Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

Modern day society is a pretty scary place to live, especially for a woman. Magazines showing off women with perfect figures are splashed around every street corner and every aisle of a store. Billboards and television ads are notorious for their advertisements exhibiting the most beautiful women. Esquire recently published an issue that displayed Mila Kunis as being honored with the title sexiest woman alive. These are the very ads and pictures that have helped shape the way that women over the years have perceived what the ideal woman should look like. The photos taken of Mila Kunis reveal her tiny torso, washboard stomach, and slender legs...all qualities that a modern day woman is now going to aspire to possess in order to be deemed as a sexy woman. It is a vicious cycle that has been going on as early as the 1900s. The only thing that has changed about this cycle throughout the years is what that definition of sexy is. For example, in the 20th century, women aimed to have a slender figure where in the 1950s a more voluptuous body was seen as sexy. 1920 female star Louise Brooks and 1950 phenomenon Marilyn Monroe were examples of leading women who helped initiate the fads that women desperately tried to replicate on themselves. The craze to look a certain way was so powerful that diet companies became part of the fixation and began advertising pills or bars that would help these despairing woman achieve their goals. Once again this is a trend that has stayed consistent over the years, although the irregularity is in the fact that the end goal of the pill/bar is different. Throughout the years the role of the media, celebrities, and the manipulations of models

Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

have all had the same effect except for the fact that their end goals have changed dramatically over the years.

The voluptuous ideal body was a trend that began in the 1800s and then continued for some time in the 1900s. Having a body with extra weight was a very good thing during these times. Not only did the men prefer a woman with more meat on her legs and rolls on her stomach, but society as a whole thought higher of women with the same characteristics. It was an image that gave off a perception of wealth and good health. A woman with bony shoulders and slender legs was distinguished as a woman who lacked the financial means to buy enough food to support herself. She was also recognized as a woman who was in poor health and would not be properly fit to bear a child. Famous paintings during these times depicted women with rubenesque bodies. It is a very interesting contrast to the modern day paintings of women who are drawn in an almost completely opposite portrayal. Specifically during the 1920s, women were beginning to demand their rightful place and role in society. During this time, more than ever before, they were beginning to become a central vocal point of the public eye. Although these women were fulfilling their new roles in their society they still had an obligation to fit into a mold that the public had decided was appropriate. This mold dictated that women have a certain body image that closely reflected the expectation. Unlike the curvaceous women in the early 1900s, the expectation for women in the 1920s began to shift to a more slim washboard profile. This new look was far different than twenty years earlier when fat was fab. Attention was now drawn away from the

Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

curves of the bust and hips to a now more toned, flat chested narrow waist and hips. Just as women such as present day Mila Kunis set a standard for an appearance, during the 1920s the famous flappers were the women who began the criteria. The fashion designers during this time preferred the flapper costumes to hug a womans body that was small, slim, and flat. Just as fat was a sign of wealth in the early 1900s, bones became a sign of wealth in the 1920s. The exemplary body in the 1920s is very similar to the body that modern day women desire to have with the exception that women during the 1920s made an effort to conceal their bosoms with the intentions of them appearing almost non-existent. That is a notion that clashes heavily with the significant amount of breast implants and push up bras that are evident in todays society. That is a huge shift in perspectives between the two eras. As a young woman in todays society it is easy for me to recognize just how much emphasis is put on breast size. The last thing an average woman in modern day society would want is for her breasts to to be less noticeable. It is a very interesting trend that has developed over the years. I believe that the shift from secreting breasts to revealing them began in the 1930s. In the 1930s the faultless body returned to being one that had full breasts and slender waists. By the 1940s and 50s girdles and foam falsies were becoming popular. Foam falsies were the equivalent to modern day push-up bras, both used in order to enhance the breast line. The change in perceptions was so significant that it became popularly acknowledged as the bosom mania. With all the plastic surgery and boob jobs that are so common today I would not be shocked if todays era was granted a similar title. A majority of the blame for this obsession with cup size can be credited to

Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

the magazines that portrayed women with slender bodies and larger breasts. These were magazines whose specific purpose was to appeal to men. These magazines were called Playboy. Playboy specifically increased the promotion of slimness between 1959 and 1978. The trends were initially established in magazines but proceeded into TV shows and movies. I would say that the trend to showcase these bodies on television as well as in magazines has continued through today. For example, a modern day television show is Americas Next Top Model which manifests women who in a professional judges point of view have everything it takes to be a model. Part of having everything required to be a model is having the slender slim body. I believe that the shift from the 1900s to today was caused by many factors, one including the emphasis on the media. In the 1960s when the body image trend reverted back from voluptuous to thin, media became much more influential. A pageant called Miss America began as early as 1920. The winners of the pageant during these times were women whose bodies were very similar to that of Marilyn Monroe. It is fascinating to note that beginning in the mid 1960s the winners of the contest began to resemble Twiggy a famous model with a picturesque hourglass figure. Each year the contestants began to look and weight thinner and thinner than the previous winner. The shift of body image from fleshy to skinny first started in the 1920s, then fluctuated a bit over the years, and then took off again more forcefully in the 1960s. I believe that the slow changes that took place over time eventually fabricated the modern day perfect body that includes slender bones from head to toe, and breasts that are at least a 32 C.

Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

An interesting trend that took place along side the change in the perceptions of body images was dieting and quick fixes. Diets and weight loss schemes can be dated back hundreds of years but it was in the 1900s that they became much more popular. Similar to how magazines today advertise 10 easy steps to losing 10 easy pounds on the cover, in the 1900s ladies magazines advertised weight loss tips. These suggestions included recommendations such as drinking vinegar. This was a recommendation that even doctors had verified and suggested to patients. During the 1940s Betty Grable was the woman to be. She had coined herself as, The girl with the million dollar legs. She was such an idol that women during the 40s would take yeast pills to put on weight much like how women take pills today except for that women today take them to lose the weight. An advertisement for these yeast pills that was written in the 40s quotes, Men wouldnt look at me when I was skinny. Women today wish that was the case! Dieting pills motivation has not shifted much over the years. Their primary goal is still to make a woman look as beautiful as the model/actress on the cover of the magazine. But once again it is what has changed on that magazine cover that has created this shift in body image over the years.

Appearance and what is defined as beautiful and sexually attractive is socially defined. It is up to the society at that current time to decide what they will accept as gorgeous. People are the ones who determine the measures and extremes that they will go to in order to obtain the ideal gorgeous body. Whether that be a pill that helps you gain 5

Madison OBrien

Paradigm Shift Body Image

pounds in 5 days or a pill that gets rid of the love handles without a sit-up required. Body image has swayed back and forth over the years from thin to thick and back again. But it is safe to say that typically the ideal woman became thinner and thinner. The proof of that is in the Miss America beauty pageants that highlight the shift in the bodies of the winners over the years. Women today who are struggling to shed their Marilyn Monroe stomach and legs and become a woman who could be mistaken for Mila Kunis are living in the wrong era. The era we live in today is a far different era than in the early 1900s, and it is because of the mass media and other influential factors that developed in between the two periods that we are no longer content with being chubby but instead agonize over it.