Today the pressures on women’s bodies to look a certain way are higher than ever. Body crazes and body ideals are on the rise all thanks to social media. The latest trend: slim-thick, the body shape women are chasing after to get the Kardashian look of a small tiny waist, big bum and wide hips. At first the aspirational body type started off as a body positive one; a nice change from promoting the skinny supermodel look and finally making women with curves feel more accepted. However, the rumoured lengths the insta-famous fam go to achieve this look, with the use of plastic surgery and waist trainers, makes it far from attainable. Some women are now going to drastic measures to achieve this curvaceous figure, just showing how much influence these social media stars have over what we do to our bodies and the destructive impact it can have.

 

Girls have to realise that trends are always changing. Take eyebrows: during the nineties, it was all the rage to have eyebrows that were thin and barely existent. Now, everybody wants thick luscious brows. Luckily for

the women who over-plucked their eyebrows, they grow back, or in the unfortunate event that they don’t, they can be drawn on. When it comes to your body however, it’s much more difficult to reverse the damage.

 

Throughout history body ideals have been ever ongoing changing and the pressures on women to t this idea of perfection have been ever going. The 1920s saw the beginning of mass advertising, which made pressures on women grow to a whole new level. The aspiring look was a boyish figure, with a small bust and narrow hips. Women felt the need to lose weight to t into the flapper girl ideal shape. Skip to 30 years down the line and the ideal body type was far from this, with “skinny” women being told to take supplements to gain weight. The 1950s was all about the hourglass figure, big boobs and big hips echoing the body type of Marilyn Monroe. From then to the Twiggy look, to the era of the supermodel, for example, Elle MacPherson with her t physique, to the not so healthy Heroin Chic look of the Kate Moss era- these body ideals never stay the same.

 

Throughout them all, every woman’s individual body types have remained pretty much the same. Let’s face it, a girl with curves would never be able to achieve that 20s boyish figure, unless she starved herself. The same as a girl with narrow hips and a lack of waist wouldn’t be able to achieve the slim- thick look unless she had silicone stuck into her buttocks and fat injections. This means that no matter what, there is always going to be a woman that doesn’t t or can’t achieve their era’s ideal body type. For that reason, these body crazes just put unnecessary pressures on our bodies and us.

 

With the rise of more body positive images on social media and in fashion, hopefully society will eventually put a stop to all of this body ideal bullshit. But, to be quite honest; it’s far from likely. The sad truth is, women are always going to have some sort of ideal body type to live up to. So you reading this now, whoever you are, do not give into them! No matter the shape or size of your body, you’re beautiful in your own, unique way. Plus, why would you want to look the same as everyone else? That would just be boring.