Essay on How the Ideal Body Image Has Changed Through History

Not only does the ideal body image vary culture to culture, but, also, by gender. The idealized statues, Heyl Aphrodite, by an unknown artist, from the late Hellenistic period, and Capitoline Gaul, by an unidentified artist, from 100 AD to 199 AD, differ in the sense of gender.

The “Inner Corset” by the Laura Fraser is about how people in the United State from 1880 to 1920 start from being heavy to thin. At the beginning the women were sexy if they were heavy and it was a sign that they belong to a rich family that they could afford buying food, but since times goes people ideology start changing. Then society influences the women to be thin which makes them more beautiful, and man would love them more. In the twentieth century the image of thin started changing and the woman were facing some diseases. According to The Inner Corset “When many women ventured out of their homes and away from their strict roles as mothers, they left behind the Plump and reproductive physique, which began to seem old-fashioned next to

Feminist scholars would be attracted since most beauty standards are to be skinny and have a hourglass figure. But in this sculpture it portrays a woman that is a bigger size and does not have a hourglass figure. So feminist scholars would think that during that time that was the beauty standard for the people.

It was determined that the women in the portrait was most likely a freeborn, upper-middle class citizen of Rome. The portrait seems to have been a part of a funerary monument, a conclusion which was drawn due to the pattern of cleavage observed at the back of her head and the sides of her face. It was also observed that there was a

Society constantly redefines what beauty is in women, and yet women always feel compelled to conform to society’s definition of beauty. The insecurity of women today adhere to society’s definition of beauty. By conforming to society’s definition beauty they are rewarded with confidence. According to Bordo (1989), anorexia built bodies has become the norm for women today. Most clothing stores accommodate to these body figures by selling majority small and medium framed clothing. Tight and skinny bodies were defined as the next generation of beauty, where priorly in the social symbolism of a small frame was associated with being poor. It was known that those with a bulging stomach was a powerful

The Body Project: An Intimate History of Girls by Joan Jacobs Brumberg chronicles the change in attitudes towards the female body throughout American history. From the Victorian Era’s focus on internal beauty standards to the 1920’s flapper beauty ideal, Brumberg explores the shifting focus which may or may not have helped girls in the long run.

The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink

Painting portraits, portraits of women, youth and loved ones became more popular than scenery. Here, women are no longer mythological creatures and have stepped out into everyday life, although there is still an air of idealism around them. (Fig. 2)is a work of this period with an emphasis on the female element.

In the 1950s, excessively feminine silhouettes were celebrated thus accentuating curves, full bosoms and narrow waists was a prevailing way for women to dress. Nevertheless, with her sphere of influence on women, Audrey Hepburn introduced an alternative to this limited standard of how women—through various aspects of dressing and behaving—should be (Keogh 1). Some of the popular stars who eventually became sex symbols in the period were Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Grace Kelly. Hepburn’s physique however, was totally different from these women. She did not have a big bosom or a bottom. She was not curvy. Unlike Audrey Hepburn’s

For instance, although curvy, the woman’s outstretched arms suggest her openness and accentuate her lean, lengthy figure – definitely not overweight. Rather, her curvy, yet fit body type is regular with the ads and media related pictures that urged ladies to embrace exercise programs amid that decade. At the time, eating routine and activity were acknowledged as fundamental for the prosperity of ladies. The change from simply curvaceous and big breasted to voluptuous and in shape denoted the end of the 1930s and a transition in society to a strong emphasis on weight management and appearance that has continued into the 21st

Throughout the ages, different body types have been considered the ideal. From antiquity to the 1800’s, being thin definitely was not in. The idea that skinny was pretty did not become a major trend until around the 1920’s when females desired boyish figures in line with the popularity of “flapper styles”. As you move to the 50’s the ideal body goes more in the direction of the hourglass and only becomes

First, women have a long history of the ideal body image that started in the early 1800’s with voluptuous figures that were made for child bearing, to the skinny boyish figure of the flapper in the 1920’s, and then the glamourous figure of Marilyn Monroe in the 1950’s. Today in society the ideal body image of women appears very slender, with flawless skin on television shows about dancing, reality television, and even sitcoms. In

Another area in which women made changes was with their appearance. Women used their attire and style to show an independence, a certain freedom in which they alone had control. Starting with the “Gibson Girl”, women dressed in long, slim dresses, freeing themselves of the poufy petticoats of yore. Women started wearing shorter dresses and shorter hairstyles, leading to “Flapper Jane”. “Women started wearing “less” clothing, shorter dresses, cutting off their hair, and just being more “sensual” than normal”, (Bliven, 1925).

Garner and colleagues also noted a trend toward noncurvaceousness from 1960 to 1979. The bust and hip measurements of Playboy models decreased and their waist measurements increased significantly. These findings are consistent with those reported by Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, and Kelly (1986) who examined the curvaceousness of models appearing in Vogue and Ladies Home Journal from 1901 to 1981 and of popular movie actresses from 1941 to 1979. The investigators found that among the models appearing in Ladies Home Journal and Vogue, the bust-to-waist ratio dropped significantly.

Over the years, the ideal female figure has since changed. In the 1800s, the ideal female figure was a lot