Why the Idea of ​​the Perfect Body Keeps Changing (and What the Beauty Ideal Will Be in the Future)

Women all over the world are worried every time they step on the scale. And one of the reasons for this concern is the result of the standards dictated by the fashion world and body indices considered healthy. The so-called Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure that should be used with the noble objective of avoiding health problems (such as, for example, cardiovascular diseases) started to be adopted even by the world of fashion and fitness, becoming a kind of paranoia reference for those who seek the perfect body. The result is, for example, wild and unhealthy diets that appear every day.

O awesome.club seeks to understand why the idea of ​​the perfect human body keeps changing and what that image will look like in the future. Maybe it’s time to stop counting the calories and make more room for that delicious cake (as long as it’s not overdone), isn’t it?

There are many factors that affect the idea of ​​the perfect body shape and one of them is the feeling of hunger. Research shows that even modern men find full women more attractive when they are hungry. In the ancient world, wide hips, a big belly and full breasts were associated with sensuality and fertility. At that time, when food was available, people often ate too much, so women with higher amounts of fat were more likely to give birth and feed the baby. That’s why men found them more attractive.

Robust women are still considered the ideal of beauty, for example, in Mauritania and in a tribe in Uganda, Africa, where food supplies are limited. In addition, in these places they try to fatten women in certain situations. Every day before the wedding, Ugandan brides drink several pitchers of milk with about 5,000 calories each to make themselves more attractive.

The idea of ​​an ideal body shape is also affected by culture and society. In ancient Greece, female statues were not very slender and had an attractive body. The breasts were not very large, because sculptures were often a symbol of the perfection of the human body, and not its sexuality.

In Medieval times, Christianity dictated the canons of beauty. The pale and gaunt faces, the thin bodies, which referred to people who fasted and abstained, became the beauty standard of the time.

At the time of the Renaissance, women’s body shapes continued to be slender, but most of them had a visible belly. All because interest in the personality and the human body was awakened, so pregnancy was openly demonstrated.

In the 16th century, women began to wear corsets, a fad that lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. These accessories were used to define the waist and make the body look like an hourglass. And, although this beautiful contrast between the hips and the waist was mainly dictated by the fashion of the time, men’s preferences — determined by the survival instinct — also helped to maintain this type of beauty standard at its peak.

Research shows that women with large breasts and a small waist have a higher level of estradiol, while those with a strong contrast between the waist and hips have a higher level of progesterone. Both hormones contribute to successful conception. Therefore, the Women with an hourglass figure are more fertile and more likely to become pregnant.

In the 50s, after famine and war, this female body pattern was again at the peak of popularity. Beauties like Marilyn Monroe, Betty Brosmer and Jayne Mansfield captured men’s imaginations with their perfect shapes.

By the way, although Barbie’s body shape is considered a fertility ideal, in reality, a girl with that body type would be infertile. Furthermore, she would be anorexic and could only move by crawling. A student at Hamilton College, in the USA, showed what a life-size image of this beauty standard would look like.

The era of freedom for women began (little by little) in the 1920s. Girls stopped trying to please men, started cutting their hair and started paying less attention to the curves of their bodies. From the 1960s onwards, slender forms took a firm hold in fashion. That’s when Twiggy, a teenager, became a reference for the young men (and women) of the time. She was one of the first models with androgynous features, combining a boyish body and short hair with long eyelashes and huge eyes.

But even leaving the corsets aside, women began to adopt diets and practice sports. The height of fascination with a thin and muscular body occurred during the 1980s, with models Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, for example.

From the 1990s, thinness came back into fashion and the ideal beauty standard at the time was Kate Moss. The media began to spread information widely about the health dangers of being overweight and fat began to be ridiculed and associated with a lack of appetite. Since then, stylists have continued to favor slim models — those who would easily fit into a size X.

In the 2010s, due to the increasing dissemination of information via the Internet and social media, various body shapes began to gain popularity — from those with prominent curves, like Kim Kardashian — to the amorphous bodies of androgynous models.

However, researchers describe that over the last 50 years, men have become very demanding. They prefer not only women with a sharp contrast between hips, breasts and waist, but also with a low Body Mass Index. Which means they like thin and androgynous girls.

It is likely that in the near future the body of a perfect woman will remain slender. And there are several reasons for this:

1. Globalization

Television and the Internet spread all over the world. Traditional societies in Puerto Rico, Samoa and Tanzania, for example, have always appreciated fuller women. However, from the 1990s onwards, women with large bodies began to be perceived as ugly, due to the influence of the media.

In rural areas, where physical work is still important, the silhouettes of strong and fuller women continue to be valued. But men who moved from villages to cities began to prefer slender girls as well.

2. Relative abundance of the population

As we found out, if there is no war or famine, then men prefer the most slender women. And since most countries in the civilized world have enough food to go around, chubby figures have come to be associated with obesity.

3. Preference for women with an “hourglass” body shape

A slim waist and wide hips are likely to remain preferred. But the thin girl trend will continue to be in fashion, due to the influence of the fashion industry.

4. and the fashion industry are made for skinny girls

Fashion designers tend to prefer thin girls (often with a boyish appearance) because any outfit looks good on them. As they work with computer programs, their creations increasingly go beyond simply slender bodies, being directed towards body shapes that simply do not exist.

At the same time, according to statistics, a teenager daily receives 180 minutes of information from various media, while she spends only 10 minutes communicating with her parents. Thus, unrealistic standards of beauty are increasingly being introduced into our consciousness and the consciousness of our children.

It is clear that some women and plus size models have affected fashion to some extent, but the effect is unlikely to be lasting. In addition, fashion designers continue to create clothes for the “hourglass” body, ignoring other types of female shapes. But the amount of women who represent beauty with the body shapes preferred by stylists does not cover more than 8% of the population.

5. Removing the boundaries between the sexes

More and more girls, including celebrities, are taking on an androgynous look, influenced by the idea of ​​feminism. They believe that there should be no difference between men and women, so they started wearing men’s hairstyles and clothes. Whether this is good or bad is up to you, but it is likely that the female beauty standard in the near future will lack gender indicators.

It’s also possible that, thanks to Photoshop, we’ve popularized an extremely slender female body shape that would only suit a sick Victorian lady with tuberculosis. Thus, it is still not the right time to free up space in the refrigerator for the cake. On the other hand, following the Barbie doll ideal is also not the right thing to do, otherwise we may end up getting a diagnosis of “anorexia nervosa” instead of appreciating our beautiful body shape.

Do you agree with our prediction about the beauty standard of the future or do you have a different opinion about it? We will be delighted to read your comments!