"Yvonne Blue was born in 1911, she was the eldest of three daughters. Her father was an ophthalmologist; her mother was a homemaker and they lived on the outskirts of Chicago. Yvonne enjoyed reading everything comics, women's magazines and best-selling novels, she listened to jazz music, and went to the movies regularly. Around the age of 12 or 13, Yvonne was not concerned with her appearance.
Between 13 and 15, Yvonne underwent a growth spurt, increased her height by almost six inches and her weight by over 40 pounds. Yvonne was nearly five feet six inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. During the 1920's a slender female body was considered highly desirable. Yvonne wrote in her diary that she wanted to be "slim and sylph like," like her favorite film stars—or like the sophisticated women she saw in popular magazines and the rotogravure.
During the 1920's adolescent girls began experiences new things on the radio, in movies, they rode unchaperoned in cars, and talked on the telephone. Young women's self-esteem began to have more to do with external attributes than with inner qualities, Since movies, magazines, and department stores in the 1920s all gave primacy to a woman’s visual image, even young teenagers like Yvonne began to worry about their appearance in ways that required increased attention to their bodies.
In 1923 Yvonne entered high school, with a new flapper haircut.. "Yesterday I went to the barber’s and had my hair shingle bobbed cut in a bob just like a boy’s only longer." For Yvonne and her friends, the bob was an important symbol. In the nineteenth century, hair was considered a woman’s crowning glory, and the more the better.Short hair visually separated the young from the old. In addition, it symbolized a new attitude toward the female body.
As Yvonne became more self-absorbed, she also became more unhappy with the way she looked. At 15, social events that should have been fun became worrisome because she felt so large and ungainly. One particularly miserable day, she called herself a "fat, crude, uncouth misunderstood beast". Yvonne began to focus more on her food intake and the idea of slimming down in the summer of 1926. "I’m so tired of being fat!" she wrote in her diary. "I’m going back to school weighing 119 pounds—I swear it. Three months in which to lose thirty pounds—but I’ll do it—or die in the attempt." Yvonne's family did not own a scale, so she began taking trips to the drugstore, or the gymnasium, to weigh herself.
On some days, Yvonne wrote down everything she ate; on others, she "forgot."One summer evening, to avoid eating, she refused to enter a restaurant with her family and sat outside in the car while everyone else went inside. There were a number of unpleasant struggles with her concerned parents, who did not approve of her dieting. At this time, it was recommended to consume 1,200-1,500 calories a day, and exercise to lose weight. Yvonne tried to keep her daily food intake down to 50 calories, allowing herself only lettuce, carrots, celery, tea, and consommé.By depriving her body all carbohydrates and most meat, Yvonne reduced her weight to about 125 pounds."
-The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls By: Joan Jacobs Brumberg-
The Body Project talks about the history of the female body, and the issues that women have had to face over time. I would recommend this book to all women and young girls.
