h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Looking at the Three Graces makes me ponder how much the standards for female beauty have changed in the space of a few centuries. It was Empress Elizabeth of Austria who invented the skinny, gym-trained woman; before then, women were supposed to be soft and curvaceous. The Three Graces are deities, born of the King of the Gods: yet, they'd be called fat by today's standards.

Their beauty stands as a reminder... softness is next to Godliness

Do you really think that they'd be called fat? I though they were lovely and slender, curvy, not stick insects.

What is more shocking is that the image of the perfect male form hasn't changed in millennia.

That actually makes sense - men are "supposed" to be muscular and strong, although, to be quite explicit, I suspect there is a direct link between Michelangelo's muscular males and Attitude magazine, if you catch my sexually-orientated drift. The cult of male beauty was at its height in ancient Greece and Rome, when homosexuality, thank the Gods, wasn't considered immoral.

As for the Graces being fat, the curves on their bottoms definitely wouldn't pass on Italian and/or American TV. Not that they're not attractive; they're just that little too soft to be perfect by modern standards (they wouldn't look very good in hip-huggers, for one thing...)

Ahh but saying men are meant to be strong is hardly true in this day and age.
How many of todays jobs involve physical strength?
Yes well built men may still appear to a womans instinctual preference for strong males, but they are hardly 'supposed' to be strong anymore.

And as for the Three Graces being fat by todays standards, well they certainly aren't standards I hold, I think they are the perfect figure for a woman. In my eyes they would look great in hipsters!
American and Italian TV are obviously far too discriminating. Perhaps if they used more actresses shaped like these statues, less women would feel inadequate about thier bodies.

Oh, Si, but we know you like your women soft

Seriously, though, women will be the first to discriminate their peers. Because beauty standards are sto strict it's easy to put another woman down because she has some body fat (as opposed to none).

Personally, I could do with less fat on my hips and tummy, but I'm comfortable with being a little more rounded in places. I was such a stick insect as a child! I desperately wanted to put on weight, so I started overeating. Result: puberty, BOOM! Hips and stretch marks

But I'm sure I am not alone in liking my women like that.

You are right that it is women who discriminate more, they are the ones at the mercy of the fashion magazines and media images.

If you were to reach up to the top shelf and flick through the average 'adult' magazine, you will find that most of the models in that resemble the Grace's alot more than they do Kate Moss.

I know just as many women who hate thier bodies for being too thin as I do those who think they are too fat.
There is no perfect body shape, we are all different, it would be very dull if we weren't.
Be happy with what you have, it is unique and worth being proud of.

As for stretch marks, I think they are incredibly sexy, but on that count I think perhaps I am the only one who does.

'fraid so