Ever since civilizations were around there were different ideas of beauty. Historical research has uncovered ancient Egyptian formulae for things such as the removal of stretch marks, reduction of wrinkling, and diminishing of scarring. Art in Ancient Egypt illustrated men as broad shouldered and muscular while women were showed as having round busts and small waists.

In China, a beautiful women would have what was called a “Three-inch golden lotus.” From around 950-1912 A.D., women in China practiced something called foot binding. At age three Chinese girls’ feet were wrapped with long strips of cloth beginning at the foot. By age five all the toes on the foot would be broken except the big toe, and the two first years of the binding were filled with excruciating pain. The bones in the feet never healed, and after a f

Throughout the 70’s and 80’s body images fell into the ‘toned look’. Exercise tapes promoting fitness were everywhere, and today it is much the same. In 1992 Working Woman magazine reported that 65 million Americans were on a diet. Today being a teen girl is perhaps harder than it has ever been. The media pushes a false female image upon us everywhere we go, and it is progressively getting worse. A generation ago, the average model weighed eight percent less than the average woman. Today, she weighs twenty three percent less We know this, and yet it continues.

Another dangerous practice women in the twenty first century are taking part in is Cosmetic Surgery. Last year Botox Injections ranked highest percentage-wise of all cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures. Around 1,600,300 people across the United States had the injection in the year 2001. Eighty six percent of these people were women (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery). According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, there were nearly eight point five million surgical and non-surgical procedures preformed in the year 2001 alone, and eighty eight percent of these were done to women. Lipoplasty, eyelid surgery, breast augmentation, nose reshaping and facelifts were the top five surgical procedures last year (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery). The top five non-surgical procedures were outline toxin injection, chemical peel, collagen injection, microdermabrasion, and laser hair removal (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery).

In England in the 1700's, hoop petticoats were popular with actresses. These were calf-length underskirts made in starched cloth. Actresses wore them to fill out their skirts and make their waists appear smaller. Surprisingly, corsets have been worn since the Minoans and fashionable women of Tiryns and Thebes. The function of the corsets was to accentuate a slim waist and bare breasts, and to hold the skirt flat around the hips.

Research shows that though men are conscience about their body images, women are more concerned with how close they are to the ‘ideal’. Glamour Magazine conducted a poll that found that 75% of women thought they were "too fat" in the year 1984. The sad thing is that these images are not only affecting the adult women in our society, but the teens and ‘tweens’ of our culture. Tweens are girls and boys from the ages of around nine to fourteen who are not yet considered adolescents. In a study of almost five hundred school children, eighty one percent of the ten-year-girls reported that they had dieted at least once. A study by the American Association of University Women also showed that these negative body images were associated with suicide risks for girls. Because they are so desperate to become slender, girls take desperate measure that could affect them the rest of their lives.

Some topics in this essay:
Eating Disorders, Culture Beauty, Ancient Egypt, Dittrich PhD, MD MPH, North Star, Plastic Surgery, , Glamour Magazine, Tiryns Thebes, eating disorders, women’s health, society aesthetic plastic, aesthetic plastic, society aesthetic, plastic surgery, american society aesthetic, american society, aesthetic plastic surgery, body images, non-surgical procedures, office women’s health, body image, office women’s, disorders office women’s,