Degeneration - Den sunde krop som symbol

Resumé

Artiklen, som indgår i en forelæsningsrække om Sundhed og Idræt, behandler den stigende fedmeepidemi og ser på menneskekroppens forfald. Dertil diskuteres sundhedsdebattens og -kampagnernes fokus og vinkling.

Degeneration – the healthy body as symbol

This article is an inaugural lecture for the first Danish chair in sportshistory. It does not take the form of a traditional research article but is rather an essay of a heuristic nature. The theme is a diagnosis of notions of degeneration in about 1900 and today. As was the case during the first half of the 20th century, we are today confronted with threats in regard to the decay of the human body, not least in the form of an epidemic of obesity and a lack of exercise in our daily lives. Can we learn from the dangerous political and religious health fanaticism which developed through anxiety about degeneration after the turn of the century? How do we prevent the huge health problems causing the onset of collective hysteria?