Society Makes Female Body Types a Fashion Statement

The "ideal" female body is constantly changing, motivating women to try and conform to each new era's accepted body type. Looking back over American history and the women that history glorified, it's clear to see the body type that was in style during that time period. Sadly, the majority of these body types are unattainable for most people. Society picks and chooses certain female body parts that get to become a fad that is here one day and gone the next.

Remember the early 2000's when being told you had a big butt was an insult? I remember being on the playground and hearing kids use that to insult each other. Now, to be told you have a big butt is usually a highly desired compliment due to icons in our media that are looked up to with hourglass figures and big butts. Curvy women now have a chance to shine in popular media because of the influence of Instagram models and famous stars such as Kim K. and Kylie Jenner. But that's not always been the case, and sadly the women who naturally have curves aren't recognized and usually, only women who have the money for surgeries and injections are glorified instead of those with natural curvy bodies.

During the roaring 20's, female body types were seen as most attractive without many curves and with a boyish figure. An ideal of thinness was desired and many women turned to diets, exercise and even bras to make chest size smaller an well as a rubber girdle to make hips appear smaller.

Although the 1920's glorified a smaller boyish frame, the wartime period of the 30's and 40's made more of a focus on the female figure. Clothes that revealed the curve of a natural waist became fashionable again and some advertisements encouraged women to avoid looking too thin. But it was the 1950's that a full figure with curves was fully in style. A busty hourglass look with a tiny waist and bigger hips was desirable and shown in media through popular stars like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly.

Similar to the look of the 1920's, the 1960's brought the thin boyish look back into style. The 60's quickly led into the continued thin look of the 70's. The 70's brought advertisements for diets, diet pills and other recommendations for appetite suppressants. During this time there was a spike in eating disorders such as anorexia.

The 1980's brought the culture of exercise. Thin was still in style but it gave another option besides dieting to maintain or get a "perfect" body figure. Now women were expected to have a "perfect" figure because of the ability to exercise. Supermodels were usually tall and thin, quite a bit thinner than the average woman.

The female body style in the 1990's remained thin but even took a more dangerous turn. Supermodels became even thinner in the media and had a more prominent bony look. It was a very non-athletic look and is usually described as "heroin chic." Kate Moss was the supermodel of this time period.

It wasn't until 2010 that curvy, hourglass figures came back into style. Women like J.Lo and Nicki Minaj made big booty's become mainstream in the media leading up to 2020 where we are now with hourglass bodies as the ultimate "perfect" look. While curvy girls can now be empowered and recognized after so many years of thin being the standard of beauty, glorifying only the body types that are most desired during a specific time period has become tiring.

It is not okay that society picks and chooses which body type and/or body part is "ideal" for women to have. Thankfully, clothing industries have become more fitting to women of all shapes and sizes but we still have a long way to go. Society promotes the message "be yourself," yet they give restrictions on how far that can go. One thing that never goes out of style is confidence, so rock what you've got!

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