The Female Body and Body Image: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This chapter describes historical and contemporary ideals of the female body and discusses the way in which body image has become a particularly significant issue for women in contemporary Western societies. It looks at how women’s size and the way they look have become so important to them and so debated in the media and across academic disciplines. Although there is some evidence to suggest that young men, and in particular gay men, are becoming more body conscious, the ‘unbearable weight’ (Bordo, 1993) of bodily surveillance and body image concerns is still very much a female burden.