when did society's standard of beauty change?

Question

i remember watching a movie my freshman year of high school that revolved around how the standard of "beauty" has changed in the public eye over the years. an easy example to give would be girls like marylin momroe, curvy and voluptuous, were once seen as the ideal woman. somewhere along the line the standard changed to adorning slimmer, slender women. The ideal perfect woman seen in men’s magazines and tabloid covers are now skinny. Its almost as if any ounce of fat on the human body is now seen as a bad thing...
does anyone know why/how/when this change started happening? i know not everyone feels that way, beauty is very subjective, i'm just saying the masses as a whole seem to view "beauty" differently now.

Answer 1

People often blame the model, Twiggy, for the change from voluptuous to skinny.
I've noticed another change over the past 10-15 years or so. Flat butts used to be "the thing", but recently, people have been getting on that stair master or getting butt implants to get a more developed butt.

I guess it's always changing.

Answer 2

I don't think the ideal body figure has changed much. Yea, there are more skinny people in the public eye than ever before but, I don't think they give an accurate analysis of whats most attractive.

I think the ideal woman of average height (5' 6"ish) would be around 135lbsish and very athletic. If anything I'm amazed these girls can get so skinny... it cant be natural... they have to be sitting around starving all day.... if they are getting healthy nutrition is it even possible to be less than 120???

I think the best measure is BMI (body mass index). If your in the healthy range, then you got nothin to worry about!

Answer 3

I think it all has to do with the food industry! Of course, there are many other factors, but this one's the most amusing theory.
Think about it, back before food was as standardized and available as it is now, you had to be rich in order to eat well. If you were living hand to mouth, there wasn't a lot that you could do in the way of food; if you couldn't afford it, you didn't eat. However, if you could afford it, you ate well, usually in large portions, and grew more "fat". It used to be that rich people were generally larger and healthier, while poorer people were skinnier, and a rounder figure was a sign of wealth. Companies aren't going to advertise to someone who can't afford their product, so the image that they used in their ads was generally that of a physically richer looking person (thus more voluptuous, or curvy)
This all changed when the fast food industry became popular. This industry made large portions of food, with a high calorie count, available at a relatively low cost. In turn, it became more and more expensive to eat foods that were actually healthy. Poorer people began eating what they could afford, which happened to be fast food, and began, on average, getting larger. richer people began eating healthier foods, in smaller portions, and on average became slimmer and skinnier. Once again, the advertising industry caught onto the trend, and followed suit.
Even today, it is much less expensive, and much easier, to eat an unhealthy, unbalanced diet, than it is to eat healthy one. That's not to say that all celebrities these days are looking super healthy, with their bony arms, skinny legs, and ribs sticking out.

Answer 4

Ddi you know in the olden(I don't know how old) Spain fat women were considered beautiful.

Let's take the Monroe example. That was when playboy started...what she revealed probabloy wouln't trun on most people nowadays. Slowly the skin stated to apper more and concpets such as bikiins came about. Have you seen the bathing suits from the 50s. No one would wear them today. Basically we stared to open up. Conservatism slowly started to wear off in certain aspects.

I mean pre 19th amnedmnet...who ever heard of a woman voting or going to college or not marrying. Even up until recently, who ever heard of stay at home Dads or wives with higher income.

Excuse my spelling...my keyboard is wireless.

Answer 5

Have you noticed how those standards of beauty keep changing? At one time, curvy women like Marilyn Monroe were considered great beauties. Then, stick thin women became popular. That has continued to this day except now those stick thin women have to have gigantic breasts. The only way that is possible is through plastic surgery.

Answer 6

Marilyn wasn't thin, but she wasn't fat. She wore size 6, which is the same as a size 4 now. Even in her last unreleased movie, and stills of her in a bikini, she has a flat stomach and slender legs.
I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way, and women who are borderline obese think they should wear crop tops and low rise jeans.
Higher class men prefer their women thinner. The opposite is true of the lower classes. If you are poor, having enough to eat is a good sign. If you are rich, it is obvious that you have the money to eat, but thinness implies self-control.
I know this isn't politically correct, but it is the truth.

Answer 7

It started in the 60s with Twiggy. The aim was a more "youthful" look, in keeping with the youth culture of the era. This led to the recognition that even a BAD design could look halfway decent on someone whose body was little more than a walking clothes hanger. Designing clothes that are flattering to the variety of women's body types is a lot more difficult.

Answer 8

I don't actually agree with you. The waif image was hot in the 90's but, thanks to the rise of hip-hop, the mainstream beauty ideal has, once again, shifted back to the healthier, far more attainable for most, curvy figure of the Marilyn Monroes. 15 years ago, Beyonce would not have graced the cover of SI.

Certainly, there is a demographic that still thinks it's "in" to be a stick figure but, for the most part, they're mistaken.

Answer 9

I've been thinking about the effect Photoshop and the like will have on standards of beauty. I think it will increase plastic surgery, as people strive for an unrealistic ideal. I would like to see a backlash of un-retouched images of pop culture...

Answer 10

I think it was supermodels and fashion designers that changed the idea of beauty. They are all too skinny and, to me, oftentimes boy like. I think that slowly things are beginning to change though. Which I think is good because women can be beautiful in almost any size.