Society has always had an idea of what the “perfect woman” looks like. Now, I can count about a dozen things wrong with this statement, but I’m going to focus on two of them. The first one is having that ideology that there is a “perfect” look, means some women will go to drastic measures to achieve that look. Some of the most common measures today include eating disorders, plastic surgery, and extreme tanning. The second problem is this: society’s version of a “perfect” women constantly changes. Here are some examples:
In the 1920’s, women with minimal curves were considered attractive. (1) Contrary to today’s yoga pants, and low cut tops, women back then tried to downplay their curves with loose, straight dresses, and even going so far as to bind their chests. The idea of breast implants would have probably been laughed at.
In the 1950’s, women were constantly trying to gain weight. Being skinny was considered unattractive. Check out this advertisement below. Remind you of anything? Just as today we are bombared with products that are supposed to help you “lose weight quick,” back then it was the opposite. The product may be the complete opposite of today’s norm, but the marketing is the same: a before and after, a claim about how much you will gain/lose, and the idea that it is “sexy.”
In the 1920’s-30’s, women opted for extremely light foundations to make their skin look as pale as a possible. This is a complete 180 from the amount of time women today spend trying to get as tan as possible. This is mostly due the idea that pale women were of a high class because their skin showed that the spent plenty of time indoors, instead of working outside.
The point, however, is not to provide you with a history lesson. Instead, we want to show that beauty standards have changed in the past, so they will change again. So, there’s no need for women to spend lots of time and money on plastic surgery, or risk getting skin cancer for the sake of tan skin, or damage their bodies with eating disorders – because it’s a fad. Instead we should just focus on loving our bodies the way they are, because that never goes out of style.