History of Female Body Image in Pakistan

“Everyone is born into a culture - a set of shared ideas about the nature of reality, the nature of right and wrong, evaluation of what is good and desirable, and the nature of good and desirable versus the bad and non-desirable.”

Female concern with appearance is not just an aberration of modern western culture. Every culture has its own history and standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the ideal feminine physical attributes.

The definition of desirable, with regard to female body image, has spanned rotund to emaciated, with various ideals in-between. And, the methods for achieving the desirable, idealized image of the times have been equally as varied.

The word “fat” was not always a slur. The Latin word for fat is related to "optimous" which means "fertile" or "copious." In Greek it is related to "pidyein" which means "to gush forth" and from Sanskrit "fat" is translated to "robust". Some English definitions include, “well filled out, of sizable proportions, fruitful, substantial, impressive” and “the richest or best part of anything."

Even in the Indian sub-continent, the representation of women in Mughal miniature painting and Indian mythology sculpture and art depict robust, voluptuous women with exaggerated delicate waists, long cascading hair, wheatish complexions, big eyes and sharp features. The ideal of beauty in the Indian Sub continent varied regionally in terms of coloring and features but predominantly women with a voluptuous bodies, indicative of health and prosperity were appreciated and adored; with robust, full figured girls in the Punjab, fair lithe beauties in Kashmir and dark wholesome women in North and South India.

Moving on through the 1960's and 1970's the idealized female body image changed again. The speed and severity of this change was dramatically demonstrated with the appearance and instant popularity of fashion model Twiggy in 1965. A Vogue Magazine’s fashion writer described her as: "she looks as though a strong gale would snap her in two and dash her to the ground…Her legs look as though she has not had enough milk as a baby and her face has the expression one feels Londoners wore in the blitz." In the 1950’s, “models weighed approximately 8% less than the average woman, in the 1990’s they weigh 23% less. On average, models, dancers and actresses weigh less than 95% of the female population” .

In the 50’s the idealized female body was "womanly" - ample, tough, strong, ‘a body of substance’, capable of great nurturing, motherly and fertile represented by the voluptuous figures of Pakistani film actresses, Noorjehan, Sab

Some topics in this essay:
Historical Perspective, Vogue Magazine’s, South India, Jane Fonda’s, Marilyn Monroe, Indian Sub, Pakistan Moving, female body, body image, female body image, Nazair Hollywood, women girls, idealized female, idealized female body, indian sub-continent, ideal feminine, ideal beauty,