27. Skinny Is In: A History of The "Ideal" Female Body Type, Plus Commentary and Implications

In this episode, Sam delivers a lecture on the history of the "ideal" (read: socially rewarded) female body type. From the first recorded visual representation of the female form, through Ancient Rome and Greece, the Victorian Era, flappers, the Kardashians, and beyond, she explores the way western beauty standards have changed to reflect societal values at any given moment in time, and the implications and dangers of inflicting those beauty standards upon women. As the history becomes more recent, she reviews the current climate of social media, celebrities and influencers, GLP-1s like Ozempic, photo-editing apps, and more. Listen to this episode if you're just a girl in the world. Key moments: 03:41 History of the idealized female body type 04:38 The first historical record of the female form 07:41 Sylvester Graham and early diet culture in America 09:29 William Banting and William Harvey’s weight loss diet 11:54 Victorian Era England and its impact on preferred female body types 12:06 The real reason women wore corsets in Victorian Era England 13:01 Gibson Girls and the women’s rights movement (so interesting) 14:49 Flappers!!! 16:05 Old Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, and Playboy 16:43 People become increasingly athletic, and Twiggy is the “it girl” 18:21 The supermodels of the 80s 18:49 Heroin chic in the 90s 19:06 The introduction of ultraprocessed foods in America and the growing divide between thinness and obesity 20:42 “Slim thick,” as popularized by the Kardashians 21:45 Did you know the BBL is one of the most dangerous procedures you can get? 21:57 Social media and photo-editing apps become ubiquitous 22:23 The body positivity movement and the villainization of skinniness 23:16 Currently—people are pretending to be body positive but secretly doing weight loss drugs 24:21 Sam rants lol 25:11 Sam’s point #1: The preferred female form at any given time is a reflection of society’s current values 27:52 Sam’s point #2: Men are often in control of the narrative surrounding women’s bodies 29:31 Sam’s point #3: The body image conversation has always been white and Euro-centric 31:06 Sam’s point #4: Celebrities and influencers are the authority on what’s “in”—and they have unattainable resources and lifestyles 31:50 They’re also LYING TO US LOL 33:21 Villainizing skinny is not inclusive/body positive behavior 34:03 Sam’s point #5: We need to stop speculating on other people’s bodies at all 35:39 Sam’s point #6: SkinnyTok needs to go lol 37:00 The burden of critical thinking 37:24 Sam’s point #7: The overlap between the wellness industry and the trend of being skinny 38:36 Sam’s point #8: Body types should never be “in” or “trending” Visit ⁠⁠Zocdoc.com/CAPSLOCK⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠FunctionHealth.com/CAPSLOCK⁠⁠. Thanks for listening! New episodes are released every Sunday at 8 AM ET, so if you liked this episode, subscribe or follow to get notified about the next one. And please leave me a rating or review, so I can continue to improve the show. Talk soon! Follow along: Instagram: www.instagram.com/lifeincapslock TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@lifeincapslock YouTube: www.youtube.com/@lifeincapslock Threads: www.threads.net/@lifeincapslock Resources for this episode can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices