Timeline of American Beauty

724 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of modern beauty standards on women

Not long ago, a woman’s success was measured by the success of her husband and her domestic prowess. Today, a woman is presumed successful if she can emulate the standards of beauty portrayed in the media. Unfortunately, this subliminally enforced standard is unattainable to some women, regardless of the quality of their character. Let’s examine how western women went from being pioneering superheroes, to people who measure their worth against airbrushed photographs of impossibly beautiful women.

Timeline of American Beauty

People have used women in print media to sell their products since the mid-19th century. The women in the ads were portrayed with thin waists, large breasts and stylish clothing. As the roaring 1920’s moved in, American women scored voting rights and birth control. Due to World War I, it became necessary for women to work. The print world began to portray women in a boyish, sexy fashion. Hemlines rose for sex appeal. Breasts were bound so women didn’t appear too feminine in the work-place. Hair was cut shorter for convenience and the flapper-girl was born.
...

Show More
Related

  • Flappers in the 1920s

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    From coast to coast people were reading the exploits of a new type of woman called flapper. Prior to World War 1 Victorian ideals still dictated the behavior of American women and girls. Frederick Lewis Allen describes the traditional role of women. Women were the guardians of morality. They were made of finer stuff than men. They were expected to act accordingly. Young girls must look forward in innocence to a romantic love match which would lead them to the altar and to living happily ever after. Until the right man came along they must allow no male to kiss them. Flappers did the opposite. Flappers danced the Charleston, kissed their boyfriends while they played golf and sat behind the wheels of fast cars. The liberated usually young female disdained the traditions of her mother and grandmother before her. Flappers would smoke and drink alcohol, she cut her hair and wore short dresses. They also changed their views on courtship rituals, marriage, and child rearing. With these they could have the same freedom as men could. The time period also saw a highly physical change in women’s lives like how they dressed and looked. For the first time in American history women could choose to be free from long hair and voluminous clothing. Before the women changed they wore very restrictive clothing consisting of long skirts with layers of petticoats over tightly laced corsets that produced an hourglass figure with wide hips and a narrow waist.

    Read More

  • Cindi May's Article: The Problem With Female Superheroes

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    This was evident in the findings of the research when it was demonstrated that even when a female superhero was considered empowering, this could nonetheless have a negative impact on how the participants’ viewed their bodies and make them prone to placing more value on their self-image. This proposed that even when talent and strength between the sexes are similar, if the importance of the female character relied on her appearance, women will also place an unnecessary amount of value on their own appearance. In this case, the fact that these female superheroes where as strong as male superheroes could be perceived as a method used to confront men’s power because they tried to be equal, yet, because the female characters were nevertheless being hyper-sexualized, it did not counteract in a positive way. Instead, more unfavorable and resentful emotions toward women were developed simply because now female superheroes not only had unrealistic physiques, but their level of competency was also impossible for real women to attain. Therefore, this demonstrated indications towards hostile

    Read More

  • White Washed World

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beauty is often described as being in the eye of the beholder. However in modern western culture, the old adage really should be beauty is in the eye of the white makeup artist, hair stylist, photographer, photo shop editor, and advertiser. Beauty and body ideals are packaged and sold to the average American so that we can achieve vocational, financial, social, and recreational successes. Mass media and advertising has affected the way that women perceive and treat their own bodies as well as their self-concept. Women are constantly bombarded with unrealistic images and hold themselves to the impossible beauty standards. First, we will explore the role of media in the lives of women and then the biggest body image issue from a diversity stand point, media whitewashing.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in the Film The Matrix

    2401 Words  | 5 Pages

    Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: William Morrow, 1991.

    Read More

  • Exploring the Meaning of Women’s Fashion during the 1920’s and 1930’s

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the stock market booms and society prospers, women’s fashion undergoes drastic change during the 1920’s. The hems of skirts and dresses rise to newer, more promiscuous level. The traditional long hair, supposedly the crowning glory of a women, is cut shoulder-length or shorter. Defined waistlines are lost, giving way to a shapeless and loose fitting style of clothing. Manufacturing of cosmetics emerges during this decade, and a variety of products become popular among women. The famous Gabrielle Chanel, more commonly known as “Coco Chanel,” introduces her renowned perform in the late 1920s (Yarwood 139). Peggy Whitley, dean at Lone Star College, sums up the newfound cosmetic craze in her American Cultural article: “Powder, lipstick, rouge, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, colored nails. They had it all!” Associated with the distinct new styles of the era, the iconic “flapper girl” is born. This term is often used for women who donned the edgy style of the time, particularly with a defiant and independent outlook on life. Outside the exciting and rebellious life of the flapper girl, everyday clothing also experiences significant change. Relaxed sport’s attire bec...

    Read More

  • The Stronger Gender in Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catalano, Christina (2002). Shaping the American woman: Feminism and advertising in the 1950s. Constructing the Past 3(1), Article 6, 45-55. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol3/iss1/6

    Read More

  • Flappers Essay

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the early twentieth century, women were expected to dress modestly at all times and were predestined to be housewives. Once men were drafted into World War I, women needed a distraction such as working and providing for themselves and a way to show that they are just as strong alone and don’t need men to make decisions for them. Eventually a new breed of women emerged from society. Women that wore bobbed hair, short skirts, flamboyant dresses and had an enjoyment of jazz were considered to be “flapper”. The flapper was an in-between of adulthood and pure immaturity (NYU) . Flappers were daring, empowering and courageous. This group of women were determined to let society know that they were on a mission to steer society from the cultural norm. They believed women were just as powerful as men were and would use their voice, actions and even appearance to prove this theory. The Flapper went from being just a look to the beginning of a feminist awakening.

    Read More

  • The Roaring 20's

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1920’s was the decade that introduce the wild side of the women youth. These young women were often middle-class and held steady jobs, but once the sun went down, their wild side emerged. They were labeled as flappers. These women were trying to break out of the habit of being entrapped in the austere standards given by society. They were young and rebellious, and wished to stray from the fundamental beliefs of how women should act and look like. Their goal was to escape the fate of the “socially silenced women in the Victorian age” (Flappers). F...

    Read More

  • A 1920s Woman

    2068 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women used to dress very conservatively and strict before the turn of the decade. Clothing consisted of fitted dresses, long skirts, and corsets in lady like manners. Since the 1920’s brought women’s rights along, young women decided that they were not willing to waste away their young lives anymore being held down to the rules; they were going to enjoy life. The younger generations of women were breaking away from their old habits and their fashion statements changed their roles in society completely. Women were modeling their lives after popular icons...

    Read More

  • Gender Changes In Popular Media

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    .... Less and less of the advertisements pictured women in a traditional dress. Also, while most of the articles in the previous issues had been about men, the 1960 issue was written as much about female accomplishments as it was about men’s. Concerning changes in male gender roles, one article titled, “New Roles in the Household” described instances of men tending to the house, cooking cleaning, and the kids, while the mother was out at work. In addition, one of the cover stories was of the US women’s Olympic ski team. Attitudes were changing by the early 1960’s. Women were not conforming to the past gender stereotypes. Instead, they were inventing a new one, which continues to further change today.

    Read More

  • Media's Influence on Women's Body Image Evolution

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Obesity and Self-Esteem

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    The models and celebrities in the media that set the standard for what women should look like are thinner than 90-95 percent of the American female population (Seid p.6). This is an unrealistic portrayal of what the human body should look like when compared to most women’s genetic makeup. Women’s self-image, their social and economic success, and even their survival can still be determined largely by their beauty (Seid p.5). Men on the other hand seem to have it a little easier when it comes to looks. Their self-image is largely determined by what they accomplish in life and not by whether or not they meet the social standard for looks. Modern clothing and fashion require women to show off their bodies more in tight clothes and by showing more skin than in the past. According to Roberta Seid ...

    Read More

  • Beauty And Reality In American Beauty

    3079 Words  | 7 Pages

    Sam Mendes’s provocative debut film American Beauty was a blockbuster after its release in 1999, wrapping up three accolades at the Golden Globe Awards, reaping nominations in miscellaneous film festivals. Beauty and reality are the two major and discrepant elements in the film. Symbolically, beauty eludes humans’ possession, and such elusion is often offset by its presenting a form of reflection on the reality. Thrills, often followed by disillusionment, of quasi obtainment of such heavenly beauty feed humans’ incessant pursuit of beauty in reality. In the film, beauty gets lurid, and reality becomes horrid. A black comedy, American Beauty achieves a Grotesque atmosphere by escalating such disparity to a peak at which the protagonist Lester Burnham irrevocably bursts to death, posing a proposition of man’s raison d’être.

    Read More

  • Sexual Revolution

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the early 1900’s the ideal woman would be dressed with long dresses and would normally have long hair. Several events such as World War I, in July of 1914, changed women’s role in society. They were not only taking care of the children and the household but they were also taking the role of a man. As men went to war, women replaced them in factories. This caused woman to be more independent. Women realized that having a job was something that could be done; their sex didn’t restrict them from taking this action. This was extremely important as it lead to women being more confident and capable. In the 1920s young women began to change. They went from having long dresses and long hair, to a short haircut and wearing dresses that were above the knee. Women developed a greater interest in looking attractive. According to Russell L. Johnson, the beauty industry grew rapidly as cosmetic expenses sky rocketed from 750 million to 2 billion dollars (Johnson 3). This was one of the causes of the sexual revolution. Women became “ less formal but more expressive (Mag...

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotyping: The Negative Impacts Of Gender Stereotypes

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Men and women were not seen as equal human beings; instead it has been obvious that men were more likely to be on the upper hand. In 1987, it has been recorded that 2/3 of the people who were presented in the media were male. However, it is evident that the media usually presents and sexualizes women who are “young, fit and beautiful” hence probably creating self esteem issues more than confidence, especially in younger women who are religious towards the media’s expectations. This stereotype of a desired body shape only forces women to meet unattainable, perfect physical standards (Gill 2015).

    Read More

More about Timeline of American Beauty

Open Document