The Evolution of Body Image in America

Through the years, body image has been a wide-spread issue in America. As technology continues to evolve, social media expands, which greatly fuels depletion of body positivity.

The ideals for body image have become less and less attainable. As a society, we are losing the comprehension of healthy, average and essentially, reasonable. With pressure in the media such as persuasive advertisements, extremely thin runway models and "flawless" photoshopped images, body image has become an obsession, which is growing rapidly. This issue has reached substantial highs, resulting in sky rocketing negative body images. Disturbingly, eating disorders and issues associated have increased by over four-hundred percent since only 1970.

Marilyn Monroe, 1949
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Going back to the early 1900's, the most contemporary records of the "ideal look" were those of a natural essence, (and by natural, I don't mean neutral colored makeup), before social media had been recognized. The times during the initiation of mass media consisted of a similar concept concerning appearance. We look back to people like Marilyn Monroe, an idolized image of beauty at the time, and the difference in ideals compared to today are quite obvious. Currently, Marilyn may even be referred to as "overweight," but in truth, she was not. She was at a healthy weight. During this point in time, the ideal for body image was healthy. Marilyn now represents an embraced form of beauty and health, an admired combination.

Shortly after Marilyn's height of prevalence, society took a sharp turn in terms of appearance ideals. The 1960's introduced a new image of "beauty." Lesley Lawson, also known as "Twiggy," a popular supermodel at the time, had begun as all the rage in the fashion world, compassing into "the real world". Twiggy is recorded as a bold change in history because she began an immense trend. At 5'6" and only 112 pounds, Twiggy's popularity made an enormous topic of gossip for many because it was the first time an underweight model set the body image standard, and from then on, it's been the normal criteria, especially for fashion models.

Lesley Lawson (Twiggy)
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These norms continue to decrease in... normality. Just twenty years ago, the average model weighed eight percent less than the average woman. Now, the average model weighs almost twenty-three percent less than the average woman. This is nearly a fifteen percent decrease in only twenty years. At this rate, how thin will models be in forty years from now? In our society today, models are a substantial piece of the body image standard, so what does the future look like for the rest of us? ...for our children? Standards are high enough for children now, will they continue to get even worse?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, between 1999 and 2006, there was an 119 percent increase in the number of children under the age of twelve years old hospitalized due to eating disorders and related issues.

This is how fast these ideals are drowning American society. It's nearly become an obsession.

"Our image of the perfect body size -- very size driven -- does not align with what is a healthy body -- more habit driven -- one that is active, eats healthy and keeps risk factors at bay," says Dr. Sherry Pagoto, licensed clinical psychologist. "We have become very hung up on size and I think research suggests that it's just more complicated than that."