Forecasting the Decline and Fall of the Skinny Ideal

Some people still fret about pop culture’s idealization of skinniness and the eating disorders it promotes. While such concern isn’t trivial, one eating disorder plainly trumps all others in its impact on Americans: overeating. So much of the population is now overweight that one wonders how long thinness can retain its privileged aura. A Harris Poll released this month found 80 percent of Americans age 25 and up are heavy, including 33 percent who are obese (i.e.,