ABSTRACT
Slimness is seen as a desirable attribute for women in prosperous Western cultures, and is associated with self-control, elegance, social attractiveness, and youth (Orbach, 1993; Bordo, 2003). The ideal female shape is epitomized in the slim but full-breasted figures of models such as Elle MacPherson and Claudia Schiffer, the body type that Gail Marchessault (2000) describes as “the physically impossible, tall, thin and busty Barbie-doll stereotype” (204). Muscle tone is also important, and the 2000s ideal is a firm-looking body for women as well as men (Bordo, 2003), although visible muscles are not usually considered gender appropriate for women (Choi, 2000b). Chapter 2 showed how body shape ideals for women changed in the twentieth century. Despite changes in the feminine ideal, one thing remains constant through the decades. Women have always been encouraged to change their shape and weight to conform to current trends. Through the ages, women have undergone pain to attempt to conform to the current ideal. This is clearest in relation to practices such as foot binding and the wearing of restrictive corsets, whereby women suffered discomfort and immobility in the name of particular fashions. In Western society today, we have replaced these practices with strict diets (which weaken and debilitate) and cosmetic surgery (in which women undergo painful and potentially dangerous procedures) to try to attain culturally defined, attractive, slender body shapes.
