Friday, November 30, 2012

History of Body Image

History of body image

The idea of what is beautiful has captivated women throughout history. With the rise of our consumerist society and popular culture there has been a great increase of women striving to exemplify what is considered beautiful at that time.Women are bombarded with messages  telling them that they are not ok how they currently look, and then they are offered solutions  that, more often then not, come with a fee. A womans body image is directy influenced by how she is socially conditioned through means of the media, her parents, and what her experiences in her day to day life. Here is a look at what women idealized at certain times in history:

1800's:
Women of this time period wanted to be plump and natural because this was a sign of wealth and therefore an ability to eat well. Women of this time wanted to accentuate their women curves in order to attract men, and pear shape was what men sought.


1900's:
Thin women started to become the ideal, In the 1900's women were first able to compete in the olympics, and they also could work more outside of the home. This sporty, working woman became the new image of a woman.


   [1912, British womans freestyle swim.]

1950's:
Marylin Monroe was a major icon of this time period, and also playboy was started in 1954. During this period the hourglass figure was what was idealized.
[Marlyn Monroe]


Today:

Throughout this blog we will be showing contemporary examples of the unrealistic ideals of what a woman should look like in our society today, and the effect this has had on womens body image.


For more information on refer to http://www.medicinenet.com/beauty_and_body_image/article.htm

http://www.ivillage.com/renaissance-runway-body-shapes-over-ages/4-a-106826

-Lindsey

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