What is classified as a healthy body has definitely changed over the years. In this post, I am going to primarily focus on the body types of women overtime.
In Europe, in 24,000 BC, women were positively reinforced to be larger and have curves-this was a sign of fertility. During this time, it was common for women to be bigger because this was a time with no drugs and minimal medicine. Women had to be well nourished and strong to survive. We see an example of women’s bodies in small figurines created during this time.
In Greece in the 7th and 8th century, women had large hips, large breasts, and a bit of a stomach. We can see this in some of the statues and pieces of art that exist from this time period. In the 17th and 18th centuries, curves will still embraced for women by the community. Corsets became popular; tightening women’s waists while still showing off their breasts.
Up until the 1900’s, women were forced to cover the majority of their bodies. Shoulders and legs were rarely exposed. Imagine a time when it was risky to show your ankles in public. What a time it was.
During the 1900’s, athletic and slender bodies for women were praised. This was brought on by the flapper style of the 1920’s. This was when eating disorders occurred for young women, who were feeling the pressures of magazines to be be thin. Over the 1900’s, innovations in technology (radio and television) displayed the ideal body type for women. This was extremely harmful for younger women who were very impressionable.
In the 1960’s, the impression from media was that women had to change their bodies in some way in order for them to be considered “perfect.” Anorexia rose significantly and so severely, that it even caused women to be hospitalized.
In the 1980’s, athletic and toned bodies became common. Thin body types were still popular but there was more emphasis on a healthier body type. In the 1990’s, the World Health Organization gave warning about global obesity rates. This concerned a lot of women and again resulted in a large number of eating disorders. In the early 2000’s dieting became common among children. Their exposure to the media at such a young age resulted in them to overthink their bodies and compare them to those in the media.
As of recently, there has been rise in the celebration of diverse body types. Social media has become both a negative and positive thing for the portrayal of different body types. On one hand, women do encourage each other to embrace and love their bodies the exact the way they are. Women are embracing their stretch marks, curves and size.
On the other hand, I also see women criticizing and tearing each other down. They will call women too fat or too skinny. Or say that a woman isn’t healthy by merely just looking at a picture of her.
I hope that women can continue to use social media to build each other up rather than tear each other down. I think that we are all beautiful at any size. It is good to be mindful of what you are eating and to stay active. Ultimately, all that matters at the end of the day is how you feel about your own body. So ladies, love and embrace your bodies because you are all beautiful in your own unique ways.
So the questions are:
Have the standards for women’s bodies gotten worse or better over the years?
Is there more of a positive body image now then there used to be?
Do men also feel the pressure to have a specific body type?
Thanks for reading. Please check the links out below for more information on this topic!
Topics We Often Think About 