For several decades in the 20th Century, American universities, including elite institutions, took nude photos of their students, sometimes as often as twice a year, in order to evaluate their posture. In some cases students had to achieve a minimum posture grade in order to graduate. How did that practice develop, and how did it end? This week we’re discussing Americans’ obsession with posture with Dr. Beth Linker (https://www.bethlinker.com/index.htm), the Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America (https://bookshop.org/a/34046/9780691235493).
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag (https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html), composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Debutante Intermezzo (https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-653042/),” composed and performed by Howard Kopp in 1916; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is from “,” from 1913, by Jessie H. Bancroft; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.
Additional sources:
“ Correct Posture League.; Will Educate Children and Adults to Stand Up Straight (https://www.nytimes.com/1914/04/02/archives/correct-posture-league-will-educate-children-and-adults-to-stand-up.html) ,” The New York Times, April 2, 1914. " College Slouch" Proved By Orthopedic Tests (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1917/3/8/college-slouch-proved-by-orthopedic-tests/) ,” The Harvard Crimson, March 8, 1917. “ The Rise and Fall of American Posture (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2651198) ,” by David Yosifon and Peter N. Stearns, The American Historical Review 103, no. 4 (1998): 1057–95. “ The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal (https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html) ,” by Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Times Magazine, January 15, 1995, Section 6, Page 26. “ It’s Not Too Late to Fix Your Posture (https://www.vogue.com/article/how-to-improve-your-posture) ,” by Thessaly La Force, Vogue Magazine, January 18, 2024. “ Six ways to improve your posture (https://www.ft.com/content/79e63899-6a44-4d3e-a07e-1af70370b67f) ,” by Rebecca Newman (https://www.ft.com/rebecca-newman) , Financial Times, March 26 2024. “ Learn how to correct your posture in only 60 seconds (https://www.golfdigest.com/story/learn-how-to-correct-your-posture-in-only-60-seconds-) ,” by Ron Kaspriske (https://www.golfdigest.com/contributor/ron-kaspriske) , Golf Digest, February 9, 2024. “ How to promote good posture and avoid becoming hunched over (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/12/11/how-to-avoid-stooped-posture/) ,” by Michele Stanten, The Washington Post, December 11, 2023.
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