"The Perfect Girl" -- in 1912

Azdak

I thought this was interesting:

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/20/1912s_perfect_woman_was_from_brookl.php

It is a story from the NY Times in 1912, describing a 24-yr-old Cornell student as "the perfect girl"

According to Dr Esther Parker, Medical Examiner of the 400 "co eds" in the university, Miss Scheel is not only a woman of great strength, but in her physical makeup there is not a single defect.

Height: 5 ft 7 in
Weight: 171 lbs

She eats but three meals every 2 days and almost always goes without breakfast...Her favorite food is beefsteak....She has never taken a drink of tea or coffee...She says she has never been ill and doesn't know what fear is....

It appears that Miss Scheel was an outdoors enthusiast and liked to work on automobiles. She was also an "ardent suffragette".

Good stuff. Gotta think a lot of guys were intimidated.

ashesfromfire

wowza

BinaryPulsar

I like this, thanks for sharing.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Happyme2009

Wish those standards would come back! Then I would be perfect too!

Sheilagh85

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

astrampe

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

Sheilagh85

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

Exactly! I'm 5'8 as well and those measurements are pretty proportionate! ^^^toothpicks are not desirable unless you are looking to be a high fashion runway model.

penrbrown

They do have a picture of her! And she is quite shapely. My how things have changed. Thanks for sharing OP!

astrampe

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

Exactly! I'm 5'8 as well and those measurements are pretty proportionate! ^^^toothpicks are not desirable unless you are looking to be a high fashion runway model.

Or have a bit of the chicken bone you are allowed to suck on for calories in your teeth....:bigsmile: LOL, I'm old and curvy and lift heavy and run far and just started P90X...And I love my measurements and eating good food

BinaryPulsar

Sheesh, to some of these comments. I thought we were admiring the beauty of different women. We can't all be the same size. My waist and hip ratio is 23-34. I'm just not a fan of calling women "not real women", saying why would any man want them, or calling them bones and toothpicks. Just seems degrading (and not a way I would speak around young women). But, whatever.

DawnieB1977

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

I'm 5'6" and 38-30-40 and I have a nice shape! i'd like to lose a couple of inches still, but I have no desire to be a size 0.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

I'm also 5'8" and 35-24.5-32. I'm not even really happy with that. I kind of hate hips though and I would be upset if my hip measurement was bigger than my bust measurement. Ideally I'd like my hips to be <30.

DawnieB1977

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

I'm also 5'8" and 35-24.5-32. I'm not even really happy with that. I kind of hate hips though and I would be upset if my hip measurement was bigger than my bust measurement. Ideally I'd like my hips to be <30.

My hips are probably the same as my shoulders which makes me an hourglass. Each to their own, but I wouldn't want to be straight up and down like a boy! I have D cup (US C i think) boobs, so I have a nice figure I think. I just need to tone my stomach more after having 2 kids!

Natihilator

She says she has never been ill and doesn't know what fear is....

What more would you want in life, really?

*new hero alert* This woman sounds awesome.

BinaryPulsar

Wish those standards would come back! Then I would be perfect too!

You are beautiful!

skywa

this is an from an era where thinness was actually frowned upon.

here's another link that might interest people:

http://the-f-word.org/blog/index.php/2009/04/22/vintage-weight-gain-advertisements/

hughtwalker

How would any magazine that published such an article be received in 2012?

cjsacto

The weight gain stuff is still marketing to men as muscle building powders, etc. I guess to some extent to women athletes, too. I remember seeing the "98 pound weakling" ads in the back of comic books, I'm pretty sure into the 80s, advertising the Charles Atlas method of gaining weight for boys. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paxtonholley/4531752344/

Regarding the first article, when I weighed about 171, I looked pretty good and felt great. Now I would love to get there again!

Some of the earlier discussion about "toothpicks" AND saying the subject of the article is undesirable seemed meanspirited: Some women have a straight figure, some women have hips. I have big 'ol hips, but I cringe when I hear other body types put down. Some women are naturally thin, and maybe don't feel great about how they look, either. Some of us see them and think they have it easier than those of us who struggle to get down to a healthy weight, but there are negative messages about small breasts, just as there are about big hips. We all get bombarded with "you're not good enough" messages, no matter how we look. We are all in this together, let's try to be accepting of each other's individual unique beauty.

taunto

I like how the conversation IMMEDIATELY went to how a woman should look and which figure is womanly and which isn't (That's called a toothpick, not a woman.... ? REALLY?)

EvgeniZyntx

Same as Taunto, and I hadn't even seen his post.
Why oh why the need to determine if someone is desirable with three numbers? Makes no sense.

BinaryPulsar

The weight gain stuff is still marketing to men as muscle building powders, etc. I guess to some extent to women athletes, too. I remember seeing the "98 pound weakling" ads in the back of comic books, I'm pretty sure into the 80s, advertising the Charles Atlas method of gaining weight for boys. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paxtonholley/4531752344/

Regarding the first article, when I weighed about 171, I looked pretty good and felt great. Now I would love to get there again!

Some of the earlier discussion about "toothpicks" AND saying the subject of the article is undesirable seemed meanspirited: Some women have a straight figure, some women have hips. I have big 'ol hips, but I cringe when I hear other body types put down. Some women are naturally thin, and maybe don't feel great about how they look, either. Some of us see them and think they have it easier than those of us who struggle to get down to a healthy weight, but there are negative messages about small breasts, just as there are about big hips. We all get bombarded with "you're not good enough" messages, no matter how we look. We are all in this together, let's try to be accepting of each other's individual unique beauty.

Mmmhhhmmm, agree. We can love our body, without needing to put others down. If a person needs to insult others in order to "love" their body, that is not real self-love. Real self love would mean the ability to love ourselves without needing to insult others. It worries me about young girls getting into abusive relationships because they think they are just lucky to have a man, since no other man would ever want them and they are a worthless object (toothpick to pick chicken out of someone's teeth).

I think women are beautiful and admire many body types as well as confidence and brains.

BinaryPulsar

Same as Taunto, and I hadn't even seen his post.
Why oh why the need to determine if someone is desirable with three numbers? Makes no sense.

Yes, it is very odd the way women are constantly defining themselves by as many different number sets as possible and comparing our shapes to fruits and objects. It's bizarre.

kritterxx

haha how interesting, and refreshing to read!

Sarauk2sf

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Thanks so much for that.

Sarauk2sf

I wish they had a picture of her. With those measurements (35-30-40) it doesn't sound all too desirable.

Those measurements sound pretty good. I'm 34-29-40 and I think I look damn good!

Same here at 5'8....Not sure what your idea of desirable would be.... a stick with 25/25/25? That's called a toothpick, not a woman....

Exactly! I'm 5'8 as well and those measurements are pretty proportionate! ^^^toothpicks are not desirable unless you are looking to be a high fashion runway model.

Why are you defending one body type by insulting another? Body shaming is body shaming.

Sarauk2sf

*sigh*. So we have already had someone with very 'normal' measurements insulted and more slender 'less curvy' women insulted - and that's on the first page.

BinaryPulsar

*sigh*. So we have already had someone with very 'normal' measurements insulted and more slender 'less curvy' women insulted - and that's on the first page.

Right! That took a turn for the worst very quickly. I didn't expect that. Guess my expectations are too high.

Natihilator

*sigh*. So we have already had someone with very 'normal' measurements insulted and more slender 'less curvy' women insulted - and that's on the first page.

Sad. I guess it's bound to happen when someone's idea of 'perfect' is challenged.

Oishii

It's a lovely article. She was chosen as the perfect woman because she was the best athlete on campus. Her measurements were not what determined that status. I'm impressed that she maintained those measurements, and her sporting prowess, eating only 3 meals every 2 days and skipping breakfast. If I did that I'd be shrinking at an alarming rate!

Sarauk2sf

Getting back to the article, rather than focusing on her measurements, I find it refreshing that a very strong and independent woman was being admired but also would love to know what her diet consisted of. She seems to have been following some version of IF, although the concept was not formalized or named then. The following quote is rather amusing "taller than Venus de Milo," standing five feet seven inches tall". I think the average height of a woman back then was a little over 5 foot but now it is 5' 5".