CORPULENCE “A WAY OF LIFE’’

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27824, 24 November 1955, Page 10

CORPULENCE “A WAY OF LIFE’’

Doctor’s Regret At Disappearance (From a Reuter Correspondent) MADRID. The disappearance of shapely, wellrounded female figures, not as a result of any slimming diets, but as a direct result of the demands of modern life, is predicted by Dr. Gregorio Maranon, a well-known Spanish doctor. In a paper entitled “The psychology of the fat person as seen by a doctor who is not a psycho-analyst,” read to the first Spanish-American medicopsychological congress held in Madrid, Dr. Maranon said: “Corpulence is not an ilines but the expression of a way of life. The social prestige formerly attained by being fat went into a decline with World War I. Food restrictions brought some disease during that conflict but, on the whole, improved the standard of health. “After the war, came equalitarian ideas. The bourgeois became ashamed to eat a meal of six or seven courses. I have treated exactly 5516 cases of persons wishing to slim. The number of patients who come to me to know how to reduce weight continues as numerous as ever. But many of those who now come to me because they believe they are too corpulent would formerly have considered themselves slender. “The struggle of women to slim tends to modify the physical characteristics of their sex.” he said. “Men. however, still secretly prefer a shapely woman. Eut the conditions of our modem life require that the body shall be covered only by muscles and skin. Corpulence will disappear in the future.” Asked by a reporter at the congress whether he himself followed a diet, Dr. Maranon replied: “Yes—hard work.” Dr. Maranon is a famous figure in Spain’s medical, literary and political life. He was one of the “intellectuals” who helped to overthrow the monarchy in 1931. and is now regarded as being Spain s leading medical authority. He is also a prolific writer. Recently, he provoked much controversy by expressing his belief that El Greco has used as models mad people from a mental home.