Weight Loss for the Ideal Figure

Dieting, once a revolutionary act, became just one more way for women to model trends. And, as Vester concludes, “The disciplinary regimen of social control from without — through fashion, restricted mobility, and corsets — morphed into a dietary regimen of self-control from within.” In dieting, women internalized the corset and took hold of the strings. Culture simply sold them on the proper measurements.

The above quote is taken from an interesting little article about dieting in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era: the genesis of our modern attitudes on the subject.