fuck the politically minded here's something i want to say : comments.
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Re: Attempt at conciliation
The other conciliatory suggestion is more problematic - the question of dieting itself. The problem is that I do genuinely believe that no-one should diet, because I do genuinely believe that they do harm to the body in the long term. Now, this may, in time, be proved false, but there seems a reasonable amount of evidence to support it at the moment. However, I would also say that I appreciate that this is not where the world is at. In many ways, my outlook on this is analogous to the old idea of socialist countries. From your knowledge of history I'm sure you're aware that the old "communist" countries were technically speaking "socialist". That is, they were socialist countries whose stated aim was (philosophically if not in reality) to finally achieve a communist society. Hence the battlecry "Forward to Communism!"
So my attitude to dieting is a bit like this. A little dieting is necessary at present because people want to and decide to do it, but I am pushing at every stage for the Nirvana where nobody diets. Perhaps we'll never get there, and perhaps I'm wrong anyway, but in the meantime that is my position.
Sorry if that's not what you want to hear, and I'm sorry I can't exactly meet your requirements exactly, but hopefully this will be enough that we can meet half-way.
Re: Attempt at conciliation
It seems to me (butting into the middle of a discussion!) that there's been a blurring of the boundaries between 'diet' - meaning a short-term radical reduction in food intake, usually along with a change to specific 'diet' foods - and 'diet' - meaning a long-term change in eating patterns to smaller and healthier portions along with an awareness of nutrition. I think the former does a great deal of harm; I think the latter would be beneficial to most people in the Western world.
From your knowledge of history I'm sure you're aware that the old "communist" countries were technically speaking "socialist".
No they weren't - they were Stalinist. But that's a whole nother question!
Re: Attempt at conciliation
Hmm. Maybe it would do me good to try and write out what
I think, because sometimes I slide further into "no-one
should ever diet under any circumstances" than I want to.
I think my attitude is basically that I believe dieting is usually harmful in the long term, but metabolisms vary sufficiently that I consider it possible that this is not true for everyone, and I am also aware that it can have short-term benefits. I believe many of those benefits can be achieved in other ways, but that not all methods are equally convenient to every person in every context.
I believe that given my own personal history, I will be healthier if I do not diet and concentrate instead on increasing my trust in my own body's instincts, increasing the quality of what I eat and finding forms of exercise that I enjoy. The first two of those are sometimes in conflict, which I am in the process of figuring out how to resolve.
I believe that others have the right to reach their own conclusion on where the balance of the risks and benefits lies for them, and to implement their conclusion, and indeed I include in that the right to choose to self-harm [*], through dietary restrictions as through anything else.
I share your concerns about the difficulty of making such choices freely in our current culture, but I don't believe it's impossible, and I prefer not to second-guess the choices of a particular individual, or the freedom of those choices [*], unless either I am responsible for them (my kids, say) or they have invited my opinion. I have acquired more knowledge of how diets work in the short-term than was good for me, and if someone has made an informed choice to diet, I am usually willing to share anything from my experience that seems like it might help them to achieve their goal in the most healthful way possible, provided I think I can do it in a way that won't add to the social pressure on them to diet (and if I can't, I consider that a fault in my own communication skills).
On the other hand, I think activism that increases general awareness of the risks of and alternatives to dieting increases both the ease of making a free choice to diet and the ease of making a free choice not to diet, and is therefore a Good Thing.
I also think that activism that makes women who choose to diet feel guilty for not being feminist enough, or variations on that theme, decreases the ease of making either choice freely, and is therefore a Bad Thing [*].
[*] I am not suggesting that anyone on this thread or your original one is doing any of these things; they are all patterns I have sometimes come across elsewhere.