Eustace Chesser
Eustace Chesser | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 22 March 1902 Edinburgh,Scotland |
| Died | 1973 (aged 70–71) |
| Occupation(s) | Psychiatrist, writer |
Eustace Chesser(formerly Isaac Chesarkie) (22 March 1902 – 1973) was a Scottishpsychiatrist,social reformerand writer.[1]
Early life
[edit]Eustace Chesser was born inEdinburghon 22 March 1902, to Russian immigrants. He educated atGeorge Watson's Collegeand received his medical degree from theUniversity of Edinburgh,in 1926.[1]
Career
[edit]Chesser worked for some years as a GP inCinderford,Manchesterand spent part of theSecond World Waras a clinical assistant at theTavistock Clinic.[2]
In 1940 he published a sex manual entitledLove Without Fear.[1]It sold 5,000 copies but it was withdrawn, and Chesser was arrested for obscenity.[1][3]Rather than pleading guilty and accepting a fine, Chesser chose to be tried by jury.[4]Chesser, who pleaded not guilty, was later acquitted. During the course of the trial, three doctors expressed the opinion that the book served a very useful purpose.[5]
In 1959 Chesser resigned from theBritish Medical Associationafter the BMA decided that no further copies of a booklet to which he had contributed, entitled 'Getting Married', should be issued. The BMA defended its decision on the grounds that the booklet had been criticised by other doctors who were members of the BMA.[6]
Dieting
[edit]Chesser authored the bookSlimming for the Millionin 1939. He advocated alow-carbohydratehigh-protein diet.[7]He recommendedbacon,eggs,lean meats and fresh vegetables. He argued that "all sugars should be avoided like the devil", especiallychocolatewhich he described as "one of obesity's biggest allies."[7]His low-carb dieting ideas are a predecessor to theAtkins diet.[7]
A review in theBritish Medical Journalnoted that Chesser's meat or protein diet may be deficient in essential vitamins and concluded that the book "does not seem practical enough for a patient or detailed enough for a doctor."[8]
Personal life
[edit]In 1926 Chesser married Rose Morris, with whom he had a son, later the psychiatristEdward Stewart Chesser,and a daughter, Shirley. Chesser later married Sheila Blayney-Jones, who survived him.[2]
In 1968 Chesser suffered a serious illness which left him physically incapacitated for the remainder of his life.
Following his death, in 1973, a meeting in memory of Chesser was held at theRoyal Society of Medicine.[9]
Bibliography
[edit]- Slimming for the Million(1939)
- Love Without Fear: a Plain Guide to Sex Technique for Every Married Adult(1940)
- The Practice of Sex Education: A Plain Guide for Parents and Teachers(1944)
- The Unwanted Child(1945)
- Grow up - and live(1949)
- Cruelty to Children(1952)
- How to Make a Success of Your Marriage(1952)
- Successful living(1952)
- The Sexual, Marital and Family Relationships of the English Woman(1956)
- Love and Marriage(1957)
- Women(1958)
- An Outline of Human Relationships(1959)
- Odd Man Out: Homosexuality in Men and Women(1959)
- Is Chastity Outmoded?(1960)
- The Cost of Loving(1964)
- Sexual Behavior(1964)
- Shelley & Zastrozzi: Self-Revelation of a Neurotic(1965)
- Unmarried Love(1965)
- Living with Suicide(1967)
- Why Suicide?(1968)
- Sex and the Married Woman(1968)
- Twentieth Century Woman(1969)
- Strange Loves: The Human Aspects of Sexual Deviation(1970)
- Who do you Think You Are?(1970)
- Salvation Through Sex: The Life and Work of Wilhelm Reich.(1972)
- Is Marriage Necessary?(1974)
- Children by Choice (1947) Reissued in 1950 as A Practical Guide to Birth Control
References
[edit]- Footnotes
- ^abcdHall, Lesley A. (2004)."Chesser, Eustace (1902–1973)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40923.Retrieved21 May2011.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^abObituary: Dr Eustace Chesser,The Times,6 December 1973, p. 18.
- ^Green & Karolides,p. 333
- ^Hall,p. 360
- ^Alleged Obscene Book,The Times,1 July 1942, pg. 2.
- ^Marriage Book Withdrawn,The Times,6 March 1959, pg. 10.
- ^abcFoxcroft, Louise. (2012).Calories & Corsets: A History of Dieting Over 2, 000 Years.Profile Books. p. 119.ISBN978-1-84668-425-8
- ^Reviewed Work: Slimming For The Million: The New Treatment Of Obesity. A Practical Guide For Patient And Physician by Eustace Chesser.(1939).The British Medical Journal2 (4107): 649.
- ^Deaths: Memorial Services,The Times,13 February 1974, pg. 28.
- Sources
- Green, Jonathon; Karolides, Nicholas J. (2005),The Encyclopedia of Censorship,Infobase Publishing,ISBN0-8160-4464-3
- Hall, Lesley A. (1994), "The English Have Hot-water Bottles: The Morganatic Marriage Between Medicine and Sexology in Britain since William Acton", inPorter, Roy;Teich, Mikuláš (eds.),Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality,CUP Archive,ISBN0-521-44891-3
