Generally, when people say that someone has a "good body," you can guess the sort figure they're referring to. This impossible-to-attain yet ever-present standard of beauty—that very specific skinny, slightly curvy aesthetic—is so prevalent that it can feel like women have always been told to look that way. Fun fact: While women have pretty much always had a standard that we're supposed to live up to, it's changed drastically throughout history.
This video, by Buzzfeed, shows just how much those "perfect" body standards have varied throughout time. While it only focuses on some cultures and some time periods, with an overall emphasis on Western standards, it's still a good way to get some perspective. There's no such thing as a perfect body—it's a construct. Whether or not your body fits into that standard has more to do with the era you were born in than anything else. Which, if you think about it, is basically luck.
The major takeaway here? Telling women that there's a right way and a wrong way to look—and that there's an ideal to aspire to—is oppressive, regardless of the specifics of that ideal. The more we disregard those standards and start embracing our differences, the better off we'll all be.
Watch the video below and let us know what you think. (via Buzzfeed)
