, where popular culture is impacted by health. Marketing experts noticed this relationship many years and exploited it for monetary gain. Advertisements displayed in the magazines Playboy and Esquire, were intentionally created to manipulate the popular culture norms of the time into a form in which they could sell hygiene products. For example, in a time of hyper heterosexuality in the years during the Cold War, cologne was advertised in such a way that it pandered to this overreaching ideal. Associating the cologne with the sport and sexual prowess around women, allowed the company to gain a strong footing amongst the readers because both were heavily associated with displaying heterosexuality. Using the popular culture ideals, a company twisted that in a way that allowed them to sell more product.[iii]
In another case, the Large as Life action group used their new lifestyle of “fat acceptance” in order to better participate in popular culture unlike before. Where “fat-acceptance gave these women permission to participate in health and popular culture” that was not available to them before. Having the ability to see themselves as healthy and having a fashion line designed for their aerobic needs, increased inclusion for those that embraced their bodies as they were. In this case, the women’s notions of health created a new popular culture surrounding the Large as Life action group. The reciprocation is found, where health is affecting popular culture, instead of the other way around.[iv]
The Hutterites, a people attempting to reduce outside influence as much as possible, was not inept to the wave of healthism. Many of the women were increasing their labor force participation, higher education and desiring more control over their lives, which lead to the increased use of birth control methods and a declining population growth. Influenced during the 1950’s to 1970’s by the Second wave women’s movement, Hutterite women followed popular culture trends and adapted tier lifestyles in achievement for better well-being, which is a facet of healthism. Health and popular culture were intertwined and even affected those most cut-off from society like the Hutterites.[v]
[i] Crawford, Robert., “Healthism and the Medicalization of Everyday Life,” International Journal of Health Services, 10,3 (1980): 368.
[ii] Penny Light, et.al, “Introduction,” in Bodily Subjects: Essays on Gender and Health, 1800-2000, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015: 16.
[iii] Wendelboe, Thomas, “The Heterosexual Nature of Health and Hygiene Advertisements” in Penny Light et.al (Ed), Bodily Subjects: Essays on Gender and Health, 1800-2000, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015:
[iv] Ellison, Jenny, “‘Let Me Hear Your Body Talk’: Aerobics for Fat Women Only, 1981-1985,” in Cheryl Krasnick Warsh (Ed), Gender, Health and Popular Culture: Historical Perspectives, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011: 193-214.
[v] Laing, L. M. “Declining Fertility in a Religious Isolate: The Hutterite Population of Alberta, Canada, 1951-1971.” Human Biology 52, no. 2 (1980): 289-310.