Pin-Up Girl Research Paper

For centuries many girls were taught to believe that a certain body type was desirable over all others; Medical Daily, a popular website, wrote an article about the ideal woman's body throughout the 17th century up to modern day. Around the time of 17th century Europe, many famous artists such as Peter Paul Rubens would paint beautiful portraits of a nude woman. The women were depicted to be very plump and pale because those features were considered beautiful. During the 17th century, a big and pale woman showed wealth because they could afford food, and were not required to do manual labor. Moving into the 1890’s-1910’s the new world, or the United States, started to develop The Gibson Girls also known as “ The New Woman”. The idea became
Following the end of the World War Two, a new trend became popular for women; the curvy pin-up girls, which were popularized in the 1940’s - 1950’s. These girls were known for their long legs, curvy tuck in the waist, and plump up breasts. The most famous pin-up girl was Marilyn Monroe, with her long thick legs, curvy waist, big breasts, and big bouncy blonde hair. This fashion trend marked the start to criticizing women that could not achieve the “right” figure for women, thus creating advertising to inform thinner women to gain weight with special products to achieve the perfect look. During the 1960’s, with the hype of rock music, women started to slim down, creating the “Twiggy” women. Twiggy women were very slender and often looked down on women with curves; they believed the skinner a woman is the more ideal. In the 1990’s, the beginning of grunge music a time where women became unhealthily skinny, which turned into the “Heroin-Chic Waif”