HISTORY OF THE FEMALE "IMAGE IDEAL"

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  • alleycat88
    alleycat88 Posts: 756 Member
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    That Tina Fey quote was great, simply great!
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    I personally think the days of the anorexic look are over. If you look at the really popular actresses, models, and singers now, most of them fall into the "healthy" look.

    Take into account Jennifer Anniston, Beyonce, JLo, Kim Kardashian, Rachel McAdams, etc. These are all very "normal sized" girls. There are still some models that fall into the too-skinny category, but it seems to be moving away from that, which is a good thing in our society.
  • alleycat88
    alleycat88 Posts: 756 Member
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    People tend to forget WHY other (read bigger)bodies were seen as attractive and ideal before, because it meant they had money. Money to purchase food and live well. Not because the actual bodies were attractive. albeit I do not find size 0s to be attractive either, and personally I think a size 4 or 6 is "ideal". But then again ideal is relative.....
  • alleycat88
    alleycat88 Posts: 756 Member
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    I personally think the days of the anorexic look are over. If you look at the really popular actresses, models, and singers now, most of them fall into the "healthy" look.

    Take into account Jennifer Anniston, Beyonce, JLo, Kim Kardashian, Rachel McAdams, etc. These are all very "normal sized" girls. There are still some models that fall into the too-skinny category, but it seems to be moving away from that, which is a good thing in our society.

    Aniston is 5'8 and 110lbs (underweight)

    her measurements are 34 -23 -35.


    rahcel mcadams is 5'4, 112lbs (lower end of normal/bordering underweight)


    julia stiles, 5'7, 110lbs. (underweight)


    Kim is 5'3 and fluctuates but is about 125lbs. normal weight.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    I personally think the days of the anorexic look are over. If you look at the really popular actresses, models, and singers now, most of them fall into the "healthy" look.

    Take into account Jennifer Anniston, Beyonce, JLo, Kim Kardashian, Rachel McAdams, etc. These are all very "normal sized" girls. There are still some models that fall into the too-skinny category, but it seems to be moving away from that, which is a good thing in our society.

    Aniston is 5'8 and 110lbs (underweight)

    her measurements are 34 -23 -35.


    rahcel mcadams is 5'4, 112lbs (lower end of normal/bordering underweight)


    julia stiles, 5'7, 110lbs. (underweight)


    Kim is 5'3 and fluctuates but is about 125lbs. normal weight.

    Huh? Jen A is 5'5" and 110-115, but I think she looks great. She has an athletic body, not bony or rail thin.

    Rachel doesn't look "thin" to me. She looks healthy.

    Again I didn't say ALL, of course there are some thin ones out there but the majority of the real popular ones seem to be healthier these days. Healthier than say, 10 years ago. At least what I have seen from watching movies and reading celeb magazines.

    To each his own, I weigh 113 and am 5'4" but still have fat on my thighs and butt (not that I mind, but I do). No anorexia here! :wink:
  • alleycat88
    alleycat88 Posts: 756 Member
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    The info on aniston is what is online so of course that could be wrong.
  • strawberrygashes
    strawberrygashes Posts: 210 Member
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    I remember my sister watching a documentary on body image and using Monroe as an example, claiming she was a size 16. So (me being a Monroe fanatic) my sister said to me 'do you realize Marilyn Monroe was a size 16?!'.... I had to try and explain what has been put so brilliantly here. Kind of annoys me when people try and say she was a size UK 16 (todays 16) because like someone else said, they just want to think that to justify their own bad habits. And like another person said, you only have to look at photos of her to see she wasn't a size 16 of todays standards.

    I'm a size UK 6-8, and my waist measures 25". Bigger than Marilyn's 22-23".
    Wow yeah, she really was fat, wasn't she??? Lol

    Although I will be fair and say not everyone realise the difference in sizing from the 50's to now - but as I also said, its easy to see in pics she was never a size 16 (today time) if she was, she must have been hidden away during that time with no photos captured of her :P
  • strawberrygashes
    strawberrygashes Posts: 210 Member
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    And for a while now, I feel thin people get a lot of stick... This article seems to confirm that. Just like there are healthy and unhealthy big body types, there is also healthy and unhealthy thin body types. I don't think its fair for us thin girls to be plumped into the same category as someone suffering with anorexia!!! I weigh 109lbs, my measurements are 31-25-35. However, I eat my usual junk (aswel as healthy food) I just do more, I run a lot and lift light weights. Also, I come from a genetically petite family. I'm only 5ft tall, my mom is 5ft 1 (and when she was my age she weighed 95lbs!!) But not one picture of her from when she was my age do I think she looked unhealthy, far from it. It's just that was her body type.

    If you know YOU are healthy and are happy, then try not to listen to ideal body types, whether its an article putting down the bigger body or the smaller body.
  • drea85an
    drea85an Posts: 130
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    I have learned to not care about the number on my clothes. I have size 8s to size 14s ... I am an hourglass shape, no where near Marilyn, of course, but I learn to look in the mirror and the scale and worry about that. The size on my pants won't change what I look like.

    To add, Marilyn when up and down in her weight, she was bigger ( and still looked sexy) and very tiny at other times, (and still looked sexy) google photos, she looked very different from year to year.
  • mother_of_brigade
    mother_of_brigade Posts: 102 Member
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    Very interesting! Thank you for posting.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    The women in the paintings grossed me out. It was like looking in a mirror. The artist even detailed the folds and cellulite.

    It's called art... That style is Rubenesque, done by Peter Paul Rubens.

    Being 'grossed out' by the women is part of the reason that we as a society have such a horrible self image. Part of the reason that when people look at a fat person they do it with disdain or disgust. When you get slender will you also look at other fat women and think they are disgusting (or do you already?)
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    I'm confused. How was MM an hourglass? Her waist was only 8" smaller than her hips. Doesn't there have to at least a 10" difference?
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    Came across this yesterday:

    funny-Tina-Fey-body-image-quote.jpg

    Now, granted, my eyes are green, not blue, my hips are pretty wide, I do have some body hair and I'm quite pale, and my arms are all flabby, but for the rest, go me, lol!

    I like Tina Fey, but what is she talking about? KK hasn't got 9 year old boy hips. Far from.
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    Read this thread and most of the article because I love social history. However, when I started reading the paper, I was disappointed.

    What this paper is trying to say is in many ways correct. People ARE too fixated on media. The “ideal body image” HAS changed over the years. The paper makes a few good ATTEMPTS at making a point and the topic is good, but honestly it’s not a very well written or reliable paper. It appears to be a psychology paper written by what I would hope to be a first or second year student (too many mistakes and it's just poorly written). I wouldn’t title it “the History of ...” anything because it’s DEFINITELY not a history paper. There are so many holes in the time periods; it’s just all around too sketchy to be a history paper (or at least one that was graded very well). I’m sure that this topic has been properly discussed (beaten into the ground) in other articles published by academic sources (academic journals and professional articles reviewed by a board of experts) that would be more reliable. It is a very interesting topic and, honestly, I think I might do some research on it from a historical and psychological POV.

    I just got to the “toothpick” part of the article and my observations have just been reaffirmed because the terminology in this paper is just that ridiculous.

    ^
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    I personally think the days of the anorexic look are over. If you look at the really popular actresses, models, and singers now, most of them fall into the "healthy" look.

    Take into account Jennifer Anniston, Beyonce, JLo, Kim Kardashian, Rachel McAdams, etc. These are all very "normal sized" girls. There are still some models that fall into the too-skinny category, but it seems to be moving away from that, which is a good thing in our society.

    Aniston is 5'8 and 110lbs (underweight)

    her measurements are 34 -23 -35.


    rahcel mcadams is 5'4, 112lbs (lower end of normal/bordering underweight)


    julia stiles, 5'7, 110lbs. (underweight)


    Kim is 5'3 and fluctuates but is about 125lbs. normal weight.

    And people still call KK fat .. sigh.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    As soon as they said Brittany Murphy looked like a toothpick, I quit reading. That is blunt and straight out body-shame, and it's ridiculous that someone who took their time write an article to try and get women to celebrate their bodies would make fun of someone because their's is, in the author's opinion, 'too thin'.

    tl;dr - This article is dumb and hypocritical. Have a nice day ladies!

    THIS.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    I'm confused. How was MM an hourglass? Her waist was only 8" smaller than her hips. Doesn't there have to at least a 10" difference?

    A true hourglass is supposed to have a roughly .7-.75 ratio between their waist and hips. (Divide waist by hips).
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    I'm confused. How was MM an hourglass? Her waist was only 8" smaller than her hips. Doesn't there have to at least a 10" difference?

    A true hourglass is supposed to have a roughly .7-.75 ratio between their waist and hips. (Divide waist by hips).

    I just realised I was looking at the wrong post :laugh: it was someone else's measurements, not hers. My bad ;)
  • WickedPixie1
    WickedPixie1 Posts: 111 Member
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    Forget Hollywood. They're all competing with each other, they're all photoshopped, and without the 24/7 nutritionist, personal chef, personal trainer, personal stylist, the cosmetic surgery, the potions and lotions....etc....there is no way us mere mortals can compete.

    Personally, I don't care what size Marilyn Monroe was or Bettie Page or anyone else from days gone by. They had curves and they were sexy and they looked healthy. A bit of meat on the bone and a 'softness' about them.

    The Tina Fey article was funny! Thanks for posting it.
  • helloiloveukitty
    helloiloveukitty Posts: 448 Member
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    I find these articles so funny and usually such a waste of time...written in various levels of snark for the writer to push what they find or claim to find attractive by saying , eff all beauty standards...except mine!!! cause it's the best.

    as far as the ideal woman? LOL at getting a general consensus on what's attractive....people have different opinions and preferences and some people can appreciate multiple looks or body types...

    I guess the only idea image I worry about is my idea of what I think is attractive and how I want to look.Some of which is "mainstream popular" and some of which is very not.

    And I totally agree with all the sentiments saying people use the Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 thing as a total BS excuse to justify their unhealthy habits, it's very clear from her pictures, movies and clothing exhibitions that she is in no way anywhere near to a todays American size 14.