The Illuminated Body: Representation in Medicine and Culture
The Ideal Body
Ideal Body Types
Victorian
| The Victorian beauty possessed a curvaceous hourglass figure with a full bosom, small waist and wide hips. Plumpness was fashionable and reflected a new interest in health. Physicians believed in the second half of the nineteenth century that fat cells were crucial to a well-balanced personality and therefore thin people were naturally quarrelsome and unhappy. This idea follows the old axiom that "a sweet temper and a bony woman never dwell under the same roof." A full-figure was a sign of wealth, health and beauty.
20. Silhouettes of the alterations made to women's
bodies throughout time |
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Lillian Russell (photograph)
Through the well-publicized stories of her gigantic meals, a generation of American women were able to justify not dieting. For two decades the actress was the most photographed woman in the United States. The American Beauty rose was named after Lillian Russell because she represented the freedom of the American woman.
Men
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21. Various styles for men's clothing |
The ideal body type for men has changed little over the years. In antebellum America, a pale, emaciated body for men and women was the fashion. The Victorian age brought plump women and handsome men were big, broad and strong. This ideal has remained basically the same since the end of the nineteenth century. Our culture's fascination with athletes keeps the would-be ideal man focused on strength and size.
Pictures of the 90 lb weakling having sand kicked in his face by a big guy. |
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