1) The document discusses diet humor and how it relates to resistance against diet culture. It analyzes themes in diet humor related to diet ideology, rules of dieting, social interactions around food, and consumer culture. 2) While diet humor pokes fun at rules of dieting and social norms, it does not fundamentally oppose the core ideology that thinness equals health and attractiveness. 3) There is little humor that criticizes the connection between diet culture and the multi-billion dollar diet industry, so diet humor may not be a strong form of resistance against the dominant forces promoting and profiting from diet culture.

1. Cookie Pieces Have no Calories:
Diet humor as women’s resistance to
the diet culture
Diet culture and consumer culture
Debbie Iancu-Haddad

2. Diet joke…
Why was the first woman in space
envied by women around the globe?
She was the first woman who was
weightless

3. Contents
 Definition of humor
 Studying culture through humor
 Feminist theories on dieting
 What is diet humor
 Themes of diet humor
 Does the humor reflect resistance?

4. Definition of humor
 Humor is the ability or
quality of people, objects
or situations to invoke
feelings of amusement
in other people. The
term encompasses any
form of entertainment or
human communication
which invokes such
feelings, or which makes
people laugh or feel
happy.

5. Dimensions of humor
 Behavioral element
Laughing, smiling, or other expressions
 Cognitive element
Who has the last laugh?
The person who didn’t get the joke..
 Emotional element
I can relate to the experience
(Wow, that has happened to me…)

6. Theories of humor
 Incongruity theory
 Superiority theory
 Aggression – offense & defense
 Self Humor
Humor is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without
drawing blood- Mark Twain

7. Studying culture through humor
 Humor is culture specific
 Humor reflects shared knowledge
regarding social norms
 Humor relies on the rules of convention –
upsetting the normal order by subverting
then reinstating the dominant norms
 Each sub-culture has its own humor

8. Humor & the diet culture
Feminist theories on dieting
 Politics of the body – the personal is
political
 Diet culture as a backlash against
feminism (Wolf, 1990).
 Tyranny of slenderness (Chernin, 1981)
 Diet culture is linked to consumer culture
(Bordo, 1995)

9. What is diet humor?
 Reflects the
absurdities of dieting
 Criticizes the diet –
not the dieter
 Reflects the dieter’s
feelings and
emotions

10. Humor & the diet culture
Themes in diet humor
 Diet culture ideology
 Diet culture’s rules of practice
 Diet culture, food and social interaction
 Diet culture and consumer culture

11. Diet culture ideology
 Inside me there's a thin person struggling to get
out, but I can usually sedate her with four or five
cupcakes.
 Outside every fat person there’s an even fatter
person trying to close in.
 A Woman's Random Thoughts: “I read this article
that said typical symptoms of stress are eating too
much, smoking too much, impulse buying and driving
too fast. Are they kidding? That is my idea of a
perfect day”.

12. Rules of practice
Counting Calories
 Cookie pieces contain no
calories. The process of
breaking causes calorie
leakage.
 If you drink a diet soda with a
candy bar, the calories in the
candy bar are cancelled out by
the diet soda.
 Since Calories are units of
heat frozen food has no
calories (for instance: ice-
cream, popsicles)
 Food used for medicinal
purposes NEVER counts, such
as hot chocolate, toast, and
Cheesecake.

13. Rules of practice
Forbidden foods
This is for Women's eyes only:
THE RULES OF CHOCOLATE
 Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of
things to do today. That way, at least you'll get
one thing done.
 A nice box of chocolates can provide your total
daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that
handy?
 Q. Why is there no such organization as
Chocoholics Anonymous?
A. Because no one wants to quit.
 Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange
slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as
many as you want.

14. Rules of practice
Exercise…

15. Rules of practice
Exercise Humor
 The advantage of exercising everyday is
that you die healthier.
 My gym instructor told me to touch my
toes. I told her: “I don’t have that kind of
relationship with them, can’t I just wave?”.
 I don’t exercise at all. If God had wanted
me to touch my toes he would have put
them higher up on my body.
 I’m in shape – round is a shape.
 The only exercise I get is jumping to
conclusions.
 Pushing forty is enough exercise.

16. Diet culture and social interaction
 If you eat something and no one
sees you eat it, it has no calories.
 If you fatten up everyone else
around you,then you look thinner.
 When you eat with someone else,
calories don't count if you don't
eat more than they do.
 If you eat of someone else’s plate
the calories still belong to their
rightful owner.

17. Diet culture and consumer culture
 Reasons not to exercise: “I joined a health club last year,
spent about 400 bucks. Haven’t lost a pound. Apparently
you have to show up”.
 Margie’s Rules of Dieting: “When you do not recognize a
food object in your refrigerator, you can bet it was once
one of those "delicious, fat free, sugar free, high fiber
snacks" you bought on your first day of dieting”.
 A Woman's Random Thoughts: “I know what Victoria's
Secret is. The secret is that nobody older than 30 can fit
into their stuff”.
 Definition of panic: not only are you too large for the
clothes in fashion departments, you can’t even fit into the
changing rooms.

18. Diet culture and consumer culture

19. So is Diet humor resistant?
 Diet humor resists the rules of practice
and social interaction
 Diet culture does not oppose the main
diet culture ideology
 Very little diet humor points out the
connection between the diet culture and
the consumer culture – including the diet
industry which has huge global revenues

20. So who are we fooling?

21. So remember…
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body
thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming
"WOO HOO what a ride!"
Have a wonderful day!
Debbie-Iancu Haddad