Whose Ideal Was This, Anyway?



Heather McDougal talked to 5th and 6th graders about how the ideal body image of women has changed over time, from the corsets of 100 years ago to the Photoshopped images of today. And the modern altered bodies and altered images are the hardest ideal to even consider living up to. As an example, contrast the image of Usula Andress in the 1962 movie Dr. No with one of Halle Berry in the 2002 movie Die Another Day.
The thing that disturbs me most about these two images is how our daughters must feel about themselves when they see them. The girls in 1962, seeing Ursula rising from the waves in Dr. No, knew that what they were seeing was a real woman, something they could aspire to (if that was what they wanted). Seeing Halle Barry, above, holds no such comforts, particularly when digital film has so much option for smoothing out those flaws. Such perfection is absolutely outside the realm of anyone who is honest with themselves. They might as well throw themselves against a brick wall, because you can't live, and breathe, and be that perfect. It's impossible, and our daughters know it.

When she presented the changing ideal image of men, she found fewer changes over time, but a difference between what men and what women consider ideal. Read the rest at Cabinet of Wonders. Link

I think one thing these studies miss is what affect it has on young men/boys also. It sets them up to want or expect a woman to look like the digital ideal and be disappointed in the real thing. I think this kind of manipulation is bad for both sexes, especially during the years of puberty when sexuality is really being formed.
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JDM, there actually was a study a few months ago in which they found that free porn on the internet set young men up to have an unsatisfying sex life with real women. I will look for that.
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Every so often, someone comes along to rehash this claptrap. Forget about everything the character does in the movie, but focus on the body. The researchers are just as sexist as the people who create this "unattainable image".
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The REAL solution is that women need to learn how to eat.
After that, how you look is up to genetics, scrubbing-up and exercise.

As it is, most women coast on their youth, then starve themselves to look good, then fall apart.

The margin for error in women who actually Do eat is very very small. (I think it may be due to lower total lean mass[?])

->Meaning, you have to have Extremely good nutrition.

The other part of the equation is that because of most processing or restaurant recipes, it is APOCALYPTICALLY easy to 1)overeat and 2)get bad nutrition.

They MUST study up; even moreso than the average person.

It is the only way.
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I have to disagree with the excerpt. The first picture is just as unattainable for lots of women. I, for example, have a much stronger build and could never be as thin as that no matter how much fat I trim. I personally prefer being stronger, but that's not the point.
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Maybe if public education taught kids to THINK instead of PARROT they wouldn't have this problem.

But that would take effort, make a smart voter population, and take a huge bite out of the current Sheeple effect - so don't hold your breath.
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One perk of being gay: both you AND the people you're attracted to know how unattainable the popular body ideal is. So you can enjoy it for what it is (fakery and all) without feeling too compelled to seek it, either in yourself or in each other. You can just focus on being healthy and active for its own sake.

I'm sure this is a mentality everyone can learn...
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allahakbbq-I'm actually underweight but I work in Photoshop as part of my career and I know that a lot of what we are fed is just Photoshop touch ups. It's silly to expect anyone to have a body that looks like anything like a photo that's been manipulated because it's impossible. The thing is, there's a lot of women that need to wake up and realize Photoshop does not equal reality. I am not for getting rid of digitally altered images, I am for people being smart enough to know the difference. (and for youngins that don't know any better, I am for them being taught what is or isn't reality)
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>> I am not for getting rid of digitally altered images, I am for people being smart enough to know the difference.

And how the f**k are we supposed to know the difference?
Sorry but I find your statement pretty useless.

How about being for adding a tag to every digitally altered image indicating it has been digitally altered?
At least that is saying something useful.
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@Miss Cellania: "free porn on the internet set young men up to have an unsatisfying sex life with real women."

Ummmm...aren't the women in porn real women? By "real" do you mean women who don't like to explore their bodies and experiment? Because I guess I have been having relationships with fake women...I should have known my wife was just a robot...
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@Miss Cellania: sry. "eat" was just my quirky pers. shorthand.

What I meant by the 1st sentence was more like, "Eat VERY Properly.
-Not just put the food in their mouths, chew, and swallow.

->To get Scrupulously good nutrition. Ie:
The exact right # of calories (no more, definitely Not less),
exact right # grams of protein,
exactly right amt & types of carbs,
right amt + types of fats,
at the exactly right times of day.
-ALL while avoiding the bad stuff 98% of the time,
except for small, strategic cheats."

Returning to what I mentioned earlier: in my travels I've noticed a trend that it's generally harder for Women to drop fat & gain muscle than it is for Men.

Exercise alone is a blunt instrument and not nearly enough. Great nutrition works like Magic.
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Halle Berry looks pretty good to me. Fake or not. I think I'd do pretty well in a class if staring at her was the assignment. Hell, I'd probably do some extra credit work too.
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They both have nice bodies, and of course the one from 1962 is more easily attainable for the average woman. However, the emphasis for EVERYONE should be on being healthy. Boys and girls of all socioeconomic backgrounds should be fed nutritious food and should be taught how to manage their weight effectively and effortlessly. Exercise should be a valued part of everyone's life. Without these elements in your life, you'll be unhealthy -- even if you look like Halle Barry. Fat-looking people can be healthy; skinny-looking people can be unhealthy.
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Oh, sorry, Miss C. So it's just someone's whiny personal opinion, and not the result of real research. And she's allowed to go into schools and preach this to them without any basis in fact?

Obviously, Halle Berry achieved this. Obviously, she wasn't photoshopped while the movie was being filmed. That'as a lot of airbrushing for each frame. Obviously, this is attainable. For some. Not for everybody.

What's more alarming is look what global warming's done to the sky behind them.
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The overall health effects that result from women having a poor body image are much less costly to society than the diseases associated with obesity. One could argue that it is good for girls (and boys) to want to be thin
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