Watch How The 'Ideal' Beautiful Woman Has Changed Over 3,000 Years
Would you have been considered ideal centuries ago?
Dasha Petrenko, izusek, Linde1 | Canva The ideal beauty standards over the years, 3,000 years to be exact, have changed. In ancient Egypt, slender shoulders and a narrow waist were seen as attractive.
During the Renaissance, a round stomach and fair skin were desired, whereas, in the 1980s, athletic-curvy bodies were the top trend in body types.
When you're overweight, a little or a lot, people who are trying to be kind but still struggling with a positive adjective will call you Rubenesque. Rubenesque means plump, fleshy, voluptuous — the kind of women that were featured in several of Peter Paul Ruben's paintings.
During Ruben's time (the 1600s), women who would be considered plus-size today were thought of as very attractive and desirable back then. In the Renaissance and Baroque eras, fleshier women were thought of as healthier and wealthier.
Every period has its idea of beauty, and these standards or ideals can vary drastically. In the Victorian era, it was tiny waists and large butts; in the 1920s, no curves and boyish figures were beautiful; in the 1960s, super-skinny was the trend.
Pexels / Antonio Friedemann
Society seems to determine what kind of beauty is in and what is out. But perhaps the best plan of action is for us, as individuals, to determine our beauty ideals, instead of trying to conform to someone else's.
There's a lot of harm in today's standard of beauty. Research shows that images of beauty as depicted in movies, television, and magazines can lead to mental illness, issues with disordered eating, and body image dissatisfaction.
In this video by Buzzfeed, they demonstrate the range of women's ideal body types and beauty standards over the years.
Watch how the 'ideal' beautiful woman has changed over 3,000 years:
Eugene Lee Yang, a former video producer at Buzzfeed, said in an interview:
"We intended to compare these idealized figures in an editorial fashion that evaluates the aesthetic of each era while displaying how much and how often these standards of beauty change over time.
We're so often preoccupied with current trends that we lose perspective on how fleeting our obsession with physical perfection has historically been.
As demanding as our perception of an ideal body type may be, we should remember that yesterday's ideal will, without fail, evolve into something completely different tomorrow."
How about we call the next trend "Everyone is beautiful in their own way," and think of all our bodies as ideal?
There are great benefits to getting off social media for a while, especially if you struggle with your body image.
According to research from the American Psychological Association, teens and young adults who reduced their social media use by 50% for just a few weeks saw significant improvement in how they felt about both their weight and their overall appearance compared with those who maintained consistent levels of social media use.
And don't forget, most of the time, beauty comes from within.
You can change your outlook on life by first coming to terms with your inner beauty. You deserve to find love, happiness, and acceptance for who you are.
Once you do, you will shine your beauty for the whole world to see.
Christine Schoenwald is a writer, performer, and frequent contributor to YourTango. She's had articles featured in The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Bustle, Medium, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and Woman's Day, among many others.