How we got society's image of the perfect woman

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How we got society's image of the perfect woman (1/16/06)

Note: As with any article, but particularly this one, I'd like to remind my readers of the purpose of this site. This is purely the stuff that floats through my head. I do a little research here and there, but in no way am I an expert on any of this stuff. Mostly.

Much has been said about the perception of women today, and in particular the perceived standard of a women's body and how it should be, well, waif-ish, and with a personality that isn't exactly "complex", shall we say. And some of that has changed, thankfully, but I think I understand how we arrived here.

A quote, from Wikipeida:

While only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television set in 1946, 55.7% had one in 1954, and 90% by 1962.

This massive growth of television was really the first time a fairly complete image of a person could be sent to millions at once time. By image I don't just mean the picture but actually who they are. The picture moved and we could see how they moved and how they spoke. We could study their accent and the words they used.

We had interesting people up there. Marilyn Monroe is a famous example. But look at the movies and pictures of her. Yes, she had the sexy bombshell image. Look beyond that. In every shot her posture is perfectly suited to accentuate her curves, which was the standard all women aspired to back then. The dialogs, too, fit the image even if it was a bit on the tawdry side.

However, there was a problem. The TV didn't project the whole person. It just projected what is now colloquially called their image; what they wanted the people to see, and generally an image that drove the viewers mad and made them money. So every shot was perfectly posed - feet pointed, one leg in front of another, hips slightly turned, and back held straight to pull up the "bosom" and shape the breasts.

When people encountered these women in real life they mixed a bit of this magic with a great personality, and it worked. They made people mad and made lots of money doing it. But then something went wrong. People did what we always do. We drove up the efficiency of the system. We looked for women who always had that bell shape and who really talked with that sexy "We're going to bed so lets not talk about politics" dialog. And now you have today's image of a women. The TV could never project the complexity of these women's personalities or the beauty of their shapes beyond the perfect postures.

By the by, I'm not arguing that the image of women in the 50s and before was more acceptable than it is today. I'm only trying to show how we got here, and hopefully help people out. Go wild.

Update (Feb. 6, 2007): Tyra Banks responds to critics accusing her of being obese. Note how she positions her body to look "fat" or slim. That's exactly what I'm talking about above. You can see it in how models walk on the stage as well. By placing each foot in front of the other it accentuates (creates?) the hour glass figure when viewed from the front.