The Evolution of the Ideal Body

Becky Picha

30 October 2014

The Evolution of the Ideal Body

 

  

The article “What Does Friend Mean Now?” was written by Joseph P. Kahn in 2011, which was first published the Boston Globe. It explains how the meaning of the word “friend” has drastically changed through the years. Previously, the term “friend” was used to describe the few people one had close relationships with and see often. But recently, “friend” has described much more. Almost everyone nowadays has social media with hundreds of friends on Facebook and kids are taught at a young age that everyone is a friend.

Relating fitness to how the meaning of ‘friend’ has changed, I realized that the meaning of the ideal body for women has changed as well. The photo on the top of the article on the right shows the ideal body in 1900, called the “Gibson girl” and the photo on the left shows the ideal body in 2000, a Victoria’s Secret model (Bahadur). It is really obvious that there has been a huge change in what women want to look like. In 100 years, the ideal body has gotten thinner and thinner, and currently models and actresses are smaller than the average American woman. In fact, the gap between the size of models and the average woman has grown larger at an extremely fast rate.

Centuries ago, being full figured was a symbol of wealth and beauty, but more currently, both men and women strive to be thin (Edmonds). Many times, people go to extremes to be thin, such as eating disorders and plastic surgery. People want to look like a model, and as the difference between the bodies of average women and models continue to grow, the amount of things done to try to look like them grows as well. In 2010, $10.1 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures, which was a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year.

If someone with the “ideal” body in the 1900’s tried to get a job in the modeling business today, they would definitely not get the job and mere thought of them thinking they could be a model would be strange. It would be the same reaction if it was 1900 and a woman with a body like a Victoria’s Secret Angel wanted to be a model. It’s clear that the standards for women to look a certain way has changed, and personally I do not think it has changed for the better.

Works Cited

Bahadur, Nina. "It's Amazing How Much The 'Perfect Body' Has Changed In 100 Years." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

Edmonds, Molly. "10 Ways the Definition of Beauty Has Changed." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

Kahn, Joseph P. "What Does "Friend" Mean Now?" America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals. Ed. Robert Atwan. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2013. 379-82. Print.

Stereotypes and Fitness

Stereotypes

Luke Rickleff  Blog Post 4

9th October 2014

Stereotypes and Fitness

  In “Some Thoughts On Mercy” by Ross Gay, he talks about his perspective of the world as a black man. How growing up in Philadelphia made in almost complacent with the racism in everyday life since heard it from almost everyone around him whether it was the black jokes to his face, hearing it as he walked down the hall, being profiled by security at any store he went just because of his race. But the most shocking thing is how even as a fully grown adult he still feels the need to buys something at any store he walks into to put the clerks at ease that he isn’t steal. Ross gives us a glimpse into the hided racism of our world were people stereotype black people just by race. But why are black people portrayed differently than whites in the media?

        Racial stereotypes are not a thing of the past but rather still an issue in today’s world more than ever specifically in sports.There is a stigmas being made about black athletes by the media as them being more prone to drugs and domestic abuse when in reality it isn’t true as Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida said “It's not that there's a higher percentage of African American athletes who are crossing the lines than White players but the media have created two perceptions—that athletes in general are more inclined to be violent against women and use drugs, and that Black athletes are more inclined to do both. And neither is true."(Muhammad)
         Another stereotype that black people get put into is that majority of them play professional sports. Henry Gates  an authority on African American literature and culture, told his buddies that there were approximately 35 million black people living in the United States. He then wagered $5 to anyone who could tell him how many African Americans make a living playing professional sports in the United States. They all being avid sports fans they throwing out numbers like 10 million, 500,000 and 5,000. “ As Gates reported in Sports Illustrated, the facts about black athletes in America at the time his article was published were stunningly low. There were 1,200 black professional athletes in all United States sports there 12 times more black lawyers, 20 times more black dentists and 15 times more black doctors than black athletes” (Fulwood III) As you can see this stereotype is very untrue and belittling making it seem like black people are only good for one specific thing when in reality, they have the same skills and opportunities as anyone else. 
         So as you can see these stereotypes are widely untrue and weigh heavily on athlete as they are watched so closely by the media. This same pressure felt by Ross Gay when we was pulled over by the policeman or when being profile after walking into story my security. Stereotyping of all kinds is a major problem in todays world both in sports and in everyday life. We do it everyday almost without noticing, it’s so natural to us we almost for get that each and every individual is different from the rest.

Work Cited

Fulwood III, Sam. "The Media's Stereotypical Portrayals of Race." Name. 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

Muhammad, James. "Stereotypes, the Media and Black Athletes Who Get into Trouble." The Final  m Call. 15 Dec. 2009. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.