By Abbie Lewis
We’re all out here trying to get the perfect body, but what does that even mean? Ask a man what it is, you’ll get a different answer than if you’d asked a woman. Ask someone from Jamaica, you’ll get a different answer than someone from Finland. Ask someone from the 1950s, you’ll get a different answer than someone from the 2010s. So, with all these varying answers, how’s a girl supposed to know what she’s “supposed” to look like?
First, let me start off by saying that you can look however you want and however makes you feel good! Who cares what the media or that person you’re trying to impress says! You do whatever makes you happy. Happiness is the most important. If we go back in time, the “perfect” body, according to society, has changed so many times there’s no way anyone could keep up. In the 1800s, Queen Victoria brought us the widely known hourglass shape, with the help of corsets. In the 1920s though, forget the hourglass shape, boyish flapper style was what was in! The 1950s came around though and bam, right back to the hourglass figure thanks to Marilyn Monroe. Her appeal showed us that wide hips but thin waist was the ticket to stardom. Then the 1990s came and told us: no girl, you must be stick thin like Kate Moss to be pretty. Now in today’s media, if you don’t look like a Kardashian, well just what are you doing? As you can see, time goes on and society’s image of the perfect body changes rapidly.
Health and body image are often not paired together. Being healthy and happy is what we should all be focused on, however looking good usually takes the precedent in our minds thanks to the media and fads. While I know it’s easier said than done, try and
always remember that it doesn’t matter what you look like, if you are happy and healthy out there you’re doing good in the world!