Feminine beauty ideal

The feminine beauty ideal is a social concept about the appearance of women that changes over time and varies from society to society. Even within different age groups, beauty regarded as ideal to one generation is often different for older or younger groups. These standards can be imposed on women and girls by themselves or by outside sources, including other people, the media, and tradition. These standards are often narrowly defined and beyond an individual’s control; for example, genetics and biology are strong factors in determining height, weight, and complexion. The ideals are reflected in various cultures in its publications, advertising, movies, and television. Comparing oneself to an ideal can lead to feelings of inferiority, especially among girls and teens, and pressure to conform to these standards can lead to physical and mental damage. Body shaming and other forms of criticism are often used in bullying, especially among teens.

Some ways in which women feel pressured to conform to the feminine beauty ideal includes dieting and exercising to create an ideal shape, undergoing chemical processes to change the color or texture of their hair, applying makeup, getting tattoos or scarification, and having plastic surgery to increase or decrease body features. Clothing and devices to change or enhance some features, such as buttocks or breasts, are also commonly used and frequently marketed to women as a way to achieve the ideal appearance.

Background

Ideas about what constitutes feminine beauty have changed throughout the centuries and across continents. Early representations of humans found in many parts of the world depict women with ample hips and busts, while evidence indicates some cultures valued slender women. Researchers believe some cultures saw large women as desirable because fat on the body indicated health and fertility. Other groups valued small women, or darker or lighter complexions, or women with physical strength.

The historical record shows a variety of ideals of feminine beauty in history. In Ancient Egypt from about 1292 BCE to 1069 BCE, the ideal woman was believed to be slim, with a high waist and narrow shoulders. In Ancient Greece from about 500 BCE to 300 BCE, the feminine figure was curvy and plump with light skin. In Greek society, men were under greater pressure to conform to standards of perfection than women. From about 206 BCE to 220 CE, women of China’s Han Dynasty were expected to have pale skin and large eyes, a small waist, and little feet. The latter feature remains attractive to many Chinese even in modern times. During the Italian Renaissance, from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries, society favored women with fair hair and skin and large stomachs, hips, and breasts. Curves were also coveted in Victorian England from1837 to 1901. Women were expected to be full-figured but have tiny waists, and wore tightly cinched corsets to achieve the shape.

In the West, standards have changed many times in just the twentieth century. Women of the 1920s cut their hair short and deemphasized their bodies by wearing drop-waist clothing. The ideal standard was a small bust and androgynous figure. The 1930s through 1950s were heavily influenced by Hollywood, and the Marilyn Monroe look of an hourglass figure was the ideal shape. Models such as Twiggy, with waif-like, slim figures, epitomized the 1960s, while during the 1980s women tried to emulate curvy yet athletic supermodels. Thin was in again during the 1990s, and model Kate Moss’s pale, extremely thin shape featured prominently. The favored look of the early twenty-first century was slim, with large breasts and buttocks, and a flat stomach.

Overview

The feminine beauty ideal often represents unachievable standards. Corsets, chemical hair treatments, and various other methods have often been employed by women and girls to meet social expectations. Some of these practices are seen as abhorrent to modern audiences, while others seem ordinary.

Foot binding is an example of a painful process forced on young girls for a thousand years in China. Small feet were an ideal of female beauty, so when girls were about five years old, their feet were bent under with all but the big toe broken, the arches were bent, and the feet were tightly wrapped. When the girls were old enough to marry, those with feet three inches long were the most desirable. Three-inch feet were called the golden lotus, while feet of four inches were the silver lotus. Any girls whose feet were longer than four inches were called iron lotuses and rarely were able to marry. Foot binding limited women in that they often experienced lifelong pain when walking and could not walk quickly. The practice was outlawed in 1912, although some families continued to practice it into the 1940s.

Wearing of corsets is another way women and girls have altered their bodies permanently to meet the demands of society and fashion. During the Victorian era, a tightly nipped waist was desirable. To achieve this wispy silhouette, women tightly bound the waist and midsection in laced corsets. The process began in childhood when very young girls were put into light corsets, and as the girls aged the devices became stiffer and tighter. These garments permanently changed the shape of women’s skeletons, compressing and deforming the lower ribs into an S shape and misaligning the vertebral spines. While a small number of women continue to wear corsets in modern times, many others wear body shapers or girdles to change the appearance and shape of their bodies.

Piercings, tattoos, and scarification have been practiced for tens of thousands of years. In some cultures, these body modifications alert others to one’s social status or family, while others see them as expressions of individuality. Other modifications such as skull flattening or shaping and neck lengthening have also been practiced in many cultures. For example, the Chinookan people of the Pacific Northwest flattened the skulls of infants to show the children came from high-status families. People from lower-status families, orphans, and slaves were banned from practicing this cradleboard binding.

Makeup, too, has an ancient history, for example the use of kohl, a cosmetic power used to darken the area around the eyes, was popular with men and women in Egypt for centuries. Various efforts to lighten, straighten, or curl hair to conform to beauty ideals often damaged and broke hair, leading many men and women to wear wigs, another practice that continues in modern times. African Americans in the twentieth century, for example, applied strong chemical straighteners to hair so it could be styled in fashions of various eras, such as the sleek bouffant popular in the 1950s.

Skin color preference is another issue that arises in societies. In India, for example, many women with darker skin have reported bias and criticism. Skin-lightening creams are commonly marketed in the country, and reports indicate that people with light-toned skin are favored by employers and those seeking or arranging marriages. Many people have called out cosmetics companies and the movie industry for perpetuating the beauty ideal of light skin in India and around the world. Skin bleaching creams are sold in all countries with large populations of people of color. In the United States, media of the early twentieth century rarely included Black women, implying that pale skin coloring was the feminine ideal. The advent of African American publications often perpetuated this bias, with cosmetic firms promoting skin lightening creams and using models with lighter skin tones. Late in the twentieth century, racial pride movements encouraged people to style hair naturally and embrace all shades of skin tone.

Social Pressure and Body Positivity

Social pressure has weighed heavily on many women and girls. In modern times, researchers say, the vast majority of women are dissatisfied with their appearance. Some people experience physical, mental, and emotional issues related to appearance. These can include anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and social withdrawal. In Western societies, weight has been a standard that frequently creates anxiety. Some women believe they are too heavy, while others see themselves as too thin. Even if they achieve the weight they think is ideal, they may view parts of their bodies as the wrong shape. This unattainable ideal is often influenced by the media, in particular the use of image editing software such as Photoshop. Many models and actors in particular have spoken out about the changes made to their bodies for publications such as fashion magazines. Waists and thighs are thinned, while busts and buttocks may be enlarged or reshaped. Such practices as image editing and preferences for specific model body shapes have been blamed for contributing to the prevalence of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia in the United States in the later twentieth century.

The Fat Acceptance movement, which dates to 1969 in the United States, has challenged the idea that only bodies of certain shapes and sizes are healthy and has led to the body positivity movement of the twenty-first century. Advocates of accepting one’s body focus on functionality—how well the body can accomplish tasks the person wants to perform, whether that is climbing a mountain or completing a 5k run/walk or less-strenuous activities such as walking in a park or cycling for pleasure—rather than weight and size. Organizations such as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) educate people about body positivity and question issues such as patriarchy and capitalism and how they influence ideals of beauty.

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