Casmin Bui Week 16: Body Types
Last weekend my mom made a joke that out of the two daughters she had, not either of them have the same body type as hers: a size 0 pant size with small hips and a small waist. I don’t think she was trying to shame me and my sister of our body sizes, but a crucial factor to her situation was that she was severely malnourished in Vietnam because she didn’t have a lot of money growing up. So why is being skinny and underweight the social standard and why is it more rewarding societally? Aside from my mom’s unrealistic expectations for her daughters, it’s interesting to see how body types in general have developed over the centuries from ancient times until today.
My mom when she was in her mid twenties.
As we have seen today in fashion magazines and in media in general, the beauty standards for women are to be skinny, but also… curvy. They need to have a small waist, but have bigger legs and bigger breasts. I’m sure most of us have heard of the hourglass figure. The image of perfect beauty (in terms of societal expectations) of course has significantly changed from the standards in the 8th century BC. Aphrodite, the literal image of female beauty for the Greeks, has a rounded stomach and small breasts. A famous quote states that “many gods would go to war for Aphrodite,” which implies how attractive Aphrodite’s figure and looks are.
Female body standards seem to change according to the context of the environment. Similar to earlier times where only the minority of people were properly nourished, the ideal image of a female was for them to have larger stomachs because it represented wealth, whereas having a smaller body meant that one was considered less fortunate and less attractive. Whereas it was rare back then to have the opportunity to be properly nourished, it feels expected out of every individual today to be properly eaten, and thus the beauty standard changes again. Now people who have the time to work out and maintain skinnier bodies are thus seen as healthy compared to what was the standard back then. At the same time, individuals who are malnourished like my mom fit more into the beauty standard today than me and my sister.
As we move forward in society, I hope that the beauty standards for women and men equally are removed or at the very least more achievable (easily attainable for the majority of the population and is not largely genetic). It’s refreshing to see that recent generations are more accepting of all body types, though. I hope that fully becomes a reality as everyone is beautiful (as corny as it sounds)!
Note: Thank you all for being such supportive and amazing classmates! I really hope we can all have great discussions like this again, and it was a fun journey blogging and learning more about each of you.
Casmin, I think body types and societal expectations have gotten even more unrealistic in today’s world with social media. Arbitrary standards created by influencers with the most followers are thus seen as the golden standard (while their only goal is to sell you a $2000 course). It is true, though, that social media has helped us normalize talking about accepting everyone as they are (after all, “everyone is beautiful,” as you say), which creates nuances in the impact of social media on body types. In your writing, I love how you use yourself and your family as examples, since it makes the blog really personal and relatable. Also, your historical context is extremely effective in situating the piece and evaluating how social expectations evolved over time. Thank you for an amazing piece!
ReplyDeleteHi Casmin! There is so much societal pressure placed on body types. The “hourglass figure” you mention highlights how much pressure women face to reach a certain beauty standard. For the majority of people, these beauty standards are simply unrealistic and hurt their own image. I feel the main reason people chase these beauty standards is to feel socially accepted. They do it to fit society’s ideal image and are benefited from it with compliments. The fact that a “malnourished” person is considered more “beautiful” than you or your sisters is so problematic. Eating disorders are a huge problem and society continues to push this narrative about scientifically unhealthy eating habits. I wholeheartedly agree with your hope that society will move towards “more achievable” standards. For the best case scenario, our body image should be directly related to health and nothing else. I really like how you bring up Aphrodite as an example for your argument. It makes so much sense when you highlight how Aphrodite is the ideal image of “female beauty” and she has a “rounded stomach.” By utilizing this famous figure and their characteristics, you are able to really emphasize how much beauty standards have been changing. Thanks Casmin for such an interesting final blog! See you in school next year!
ReplyDeleteNeither of my parents had enough to eat either. My mom says that when she met my dad, he looked small in every way: short, skinny, small face. This was because he never had enough to eat as a kid. Irregular growth spurts resulted in him only reaching his final height after college. Some of it is in his genes (my paternal grandma is less than five feet tall), but according to him, most of it was because he was starved. It’s so strange how people continue to compare their own body types to those who are in completely different situations than them. Like, I know I’m not as skinny as my mom was at my age, but why should I be? She didn’t have enough to eat either.
ReplyDeleteI agree that America needs to start doing away with all these arbitrary beauty standards, and I would like to propose the first step: kill looksmaxxing. Genuinely, I don’t know why looksmaxxing influencers have decided that jaw trainers and eating disorders are not only fashionable, but beneficial. My mom always tells me that true beauty comes from health. Once we grow older, we will only get more tired and long for our bodies from before, so we may as well enjoy our natural youth right now.
Casmin, thank YOU for being an amazing classmate! It’s been a pleasure to read your blogs each week.