BODY IMAGE

Body image is a person’s perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body, according to Wikipedia. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his book The Image and Appearance of the Human Body. Society over time has played a huge role in creating and developing the ‘perfect’ body image. The world has placed great value on these standards so much that a person’s perception of their own body is  based on society’s opinion on the  ‘perfect’ image.

Society’s view on the ‘ perfect’ body image has changed throughout history. On a website called Medical Daily, they show how this image has developed and progressed. They initially start in the 1800’s, with the ‘Rubenesque figures’. Peter Paul Rubens, a 17th century Flemish Baroque painter, was famous for his depictions of plump, sensual women. Up until the 20th century, curvy, voluptuous women were considered ideally beautiful in the U.S. and Europe. The image below is a painting by the artist Peter Paul Rubens.

In the website, they talk about how influential figures throughout history have inspired and changed the ideal body. For example, in the late 1800’s,  Lillian Russell, a famous actress and singer was chosen to represent a women of ultimate beauty. The image below shows her big-boned and heavyset posture that was a popular trait in the 1800’s. This popular body image is sufficiently different to the ‘ideal’ body image of modern day. You can see just how much society has changed over time.

Another famous actress that influenced the changing ideal body type was Alice Joyce , who was part of the flappers during the 1920’s. The flappers were trendy women with bob hair cuts and slender, lean builds.  They were confident women who smoked, drank, danced and voted. Women were becoming stronger and more powerful in their roles. The term “flapper” first appeared in Great Britain after World War I. It was used to describe young girls, still somewhat awkward in movement who had not yet entered womanhood. In the June 1922 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, G. Stanley Hall described looking in a dictionary to discover what the evasive term “flapper” meant:

The dictionary set me right by defining the word as a fledgling, yet in the nest, and vainly attempting to fly while its wings have only pinfeathers; and I recognized that the genius of ‘language’ had made the squab the symbol of budding girlhood.

The photo below is an image of Alice Joyce. Her slender, lean body was the ‘ideal’ body type during the period. Even though its only been 20 years since the end of the 1800’s, society’s opinion on the ‘perfect’ body type has already progressed and developed vastly since the rubenesque figures. The ideal body image was becoming more skinnier. 

During this time, men also had the pressure of body image. Women were behaving more and more like men, by taking up their roles. This was because by now, women could vote, drive cars, choose who they married, and even hold jobs that were previously allotted only to men. They began wanting attributes to define their masculinity. Mustaches were now the new trend fro me that would last for many decades. Here is an image of a sheet music cover design that symbolized that  women were gaining more freedom and success in society, while men needed to cling to some physical semblance of masculinity.

During the 1940’s to the 1950’s, the ideal body type was the ‘Curvy Pin-up Girls‘. Marilyn Monroe was the pinnacle of attractiveness in the 1950s, proving that a fuller female body was considered more beautiful than thinness. Society was again changing their view on what the ‘perfect’ body image was. The ideal female body may have been heavier back then, but it was just as scrutinized, criticized, and retouched as it is now.Take pin-up girls, for example: glamorous models or actresses whose photos were mass-produced and meant to be “pinned up” on a wall. Pin-up girl photographs were also turned into illustrations that were highly retouched and stylized. Similar to using Photoshop.  During this same period, society was seen shaming skinnier girls in the same way mass media shames fat figures now. 

Both these images are advertisements from the 1940’s  and 50’s. There were many advertisments during this period that shamed women in many ways. It was always about body types, but also offending their character and traits. By society’s opinion, women were never good enough, and could always improve their appearance in someway. This is similar to modern society. During the 1960’s, famous women again adopted a a slender, almost emaciated look. Curves weren’t as important as being rail-thin and elegantly fashionable, like the tiny model Twiggy and the slender, doe-like Audrey Hepburn, both of whom were fashion and body image icons during this decade.

During the 1990’s, this was when the unhealthy obsession with thinness began. Kate Moss, a famous model began her career with a series of Calvin Klein photoshoots in the 90s that started the waif heroin-chic look and glamorized “thinspiration’. Kate Moss created the phrase “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Men were also under pressure to have their bodies strong and muscular. Although society has continuously pressured women and men to change and develop the physique to suite the ‘perfect’ type, now a days there are many movements and organisations created that promote body positiveness. They plan on  overturning these outdated standards for women, and represent bodies of all shapes and sizes in the media.