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By: Dassy Kemedijo

Photography By: Simone Ayers

Hourglass. Thigh gap. Slim thick. These body image trends have populated society’s idea of the perfect figure, also known as “body goals,” for centuries. Film, television, music, and mainstream media promote certain body types and features that are generally unrealistic and don’t represent what women actually look like. For women of color, these supposedly ideal body types are coupled with Eurocentric beauty features. Westernized concepts of beauty such as lighter skin, smaller noses, and straighter hair have been idolized since the commencement of colonization. On the surface, body goals are sources of fitness motivation, especially in the United States, which is plagued by alarming obesity rates. On the other hand, they can also lead to detrimental, even sinister, methods that are damaging to our health.

The view of having fat on your body as being a negative thing is a relatively new concept. Fat used to signify wealth and meant that you were being well-fed. Historically, the majority of society (which society) were working class, impoverished, or if you were black, a slave.

However, fat started becoming visually undesirable in the latter half of the 19th century, and it began to link to health problems in the 20th century. Gradually, having more weight was synonymous with being ugly, and that problematic worldview persists to this day.

In the 1920s, women secured the right to vote, and flappers were in style. For the first time in history, the traditionally “feminine” body type of curves and a large bust was traded in for a more “masculine” body type that rejected curves and encouraged thinness. Celebrities like entertainer Josephine Baker embodied this figure all throughout the famous Harlem Renaissance. Combined with the technological developments of bathroom scales and fulllength mirrors, the notion of “body obsession” was born. Men and women alike perpetuated these body stereotypes, and pop culture reflected this, just look at any 1920s issue of Life magazine. Fast forward to the 30s and 40s where the ideal type was still somewhat thin, although it was slightly fuller. No one wanted to look like they were starving during the Great Depression and subsequent World War Two.

It wasn’t until the late 1950s into the 1960s when the perspective started to vaguely shift. As Motown was grinding out hit after hit, musicians such as Diana Ross and Gladys Knight were icons of the culture. Their bodies, still incredibly slim but, featuring a more sizable chest that represented the epitome of body image at the time. Keep in mind that by the 60s, the civil rights movement was well underway, meaning that women of color were facing oppression on two fronts: the patriarchal “perfect” body image, and the subjugation of the white man.

We now arrive to the 70s, the setting of the women’s liberation and hippie movements, as well as the emergence of the “blaxploitation” film genre, where sex symbols like Pam Grier were classic examples of what Black women aspired to be. Skinniness was still highly valued, but with an edge of androgyny, ushering in the “slim and flared” silhouette as disco culture rose to prominence. 1974 was the first time a Black model was featured on the cover of American Vogue, with model Beverly Johnson making her debut. Speaking of the modeling industry, the 1980s saw the reign of supermodels like Iman and Naomi Campbell. Of course, the term “supermodel” is tantamount to looking slim, bordering on emaciated. Yet, idols like Grace Jones challenged this body image with a more androgynous and muscular look, shunning the more commonly accepted svelte figure.

At long last, we reach the 90s, an arguably revolutionary era in pop culture, beauty, and, of course body image. The supermodel era is thriving, and the “waif” style, which entailed looking extremely malnourished, is prominent.