You've probably seen this photo floating around recently. It's an ad from a time when women wanted to gain weight, when it was seen as unattractive to be skinny. My, how times have changed. I hear so often from so many brides, that they want to lose weight for their wedding. "Bridal boot camps" are plentiful. There's an unbelievable amount of stress put on people to "look perfect" on their wedding day. That one day when we are all supposed to be Cinderella, perfection personified. We'll have photos that we are supposed to look back on in 40 years and remember our youthful beauty. What we need to realize is that we already are perfect and we need to stop trying to live up to this fictitious, unrealistic, unattainable standard! Women are beautiful! So get your make up done, style your hair just right, put that white (or whatever colour it may be) dress on and get on down that aisle girl! No need to try and change how you look! You are already beautiful!
"Its bathing suit season again and…horrors…you are TOO SKINNY! Working in
the media and looking at diet and exercise articles aimed at whittling
your beach body every day, it's a jolt to see vintage ads promising
popularity to women (and men) by adding pounds and inches. "Since I
gained 10 pounds," reads one, "I have all the dates I want." Obesity rates
started taking off around 1975, about the same time these ads dwindled.
But it's not just that people went overboard with sugar and fat
consumption and portion size so the media needed to push a thinner look.
The perception of acceptable body size changed as well. Voluptuous gals like Marilyn Monroe,
Jayne Mansfield, and Raquel Welch flaunted their curves in clingy
dresses and skimpy bathing suits. Now they would probably sweat it out
in a tent dress. Too fat? Too thin? Too short? Too old? You can't win.
There will always be an expensive product or procedure to "cure" some
perceived flaw. If these ads teach us anything, its time to banish the
body insecurity, don that bikini, and jump into the deep end. Summer's
too short. -Sarah B. Weir, Shine Staff Writer"
http://shine.yahoo.com/beauty/back-women-wanted-fat-vintage-ads-push-weight-192700603.html
