An excerpt: Western Beauty

An excerpt: Western Beauty

A topic of interest that fluctuates over time that sways people’s perceptions is women’s body image and the Western culture’s standards of beauty. I chose to specifically research the image of women, as the ‘ideal’ male body image has remained fairly consistent throughout history: broad shoulders, chiseled abs, and large stature. Documentation of female beauty dates back to centuries, where corpulent women were praised in the 1800’s, to where society is now, a heavy contrast of where “thin is in”. With the ever-changing standardized beauty of women, the question is, where will body image take us next? And who is really affected by these standards?

General hypothesis: History shows us that women’s standard of beauty has literally been thinning over time. In the age of where thin is “in”, where will body image take us next? And how many women are affected by society’s standard to be thin?

According to socialization and identity development, “how much value one sees in oneself is greatly affected by socialization and how you’re seen by society.” The media has conspicuously laid out the standards to fit the nature of the “ideal women”, and our dominant culture tells us what we ought to look like to feel socially acceptable by beauty. Not only is ‘beauty’ limited to our body type, but also it comes down to skin tone, hair, make-up, etc. We also may want to consider women who go tanning, buy make-up, make weekly trips to the salon, and get their nails done. There is a quote that “the more you buy into vanity, the less you have of a soul.” Here, I want to explore to what extent altering our aesthetics is a result of our society’s by-product. Has the media really defined beauty for most women, or do majorities hold it up for their own?

Historical approach: A timeline of Western culture women’s beauty to simply examine themes over time.

EX/ 1800s – During the Victorian era, the ideal body type for women was plump, fleshy, and full-figured. They wore restrictive corsets, which made waists artificially tiny while accentuating the hips and buttocks.

1900s-1950s – Slenderness became more fashionable. There was an increasing interest of women in athletics and body weight was seen as a ‘science’ of calorie counting.

1920s – The Victorian hourglass gave way to the thin flapper who bound her breasts to achieve a washboard profile. Body fat was perceived to contribute to inefficiency and was seen as a sign of self-indulgence.

1950s – A thin woman with a large bust line was considered most attractive. The voluptuous Marilyn Monroe set a new standard for women who now needed to rebuild the curves they had previously tried to bind and restrain.

1960s-1990s – Slenderness became the most important indicator of physical attractiveness following the arrival of model Twiggy.

1970-1990 – An overall increased emphasis on weight loss and body shape in the content of popular women’s magazines. Body ideals were very slim and large breasted, think Pamela ‘Baywatch’ Anderson, an almost impossible combination for most western women.

*Information courtesy of thesite.org.

Though I could not see how the research could be used to truly benefit society to ‘cure’ this phenomenon, it certainly could improve self-awareness. It hammers the idea how beauty fluctuates and how there really is no certain ideal body ‘type’, as each was popular at some point in time. This research also points out the flaws of the media, to identify between myth and practice, and how it has a profound affect on building individuality. (photo-shopped images vs. real life, unattainable reality) I believe the media has unrealistic standards for body image and it plays an ample role in people going great, detrimental distances to feel a sense of belonging, ex. Bulimia, anorexia, binging, which is a gateway for other effects such as depression. This research has good intentions to condone awareness on the irony of beauty in the media. “The more you buy into vanity, the less you have of a soul.” This encourages people to not become part of a statistic and to not allow unrealistic standards of today’s society to ruin an individual’s development.