Unrealistic Beauty

Body Image evolves from one look to another. According to The Peel Heritage Complex (www.region.peel.on.ca/health/commhlth/bodyimg/media.htm) we began in the 1890’s with a beautiful “plump body, pale complexion, representing wealth, an abundance of food and a refined indoor life style.” That would be about 5’8” and 132 lbs. Now, a model is no shorter than 5’7” and weighs no more than 115 lbs. Many people need to be reminded that most pictures of the models are airbrushed, possibly to the extent that it does not look like them anymore.

like they do because they feel that is the only way to be accepted in

The ideal body image at each given time period has a very distinct correlation with the fashion trends at the time and the conservativeness of the culture. The ideal body image has changed so much. They have varied in height, weight, and size. The ideal body image in 1900-1910 was tall with large curves but a small waist. In the 1920’s the ideal body was small curves and skinny legs. In the 1930’s the ideal body had a large waist and large bust. In the 1940’s women were to have slender bodies with flawless skin. The 1950’s encouraged women to have long legs, big curves, and an hourglass figure. The 1960’s thought it was ideal to have long legs and a slender figure. The 1970’s loved the athletic figure with a slim toned body. The 1980’s told the population that it was best to be strong and thin. The 1990’s thought the ideal body was thin with long thin limbs. Now days in the 2000’s the ideal body image is tall, and thin, with large curves, and a small waist. It’s easy to see a pattern in these body types. The ever changing idea of perfect just shows us that there is no real perfect body. The ideas of ideal body types at the time were greatly affected by the fashion trends of that time. Which is partly why it changes so much. America isn’t the only country that has ideal beauty standards. The whole world has

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

Women said “Out with the corsets!” and slender was in. As women increasingly started playing sports and becoming more active, the slender figure slowly became the ideal figure. Women joined the Olympics, and Eleanor Roosevelt started teaching calisthenics and dance. After World War I, women increasingly became more active outside of the home. At this time, we started seeing weight as a part of science with the study of calories, ideal weight and body mass index.

A diseased representation of women, advocated by the media, is detrimental to the American culture (Chittom, N. Page). The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), asserts an upsurge in eating disorders, inadequate self-esteem, and depression cases are attributed to this illustration (Chittom, N. Page). The portrait of American beauty has transformed greatly over the years (Chittom, N. Page). At the dawn of the twentieth century, beauty centered around abundant chests and minuscule waists, accentuated with tight corsets, but in the 1920’s, this image changed to glorify flat chested “flappers” (Chittom, N. Page). By the 1950’s, the shapely figures were once again popular, but in the 1960’s, with models like Lesley “Twiggy” Hornby, thin was

In our modern superficial world, there are people who are solely known for their good looks. It doesn’t matter how beautiful you may be or how beautiful you may think you are, the media will distort your mindset to make you have an idea that you could be better one way or another. With the growing industry that is Cosmetic Surgery people can now copy and paste parts of their body, they don’t take a fondness for. The beauty standard that is demanded by society and the media has caused body-image issues, addiction to surgery, and the traumatic death involved in cosmetic surgery.

Most Western societies experience an enormous amount of pressure on individuals to conform and achieve the thin-ideal. This influence by mass-media affects just about anyone including males and females, adults, adolescents, and children. In the early 20th century, women idolized movie icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Camille Clifford. Around 1900s, Camille Clifford started the trend where the standards of beauty were set around 140 pounds, at 5’4” feet tall. Back then, the ideal female body is by having a smaller mid-section (e.g. hourglass ideal/corsets). Marilyn Monroe’s diminutive waist and ostensibly colossal bust line exasperate female fans to engage more on physical activities. The outburst on slender-looking portrayal of body-image

A female should not feel insecure with her body when she is comfortable in her own skin, whether or not she weights 130 pounds or 150 pounds at 5’5”. According to Rehab’s study of the evolution of the female figure over one hundred years, “the body shapes of the most admired models have remained consistently slimmer than that of the average American woman.” Due to the significant increase in mass media throughout the twentieth century of the United States, there has been a noteworthy impact on the popular image of women. A woman being dissatisfied with their body is a everyday trend around the world where as

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

In a society so consumed by the ideology of beauty, it makes sense as to why so many women these days undergo cosmetic surgery. The definition of beauty has long been obstructed and changed. In the past, if you look at the woman, you will see they are curvy, during this era being thin meant you were poor where as a beautiful and wealthy woman would be plump because she could afford fine dining. As society has changed, being slender has become the new trend, creating the idea that in order to be truly beautiful one must be thin. The movie stars in Hollywood, although most people realize the beautifying changes that are made to the pictures, this idea of 'beauty ' and 'desire ' still lingers in the mind of whoever comes across it. Our society is bombarded with several different ideologies of beauty but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty standards that have been set should not be what are shaping people around the world and influencing them to go through with plastic surgery. The use of plastic surgery has changed from a medical procedure used to reconstruct the wounded or people with birth defects to reconstructing something people do not like about themselves. Plastic surgery was used during WWI in 1910 and after the war, skin grafting grew. The first training program in the United States was in 1924 thanks to Dr. John Davis. In 1950-1959, plastic surgery was used broadly to repair cleft pallet. It wasn’t until about

There are many beauty standards but weight and body size is slowly becoming the main focus. These standards give a false sense of hope of having the “perfect body.” Instead of letting beauty standards be socially accepted, people should be aware of the harm they cause. Celebrities are role models to various people around the world and they are criticized for their appearance. Many of these celebrities go out and get plastic surgery, Botox injections, and Silicone implants. People that a lot of money and higher status are more likely to be able to live up to these standards. Some women are willing to sacrifice comfort and tolerate the pain to achieve them.

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.

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.

With the media being a very popular way of communication and self expression in today’s culture, it influences the way of younger generations to be more involved in today’s technology, and to allow them to influence the world by the press of a button. But one of the topics that is very controversial is that in today’s society is the high expectations of what they think a girl has to look like, from girls not having stretch marks or scars, to magazines and photographers using photoshop to convince readers that the model looks like that. With all of these being factors that there is pressure is high for many girls around the world, this has to resolved.