Changing Ideals of Beauty

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SONNET 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the
sun Coral is far more red than her lips' red If
snow be white, why then her breasts are dun If
hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I
have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no
such roses see I in her cheeks And in some
perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath
that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her
speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more
pleasing sound I grant I never saw a goddess
go My mistress, when she walks, treads on the
ground And yet, by heaven, I think my love as
rare As any she belied with false compare.
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Changing Ideals of Beauty
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Renaissance Beauty 15th Century
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Elizabethan Beauty 16th Century
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Victorian Beauty 19th Century
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Turn of the Century 1890-1910
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Jazz Age 1920s
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Post Depression 1930s
Bette Davis
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The War Years 1940s
Betty Grable
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Post War Beauty 1950s
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1960s
Model Twiggy
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1970s
Farah Fawcett
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1980s
1980s
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1990s
1990s
Kate Moss
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Post Millennium
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Statistics
The following statistics are a sampling of
results from the Dove Campaign for Real
Beauty Only 2 of these women describe
themselves as beautiful About 3/4 of them
rate their beauty as "average" Almost 1/2 of
them think their weight is "too high" The
previous findings are particularly the case in
the U.S. (60), Great Britain (57) and Canada
(54).
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Almost half of all women (48) strongly agreed
(8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale) with the
statement that When I feel less beautiful, I
feel worse about myself in general. Just 13
of all women say they are very satisfied with
their beauty, 12 with their physical
attractiveness, 17 with their facial
attractiveness and 13 with their body weight and
shape. The study revealed that women see
beauty and physical attractiveness as
increasingly socially mandated and rewarded.
Almost two-thirds strongly agreed that Women
today are expected to be more physically
attractive than their mothers generation was
(63) and, Society expects women to enhance
their physical attractiveness (60).
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Videos
Changing Beauty in Art http//www.youtube.com/watc
h?vnUDIoN-_Hxs Dove Evolution http//www.youtub
e.com/watch?viYhCn0jf46U
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• Discussion Questions
• What is your standard of beauty?
• Do cultural ideals effect your perception of
  what is considered beautiful?
• How are these cultural standards unfair?
• How can you challenge these standards?
• How have ideals changed since Shakespeares time?