"Oh, you are beautiful my darling!, Oh you are beautiful! " (Song of Solomon)
Over the years, the woman’s shape has been under much scrutiny.
Different parts of the world, cultures, traditions and religious beliefs have
given a description of how the woman should look like. They have given the
illusion that there should be a standard shape and size every woman must conform
or fit into.
Over the years, the acceptable body size has changed. With one
going out of trend and being replaced by another and ladies have done all they
can to fit into it. Let’s take a look at the past
Victorian era
Queen Victoria was the influential figure of this era. She
embodied the woman’s position as a mother.it favored a super tight corset to create
an hourglass figure.
1920's
Small bust, small hips was all the rage. Women in the United
States were given a right to vote. Due to World War I, the men went to war and women
had taken over most of the jobs. The world war was over and the women still
wanted to continue working. This created a flapper culture. So they played down
their curves, wore manly clothes. Sort of an androgynous look. Short and boyish
1920-1940's
This era embraced a slight curves. A move from petite to
slightly curvy.in the 1940’s, the shoulders became higher and squarer to fit
more of a military look, tall and square. due to world war II. Women went back
to the workforce as the men went to fight in the war.
1950's
This was the era of the hourglass, it featured an extremely
slim waist, bigger bust and hips. Women who were slim were even encouraged to
take supplements to gain more weight. Hips and booty pads were sold, kind of
like what we have in the market now.
1960-1970's
This era was popularized by a model named “twiggy”. The
ideal shape changed from curvy to really thin, tall, smaller busts, smaller
hips, a flatter stomach achieved through dieting.
1980's
Exercise, dieting and aerobics was the rage. Tall, slim, athletic
with a little hips. Jane Fonda pioneered fitness and muscles for the 1st time became acceptable on
a woman.
1990's
Due to the increase in the usage of heroin. This era was
dubbed heroin chic.it favored thin, pale and short. Spandex, a modern day corset
was invented.
2000-today
In the early 2000, abs came on board. Flat stomach, packs. Up
till now, women are still obsessed with their body shape. The late 2000 came
the rise of plastic surgery. Bigger bust and hips but slim and flat stomach.
In countries
and cultures all over the world, there is an ideal body shape for the society. In
countries like Argentina, plastic surgery is the in thing, so a large bust,
wide hips is more favored.
In Nigeria, a woman is regarded as unhealthy or not well fed
if she is too slim. So a chubby figure is more preferred.
In Europe, a very fashion conscious continent, a fat body is
looked down upon and regarded as very unhealthy.
In china a high percentage are of the smaller and shorter size,
so tall represents power and plastic surgery is available to help lengthen the
bones.
In Brazil, the women are well known for their very curvy shape
and well coveted.
No matter where you live, you might not fit into the
acceptable or ideal figure. Even if you do fit in, when you go somewhere else,
to some other country and culture, you will find out that their own ideal is
quite different.so what then is the solution?
The truth is
there is no general or standard shape or size for a lady, our genetics play a
great role in determining how we would look. It’s such a pity that trying to
fit into what the society tells us or the standard the social media feeds us
has created more harm than good. With the rise of eating disorders such as
Anorexia nervosa: people who see themselves as overweight
when they are obviously underweight, and so become obsessed with their weight.
They sometimes eat a lot at once and then throw up all they have eaten to avoid
gaining weight.
Bulimia nervosa: these are people who are unhappy with their
body weight and have a lack of control over their food proportions, so they
binge eat and then try to get rid of the food by vomiting or intense exercise
Statistics show that over 10million ladies in the world
suffer from an eating disorder.
The truth is,
unless we learn to accept our shape and learn to love ourselves, we are going
to continue chasing after what seems to be in trend and never catch up. History
as shown that things will always change, what is deemed as acceptable and ideal
now will change very soon. The world wouldn’t be so beautiful if we all looked
the same. Our differences make the world beautiful. If you think you have
weight problems or your weight is affecting your health, then work on losing
weight and improving your health. With the rise in waist trimmers, body shapers,
just to fit into the so called “ideal”. Only for the “ideal” to change again in
a few years is quite disturbing. Accept the way you look, fall in love with it
and live well. Indeed you are beautiful, you just need to stop waiting for
others to see it or tell you and start seeing it yourself.
So what
is the acceptable shape? The acceptable shape is you. Nobody else can look, think,
act or be exactly like you. Your fingerprint is prove of that. You are UNIQUE.
