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Body image over the years
How the female body image perception has changed through time
Body image over the years
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How the ideal body has changed over time and what the future holds This painting was created in 1509 and a section from the plaque below the painting reads “This mysterious painting is meant to be an allegory of Poetry, whose symbols – the flute and the pouring water – are shared between two nude women of ideal beauty. These unreal figures exist only in the imaginations of the two men they inspire.” This painting shows that just over 500 years ago the ideal body was one of robust and physically larger women. This painting was created in 1863, just over 350 years after the painting above. This shows that in over 350 years the ideal body did not change as this painting still depicts women whom people today may classify as being ‘larger’. Also, it is clear that that this is the ideal body at that time as the two men who are with the women are vying for the women’s attention. From the 1500s onwards, up until the mid 1800s the ideal woman's body was larger. Peter Stearn, a historian, explained this in his book ‘Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West’ by writing that “in those days, slenderness may indicate malnutrition or disease, whereas plumpness was seen as a sign of affluence, health, good temperament and maternal function”. During this era, famine was a regular occurrence and it was common for women to consider reproducing as her duty. This meant that a well-fed wife who had wide hips from child bearing looked favourably on her husband. This photograph, taken in the early 1800’s captures a woman who has been wearing a corset to slim her waist and exaggerate her hips and bust. This look was thought to prove a woman's elegance to others enabling her to show off her hourglass figure. The wearing of corse... ... middle of paper ... ...eem to be shown in the media and and on catwalks where they are seen by women worldwide. Another aspect of the ‘ideal’ body concept to explore is, what will the future hold for womens body image? At the moment future of the ‘ideal’ body looks bleak, with women trying to achieve something that is only naturally achievable for 5% of the population. Some experts are predicting the return of ‘recession curves’ where we deal with the uncertainty of the economic downturn with putting on extra weight, whilst others believe a truly full-figured ideal is still a long way off, largely due to the obesity crisis, which invariably carries with it negative health associations with being fat. Perhaps one day in the future though, rather than only skinny or large being the ideal in any given generation, women will be able to embrace the true diversity of the female body.
“The whalebone corset was much more confining than the paste-stiffened one and often worn in conjunction with other undergarments that further exaggerated the female shape” (Woodward). Later the fashion has had a slide change in the Queen Elizabeth's time where it was for “a long, firm corset reaching from the bust to below the natural waistline, paired with a huge, and whale bone-stiffened hoop skirt called a farthingale.” As time and fashion pass, corset also changes depending on the event to choose whether it should be long or short, supporting the bust or minimizing it. As the concept evolved by early nineteenth century manufactures had improved, so did the variety of materials and techniques used to create the difference of shapes that have historically been imposed on the female form and corset makers had worked on a more flexible one than the earlier stiffed corset that could be knitted in to a suitable fabric for undergarments.... ... middle of paper ...
Times have changed throughout the generations and the portrayal of women in the media has definitely changed over the years. Unfortunately, there is still a stereotypical appearance and social role in the media that women need to achieve in order to be socially desired. Even though it has improved, there is such a stigma towards being too fat, too skinny, too tall, or too short and the list of imperfections go on and on. Aside from body image, social roles are a big issue in the media today. When you look at any advertisement in the media, you can notice the appearance, gender, and race of the model. The media’s idea of the “perfect” body is having the unflawed and women are typically skewed for this by society.
Women weren’t always striving for a thin physique. In fact, women were once admired for their natural, God-given bodies. For Instance, during the Renaissance era (1400s- early 16th century) the more voluptuous a woman’s body was, the more she was desired (Kuchinsky). Painting...
“You can’t rely on how you look to sustain you.”(Nyongo, 2014) On March 1st,2014, Lupita Nyongo, Oscar Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress in 12 Years A Slave, gave a moving speech expressing the thoughts of a young girl. An adolescent young girl wrote a letter stating her perception of being colored. She looked for medication in order to obtain lighter skin. Her self-hate consumed her and slowly prevented her from accepting who she is. The girl struggled with her self-esteem. The young girl is encouraged by several women in black society. People such as Oprah, Alek Wek and Lupita herself were the cause of the young girl’s encouragement. She went on a self-discovery of what makes someone beautiful. The girl’s mother states that she can’t eat beauty and that it is not something that could be consumed. (Nyongo, 2014). The letter persuades young girls that compassion is the key to sustain beauty. Nyongo expresses that emotional courage of oneself is accepting and embracing her external beauty.
Women have been facing crisis of body image since the dawn of man, for competition in breeding purposes, however women came under great scrutiny because of this. Often through history, they have been at the same level of livestock, treated poorly. Creating a rise in the early 1900’s to create the movement about pushing for the equality of women in the United States; it was after then when media first started adopting an ideal image of women in American culture, when marketing research found the use of images of ideal women in their campaigns made for higher sales.
This report aims to explore the different views of those who believe that having an unrealistic ideal body image positively affects women and those who believe that it has a negative impact on women. This report will also provide the issue and its debate background, its social significance, the parties involved in this debate as well as the differing opinions and arguments related to the debate topic.
Throughout time, the most controversial subject among female’s health has been body image. Society and our culture molds females’s brains into believing that being thin is what will fulfill complete happiness. Being thin means you are more successful, loved, attractive, and overall truly beautiful. Thin women are seen as having an altogether perfect life. However, there is another female figure that is seen as undesirable, hopeless, mainly disliked by most. This type of woman is the curvy or larger female. If one were to go out on the street and gather a group of men and women and show them the thin vs. large female and which one is more attractive, most would say the thinner is. Thus, we deny the larger women because they do not fit societies norms. Thin women are timid to turn into this other that is not widely accepted. To this extent, society and our culture have constructed a monster.
Every culture has a “perfect body image” that everyone compares their own bodies to. Girls especially have the mental thinking that they have to live up to the models on TV and magazines. In the United States the skinnier the girls, the more perfect their image is perceived. The “perfect body image” has an intriguing background, health and psychological problems, and currently few solutions.
Before the early to mid 1800’s, women were forced to squeeze into corsets made of whalebone, steel or buckram. It gave them the figure eight profile which resulted on a number of health problems, including their organs and body to become deformed. Over the corsets, women wore heavy layers of petticoats despite the weather. (Small Business Administration 3) Dresses emphasized the bust and hips, attempting to make women look very voluptuous. With the spread of commercialism, hundreds of new beauty products were introduced. These ever-popular restricting fashions were later outdated.
The picture is taking the viewer to the exotic island of Tahiti One of the women, facing the viewer, was Gauguin’s mistress and the woman facing down was her sister. By looking at the picture, I feel a strong contrast between these two women. This contrast seemingly reflects in the clothes they are wearing in the facial expressions also in the traditional elements, which indicate about the status of these women.
This painted from the male view because in my view, there no painter paint woman with nude. Mostly, the painter, who is a woman, paint a woman with a beautiful dress. This painting also present the women were as an object and surveyed by the male. However, there is some reason why the presentation of women and male are different. the first reason is how the woman seeing is different to the men.
The importance of body image and the idealisation of the ideal body have become more dominant in society today.
A woman may ask herself, "what traits are considered beautiful?" Over the years, the most sought after qualities could easily be viewed as long light blonde, ruby red, or midnight black hair, skin as milky as ivory, lips as red as a cherry, a bust as perky as ripe melons, a waist as seamless as an hourglass, hips that are voluptuous and round, all with legs as long as stilts. The flawless image of Jessica Rabbit walking into a smoke filled room containing men who gawk, trip, and even fight their way over each other, just to catch a glimpse of this exotic, beautiful, sensual woman is the epitome of sexuality. Pop culture has drilled this image into the minds of billions of young women through television, magazines, books, and newspapers. It is only by looking at style trends throughout history, examining the ideal "perfect woman" from different ages, and analyzing the role of women in advancing generations, will prove just how much of an impact pop culture makes on the view of women.
The groundbreaking Demoiselles d’Avignon was controversial not only for the way the women looked but also for the positions of the women. Although Picasso did not emphasize on detail, he “saw that the rational, often geometric breakdown if the human head and body employed by so many African artists could provide him with the starting point for his own re-appraisal of his subjects”(Cubism 53). “The naked women become inextricably bound up in a flux of shapes or planes which tip backwards and forwards from the two-dimensional surface to produce much the same sensation as an elaborate sculpture…”(Cubism 54).
Body image is the mental image of one 's own body. Body image is very important because the majority of people think about their appearance and how they look all day long. Many people today have a very poor body image. The causes of poor body image include: body size, bullying, media, low self-esteem, depression, and even gender. Body image also has some very unhealthy effects on men and women. Body image in our world today is at an all-time low, but there are many ways to help improve it. The most important ways are to focus on the good and positive talents he or she has and to not compare his or her body to another individual’s body.