Women's History Month piece: "I Am Woman" by Laurie Towers

Originally published in

WHOM YOU KNOW blog and the TOPRICIN newsletter, March 2010

"I am Woman"...Celebrating the Ladies During Women's History Month....

By Laurie Towers

 Each culture develops a general perception of what the ideal female body type would be. Surely this could only be deemed unfair as the newer Western ideals can be a bit stringent and applauding of emaciated structures. Although these may look flattering in a pair of jeans, it becomes a futile effort to obtain or maintain in reality.

In design the male physicality has always been nurtured and subsidized for sport and strengthening prowess. Before adolescence however, males and females have very similar builds. At puberty, estrogen makes its entrance for the girls thus endorsing breast development and a wider pelvis to accommodate childbirth. Another feature of estrogen is to encourage the body to store its excess fat in the hips, thighs, abdomen. As you would imagine, this is hardly a welcomed gift and is usually met with either the fight of intake depravation or any other item that may reduce the appearance of this.

Throughout history, radical efforts have been embarked upon to reduce and alter a woman’s shape despite the fact that it would forfeit her certain rights of comfort. Corsets although considered a bit Barbaric now, were certainly a common dweller in a women's wardrobe by many cultures specifically during the Victorian era. Never totally obliterated from existence however, they do live on in a more humane presence by way of implementation of more comfortable and flexible materials. Truth be told, visual reduction or augmentation is a lucrative industry and will always exist as long as there is a society to subsidize this…and there always will be.

During the wars, both WWl and ll, many women found themselves having to venture out of the household to seek out the work that their husbands, now in battle, were pulled away from. It was during this time that an advertising frenzy began to heavily market products to women to encourage their retaining their femininity. As most women were now doing "man's work" they were a receptive and captive audience to this marketing angle, to which the print media profited greatly by way of the burgeoning advertising in magazines.  It wasn't until after the 1920's that American woman were no longer " under wraps" and began to wear clothing that displayed more of their bodies, and made way for increasing concerns of body image that of course, still plague us today. The more “voluptuous" appearance was no longer the ideal and it didn't take long for the concern to give birth to the diet craze.

Our culture has celebrated the athletic male body for thousands of years, but while the aesthetic beauty and strength of the male body has long been a common subject of art, women have not felt the same embrace. Throughout the 20th century though the new role of women both physically and intellectually had come to be re examined. We gained the right to vote, own property, enter into politics and other professions ordinarily reserved for the boys. Despite the many gains, the allowance of women to redefine their "bodies" remained culturally stagnant. It is still society that dictates the limitations on what is deemed "Aesthetically acceptable" as far as the female body is concerned. Women and girls of the 60's were assaulted with the visuals of Twiggy and Barbie dolls as the look to strive for. This look became the standard of impossibility that only proliferates the cycle of negative body image and cements the growth and profits of the diet industry. Thin was in, and there was no turning back. Until.......

The standards of femininity sketched by societal hands were certainly challenged in the late 70's when bodybuilding introduced a new type of feminine physique. The rules that dictated the "societal norm" as far as the female body should look like, was blown out of the water completely and for good. Never before have female bodies looked like this, in the recent or distant past. Muscles were visibly developed that were unheard of on the female form, and the proportion became bigger and most importantly...stronger. Mentally, emotionally and physically.

According to a recent survey of teenage girls, they list their primary source of news and issues on women's health, comes from the media. That has to make you wonder what chance does an expanding mind have if it are being spoon fed a distorted philosophy. As parents, mentors or just concerned adults, we can inspire and offer a more diverse and healthy image of women that would no doubt promote a more healthy self esteem. Our daughters deserve it, and so do our sons who will go out and marry not just the woman but all she encompasses due to what we nourish her with. This so that she doesn't succumb to pressure that some feel the need to in conforming to a societal ideal. So that she can grow, conquer and command her place in the world based on a fair starting point, and measured by merit and equal value. Baby steps and progress made day by day, but progress surely made. Perhaps still a long, long way to go....."until I make my brother understand"......