When in history did we start trying to be perfect?

ninerbuff
ninerbuff Posts: 49,468 Spam Moderator
edited October 2024 in Chit-Chat
With all the obsession with many to try to be "perfect", I've often wondered how it came about. How did we come to the consensus about our physiques? How about how did we determine what is considered physically beautiful or handsome?
Today's society is very hung up on looks and having the perfect physique. Not that I don't mind, but again what drove us to wanting (as a society) to be this way?

I look forward to hearing opinions.

Replies

  • RTricia
    RTricia Posts: 720 Member
    easy talk from Mr. Perfection himself!!
  • BeLightYear
    BeLightYear Posts: 1,450 Member
    With all the obsession with many to try to be "perfect"

    Yesterday? Was it yesterday? Oh please tell me I'm right!:wink::tongue: :laugh:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    With all the obsession with many to try to be "perfect", I've often wondered how it came about. How did we come to the consensus about our physiques? How about how did we determine what is considered physically beautiful or handsome?
    Today's society is very hung up on looks and having the perfect physique. Not that I don't mind, but again what drove us to wanting (as a society) to be this way?

    I look forward to hearing opinions.

    This is not a modern invention. We just have different ideals of physical perfection now than people did 100 or 500 or 1,000 years ago.

    The explanation has always been that the physique that makes you look rich is what's usually desireable.

    Hundreds of years ago, if you were very pale and heavy, it meant you didn't have to do any physical labor or spend a lot of time outside and could afford a lot of rich food. You had a lot of leisure time.

    Now, having leisure time means you have time to lay out on the beach and get a tan and spend time in the gym getting in shape, so that's the ideal.
  • voluptuous_veggie
    voluptuous_veggie Posts: 476 Member
    It's always been that way...from tribal markings (piercings/tattoos/animal parts) showing your status and manlihood, to powdered wigs and wooden teeth (once seen as "attractive"), to codpieces in the Elizabethan era...all these things implied "perfection". It's always been around, it just evolves with each era.
  • tabi26
    tabi26 Posts: 535 Member
    Shortly after Marylin Monroe would be my guess. She was a size 10 or 12 I believe. Then they started using smaller and smaller models....we get our perception of the 'perfect look' from the media.......
  • musky4
    musky4 Posts: 121 Member
    with all the ready available 'inlets' (magazines, tv, inet etc) the 'few' have dominated what we all see -
    and we see THIN as beautiful -- obese as disgusting and the somewhere in the middle as teetering in between the two -
    i need to lose weight - i want to be healthy - NOT MODEL THIN
    (my 2 cents)
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    With all the obsession with many to try to be "perfect", I've often wondered how it came about. How did we come to the consensus about our physiques? How about how did we determine what is considered physically beautiful or handsome?
    Today's society is very hung up on looks and having the perfect physique. Not that I don't mind, but again what drove us to wanting (as a society) to be this way?

    I look forward to hearing opinions.

    It's socially reinforced. What is beautiful is different depending on what has been reinforced in that culture or society, and it changes over time. As far as being handsome or beautiful, one of the keys that is consistent has nothing to do specifically with one atribute (size of nose, color of eyes, bf%, etc) but instead by symmetry, this is not just in humans but in most all of the animal kingdom.

    I read a very interesting study a little over 10 years ago when I was in college. They were talking about the happiness and satisfaction factors in rural tribes. When there was no access to western culture they were happy and satisfied and wanted for little, but when tv and other aspects of western culture was introduced the populations started showing signs of depression and dissatisfaction. So much of what we do, we do to ourselves.
  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
    it's nothing new. the only "new" idea is what we think of as beautiful.

    in the 17th century, men with big calves were thought to be very attractive and so men would stuff their stockings to have larger calves.

    for centuries women (and for many years, men too) were tied into corsets to get the "wasp waist"; many times to the extent of breaking ribs and moving internal organs.

    in ancien china women who had tiny feet were considered beautiful, also women who could never work were easier to marry - b/c clearly they came from money - so baby girls had their feet bound. this was a very painful, and even sometimes fatal, ideal to chase.

    In the 15th century, upper-class ladies of northern Europe painfully plucked their hairline to make their foreheads seem higher, and scraped their hair back under an elaborate headdress that often weighted 10 pounds or more.

    Early hair straighteners were made with lye and often left chemical burns on the scalps of those who used them.

    I, for one, think that the idea now of being natural but healthy, is probably the healthiest we've been in a long time
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,468 Spam Moderator
    easy talk from Mr. Perfection himself!!
    My hamstrings are too small. I need work on my forearms. I run funny.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,468 Spam Moderator
    Liking the opinions so far! Keep them coming!
  • killerqueen17
    killerqueen17 Posts: 536 Member
    Good questtion... I'm not a history buff, but I know the concept of the "ideal" man existed in ancient Greece and/or Rome. (Note the and/or... haha... like I said, history is NOT my strong suit!! :laugh: )
  • foremant86
    foremant86 Posts: 1,115 Member
    I think about this all the time and I still don't have any answers for it. It truly boggles my mind
  • Iamfit4life
    Iamfit4life Posts: 3,095 Member
    easy talk from Mr. Perfection himself!!

    Wanted to say the same myself.

    Anyhow the idea of perfection has changed throghout time.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I think it's more prevalent now because a few generations ago, people were too focused on just plain SURVIVING to care. Exercise for the sake of fitness is a pretty new concept. Previously, people just worked hard. Most men didn't have office jobs. Women didn't work outside the home, and didn't have washing machines and dishwashers and vacuums.

    My grandfather was a coal miner during the great depression. My great grandfather came to America as an indentured servant from Scotland to avoid the potato famine. My grandmothers and great-grandmothers all had at least 5 children, without disposable diapers... carpets had to be taken outside to be beaten. Laundry was washed by hand on a washboard, unless they were really lucky to have wringer washer. Even sewing machines were pedaled!

    I bet the only time they ever thought about their arms, legs or abs was to think, "Ow, that muscle really hurts!"
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    Im not trying to be perfect I already am :wink: or atleast perfectly happy with who i am
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Since we recognized that we could reason.
  • ilookthetype
    ilookthetype Posts: 3,021 Member
    it's nothing new. the only "new" idea is what we think of as beautiful.

    in the 17th century, men with big calves were thought to be very attractive and so men would stuff their stockings to have larger calves.

    for centuries women (and for many years, men too) were tied into corsets to get the "wasp waist"; many times to the extent of breaking ribs and moving internal organs.

    in ancien china women who had tiny feet were considered beautiful, also women who could never work were easier to marry - b/c clearly they came from money - so baby girls had their feet bound. this was a very painful, and even sometimes fatal, ideal to chase.

    In the 15th century, upper-class ladies of northern Europe painfully plucked their hairline to make their foreheads seem higher, and scraped their hair back under an elaborate headdress that often weighted 10 pounds or more.

    Early hair straighteners were made with lye and often left chemical burns on the scalps of those who used them.

    I, for one, think that the idea now of being natural but healthy, is probably the healthiest we've been in a long time

    This is why I like you.
  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
    it's nothing new. the only "new" idea is what we think of as beautiful.

    in the 17th century, men with big calves were thought to be very attractive and so men would stuff their stockings to have larger calves.

    for centuries women (and for many years, men too) were tied into corsets to get the "wasp waist"; many times to the extent of breaking ribs and moving internal organs.

    in ancien china women who had tiny feet were considered beautiful, also women who could never work were easier to marry - b/c clearly they came from money - so baby girls had their feet bound. this was a very painful, and even sometimes fatal, ideal to chase.

    In the 15th century, upper-class ladies of northern Europe painfully plucked their hairline to make their foreheads seem higher, and scraped their hair back under an elaborate headdress that often weighted 10 pounds or more.

    Early hair straighteners were made with lye and often left chemical burns on the scalps of those who used them.

    I, for one, think that the idea now of being natural but healthy, is probably the healthiest we've been in a long time

    This is why I like you.

    b/c i am a fount of random usually-useless information? thanks! it's my super power.

    never play trivial persuit against me. LOL
  • ennaejay
    ennaejay Posts: 573 Member
    as the wise Solomon once said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

    When in history did the quest for perfection begin? Ever since we lost it.
  • adrian_indy
    adrian_indy Posts: 1,444 Member
    Perfection is not a new concept. Many ancient cultures, The Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, all had their ideas on what was perfect. I don't think that anyone realistically thought perfection could be attained, that was never the point. It was the pursuit of perfection that was considered noble. If you chase perfection, you probably have a better chance of being successful than a person who knows it's unattainable and doesn't try. Maybe we can never have the "perfect" body, personality, brain, but we can achieve perfection in our careers, on the atheletic field, in many aspects of our life. Give it a try. What can you do in your life and be perfect at. Can you have a perfect season in soft ball? A perfect winning streak in the gym? Can you get a perfect attendance record at work?
  • sandislim
    sandislim Posts: 264 Member
    Perfection is not a new concept. Many ancient cultures, The Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, all had their ideas on what was perfect. I don't think that anyone realistically thought perfection could be attained, that was never the point. It was the pursuit of perfection that was considered noble. If you chase perfection, you probably have a better chance of being successful than a person who knows it's unattainable and doesn't try. Maybe we can never have the "perfect" body, personality, brain, but we can achieve perfection in our careers, on the atheletic field, in many aspects of our life. Give it a try. What can you do in your life and be perfect at. Can you have a perfect season in soft ball? A perfect winning streak in the gym? Can you get a perfect attendance record at work?

    ^^ totally agree - I think the search for perfection was more important than it is today - philosphy, art all these things took time - time we don't have in this day and age. Mind you some waste the little time they have in front of the tv.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,468 Spam Moderator
    I would think that Egypt was probably one of the first large cultures that tried to create perfection by trying to pursue the statis of a god. I'm also wondering if maybe they were the first culture to use eye make up? I should try to research this more since now I want to know.
  • azQmaster
    azQmaster Posts: 448 Member
    Because puurfectgirl told us too!
This discussion has been closed.

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