Kipnis writes about how pornography confronts the public with ideas that disgust them, such as fat porn and gay porn. She writes about how porn persuades people to venture outside of their comfort bubbles and conservative views. Pornography is full of things that surprise people such as porn that shows the sexuality of the elderly. Porn videos of aged people are surprising to our culture because we associate sexuality with youth. This shows our culture’s norms and values, such as being thin means you’re attractive.
She writes that “this cult of bodily thinness and obsession with banishing fat is, of course, historically recent, and in sharp contrast to bodily aesthetics for the past four hundred years or so” (Kipnis 99). Between 1500 and 1900, a bulky body was visually attractive to both men and women. “And clothes themselves were bulky and designed to add volume to the body rather than emphasize a svelte profile” (Kipnis 99). Thinness back then meant that you were poor and underprivileged. People who were larger were seen as wealthy and fortunate.
This shows the clear connection between body type and social class. Today, the connection between body type and social class still exists, but the tables have turned (at least in American culture) and thinness now represents upper-class. However, this has become quite problematic, contributing to the up rise in diseases such as anorexia and bulimia. Who knows how long America will remain obsessed with being fat-free, but it will continually contribute to the social changes of America’s culture.
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