beauty stereotypes

beauty stereotypes

Stereotypically Beautiful
Dating back to the Greek and Roman era, paintings, sculptures and other forms of art elicited images of the perfect people in regard only to physical features. These images of beauty molded a mere physical stereotype for desirable women. In ancient literature, the beauty of a woman had enough influence on men to start wars and give their lives to this temptation. The Iliad, an epic poem, tells the story of Helen, whose face launched a thousand ships to war against the Trojans and whose beauty exceeded that of any other Greek. In the Odyssey, another epic poem, beautiful women called sirens, would sing and play music from the shores of the Sirenum scopuli islands, attracting men to shore. For the Romans, statues of naked men and women portrayed the images of perfect bodies in artistic poses. The famous statue of Venus de Milo, sculpted sometime between 100 and 190 BC, depicts a perfectly formed woman in draped garments thought to represent the goddess of romantic love. With nearly all civilizations worshiping beauty, modern women are compelled to try just about anything to compete in an overly judgmental world.
Through the centuries, women have been pressured about their physical appearances. Though the importance of physical perfection date back to the beginning of civilization, the standards are constantly changing. Nearly all judgments of women are solely dependent on physically pristine bodies. The invented figures for modern women are displayed on televisions, magazine covers, and movie screens. These images, which are affixed in young girls’ minds, later unveil the idea that in order to be beautiful, one must have a superficial body. Even with the knowledge that most images of women on television are airbrushed and edited, strive for these unachievable traits still exists. Media presentations such as “Extreme Makeover”, People Magazines “Most Beautiful People in the world”, show women the desired image of luxury, grace and...