WST 383 Women’s StudiesThemed Class: The Female Body

Presentation Credit: Meghan Somers

“American women feel more negatively about their bodies than their counterparts in any other culture,” notes Margo Maine, author of Body Wars: Making Peace with Women’s Bodies.

Info from Backlash: The Undeclaired War Against Women, by S. Faludi (1991), New York: Doubleday

A timeline of female body image

Early Civilizatio

n

The Venus of Willendorf is a tribute to women and fertility. Women’s forms were celebrated and it is believed that standard of beauty was a woman with larger breasts and hips, ensuring fertility. Feminine features, including stomachs and buttocks were exaggerated in art forms.

Victorian Era

During the Victorian era, the ideal body type for women

was plump, fleshy, and full-figured. They wore

restrictive corsets, which made waists artificially tiny

while accentuating the hips and buttocks. These

corsets also caused a variety of health problems

with breathing and digestion.

1840’s

Actress Lillian Russell weighed

around 200 pounds in the

peak of her fame.

1890’s

“During the Victorian era the role of women ‘was defined largely on the basis of their appearance, and not on intellectual or

occupational grounds. The ideal Victorian woman was expected to be childlike, pale and indeterminate, passive, submissive,

mindless, genteel and nice.”

http://www.ulladulla.info/fhc/vicfashions.htm

The 20th Century

1910’s As feminism spreads,women are portrayed asbig and powerful. Theimages on magazinescovers show little menagainst larger, strongerfemales.

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall2000/Marcus/timeline2.htm#1890s

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote, is signed into law.

Tobacco companies begin to target women by claiming that smoking can help control weight.

1920

“By the 1920’s, the Victorian hourglass gave way to the thin flapper who bound her

breasts to achieve a washboard profile. After

World War I, active lifestyles added another dimension. Energy and vitality became

central and body fat was perceived to contribute to

inefficiency and was seen as a sign of self-indulgence.”

www.thesite.org/healthandwellbeing/mentalhealth/bodyimageandselfesteem/bodyimagetimeline

“Flappers helped to revolutionize the way women act and think by defying the traditional views of women.”

Modesty returns. Cleavage is viewed as obscene.

1930’s

At 5’2” and average

weight, Bette Davis is an American

Icon.

1930’s

Beauty standards focus on large breasts and pin-up

girls.

1950’s

1950’s, a thin woman with a large bust line was considered most

attractive. The voluptuous (size 14-16) Marilyn Monroe set a new standard for women who now needed to rebuild the

curves they had previously tried to bind and restrain.

Competitive athletics considered to be

dangerous for women.

Dieting becomes popular and skirt hems get shorter.

1960’s

Slenderness became the most important

indicator of physical attractiveness

following the arrival of model Twiggy. Twiggy was 5’7”, weighed 91 pounds, and had the

figure of a prepubescent boy.

1960’s

Twiggy

Women protest the Miss America

Pageant citing that it is demeaning toward women.

1960’s

The FDA approves Fenfluarmine an appetite

suppressant.

1970’s

In 1975 top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average woman. (Today they weigh 23% less, a

size achievable by less than 5% of today's female population.)

The 1970’s

Beginning in the 1970’s, there was an overall

increased emphasis on weight loss and body

shape in the content of popular women’s

magazines.

Karen Carpenter, a famous singer, dies

of heart failure

caused by anorexia.

1980’s

The 1980’s beauty ideal remained slim but required a more toned and fit look. Women could no longer just 'diet' into

the correct size; there was a new pressure to add exercise to achieve the

toned look.

The FDA takes Fenfluarmine (a diet drug) off the market because it is linked to heart

disorders.

1990’s

• Young Cindy Crawford considered the new “voluptuous” model.

The 1990’s body ideal was very slim and

large breasted, think Pamela 'Baywatch'

Anderson, an almost impossible

combination.

In the 1990’s FIVE MILLION American women suffer from eating disorders.

• In the 2000’s, that number doubles to over 10 MILLION

The 21st Century

2sportscars.comRubens

1600s

2000’s

• Models get much taller and impossibly thin

“The Holocaust Look” gets trendy.

• 2006 Spain outlaws models with BMI <18

2000’s

In an interview with 48 Hours, Mary-Kate Olsen compared her looks to her sister's saying, “I - are you kidding me? I look in the mirror and I'm like why do you look pretty and I look ugly?" Mary-Kate Olsen begins receiving treatment for an eating disorder.

Food for Thought

“When a man gets up to speak, people listen, then look. When a woman gets up, people look; then, if they like what they see, they listen.” Pauline Frederick

Early 2000’s

“I see my body as an

instrument, rather than an ornament.”  ~Alanis Morissette

2000s-2010s

“You're damned if you're too thin,and you're damned if you're tooheavy. According to the press I'vebeen both. It's impossible to satisfyeveryone and I suggest we all stoptrying.”

--Jennifer Aniston

In a recent survey conducted by People magazine, 80% of

women stated that advertising and fashion magazines made them feel insecure about their

looks.

• A Glamour Magazine survey found that 97% of women had hateful thoughts about their bodes every day—on average 13 times per day.

“We have to have faith in ourselves.  I have never met a woman who, deep

down in her core, really believes she has great legs.  And if she suspects that she

might have great legs, then she's convinced that she has a shrill voice and

no neck.” ~Cynthia Heimel

“Black women don't have the same body image problems as white women. They are proud of their bodies. Black men love big butts.”

-Tyra Banks

• Adele beats the odds.

“Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor

or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, a good mother,

good-looking, good-tempered, well-dressed, well-groomed,

and unaggressive.”  ~Marya Mannes

Mauritania's 'wife-fattening' farm

Prestige & Early Puberty

"We don’t need Afghan-style burquas to disappear as women.

We disappear in reverse—by revamping and revealing our

bodies to meet externally imposed visions of female beauty."

Robin Gerber

“Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.”

-- Aesop

Whose body is it, anyway?

Created by Meghan SomersUpdated by Juliet Davis

Sources• http://www.thesite.org/healthandwellbeing/mentalhealth/

bodyimageandselfesteem/bodyimagetimeline • http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall200/Marcus/timeline2.htm • http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/22/earlyshow/leisure/

celebspot/main625389.shtml• http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/06/02/why-do-women-

hate-their-bodies/• http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2011/02/shocking-body-

image-news-97-percent-of-women-will-be-cruel-to-their-bodies-today

• Music by Natalie Merchant, “Break your Heart” from Opehlia.