Top 10 Thursday: The Evolution Of The Ideal Female Body Image Over the Past 10 Decades
By admin
“Spurred by feminism’s promise of physical, domestic and economic freedom, you have done what few generations of women have dared or chosen to do. You have made muscles – a body of them – and it shows. And you look great.”
I plucked this out of an article published in Time Magazine on Aug. 30, 1982. The article, entitled “The New Ideal Body” hones in on the fact that women’s fitness is changing, their ideal body is changing.
The 80s kick started what we know of fitness today… workouts designed to form the body into a goal image. With Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons, and Kathy Smith leading the way.
I came across this article by accident. Dan was researching something and happened to find this magazine cover:
We were intrigued to say the least! So much so that I decided to pay a visit to the library to track the actual article down. Yup, I got a library card and all to show for it! But the real golden nugget was being able to read the piece.
In it they describe women as working to lose their feminine features and embrace a body that is toned and strong.
I get a kick out of it, because if the writers compared today’s “fit figures” to those of the 80s, I’m pretty sure those “toned” bodies would be soft… todays women are the ones that are strong, with muscles and bronze.
From there, I started to think more about the ideal body image of women. How has it changed over time? It’s changed so much just over the past 30 years!
And that brings me to this…
Top 10 Thursday:
The Evolution Of The Ideal Women’s Figure Over The Past 10 Decades
1910s: Built Strong For Survival.
This wasn’t exactly a relaxed time for Americans. These ladies really did have to walk up a hill both ways to and from school/work. Okay, maybe not but life was stressful (A world war!) and living day to day required a lot of action.
Women were strong, broad and didn’t focus much on their figures. To them, it was about survival of the fittest.
1920s: The Feminist Movement
The 20s brought a huge change to the way women wanted to be percieved. They didn’t want to flaunt their feminine figures, they wanted to be considered equals among men so instead they aimed for a “boyish” figure.
I know it’s hard to believe, but during the 20s women would tape their chests down to flatten their breasts. Funny, that’s the last thing I want to do.
It was also during this time that women sported short hair and baggy clothes.
1930s: A Woman Can Be Sexy And Strong
God bless the 30s! We realized that being an independent woman didn’t mean we had to look like school boys. We began showing off our natural waists once more (yay for hips) and even began sporting padded bras (Best. Invention. Ever.). Actresses like the gorgeous Bettie Davis (above) was the icon of the time.
What I found most interesting in my research is that the 30s also marked when women began to think about food choices. This time could be considered the start of the diet craze. We wanted to look slender and long while maintaining our feminine curves.
Exercising to achieve the ideal figure wasn’t quite the norm yet though some women did experiment with light weights!
1940s: The Sexual Revolution
The 40s women were greatly impacted by WWII. They began to gain more strength among men in the work force (having to work while men were away) and used it to their advantage.
They bodies became even more curvy, and hemlines began to creep up higher (because of saving material for war). Women felt more confident flaunting their bodies which of course would only lead to also becoming more self conscious about their figures simultaneously.
1950s: The Bombshells
I feel like this is the time we all long for. If only having the Marilyn Monroe size 12 hourglass shape was still popular.
The women of the 50s embraced the natural female body perhaps more than any other era. Hips and breasts were expected and not only sexy but a sign of fertility and health.
Because they were focused on landing a man, women of the 50s were always put together. There were no weekends in sweatpants. Even a trip to the drug store meant primping.
The 1960s: The Beginning
I call it the beginning, because huge changes took place that continue to impact our figure today. Twiggy became popular as a model and with her so did her figure. Women longed to be skinny, even rail thin. They didn’t want body fat, muscles or a figure. There was no such thing as “too skinny” and the boyish body was back.
The 1970s: The Zeros
The thin-craze was in full force. Women began to feel the pressure to be thinner than their friends. During this time, there was an increase in the number of eating disorders as women wanted to do whatever it took to “be sexy”… or a size 0.
On a happy note, Farrah Faucet did have some fabulous hair!
The 1980s: The Fitness Craze
And so we complete the circle of when this story began.
The 80s brought upon aerobics thanks to Jane Fonda (did you know the popularity of her DVD actually increased sales of VHS players which were still new at the time?), strength training thanks to Jake Steinfield, and the crazy dance moves of Richard Simmons.
The 80s marked the start of the fitness revolution for women. Toned muscles started to become popular, yet strength training wasn’t the focus. Women focused on aerobic exercise to decrease their waist size but wanted a “tone” that still looked feminine.
Eating disorders continued to increase during this time as well.
The 1990s: Heroin Chic
Everyone wanted to be a runway model and it wasn’t helped by women like Kate Moss. We wanted to be skinnier, we wanted to look like the actresses in magazines.
From the 60s to the 90s, it was all about how thin could we get?
The 2000s: The Airbrush
Personally, I think the 2000s were the worst for women. Airbrushing was/is able to transform people into being what the media wants. And then of course we want what the media tells us looks good.
Women of the 2000s aimed for the unabtainable body. The Barbie.
At the same time, gym memberships increased as did women’s aweness for strength training. Figures are lean but more muscular than prior.
The 2010s: Strong Is The New Skinny
Source (My personal girl crush)
I am not a fan of that saying but I think it sums up our period of body image pretty solidly.
Women today are aware of the unobtainable body, though we still aim for it. We understand that while aerobics is important, strength training is too.
Even more, we love muscles. We love features that show strength, not weakness. It’s no longer about being “skinny” but about being fit. I feel we’re back to showing of our feminine independence by aiming for a more solid figure.
I might be completely wrong about our outlook on our figures today and in 10 more years we’ll likely look back and critique this time. However, living in the present (because that’s all you can do), I feel as if we’re moving in the right direction from the past 20 years…
What do you think?
Question: If you could visit any era in history for 24 hours, when would you go back to?
I’ve always been interested by the 20s (prior to the depression), I would have loved to have partied with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and danced the night away doing the Charleston in Charleston!
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