Beauty Ideal

The beauty ideal has changed drastically during my life time. As a teenager the beauty ideal featured a very artificial white middle class woman. The beautiful woman was expected to have perfectly curled hair (leading many of us to get perms) and heavily done makeup to cover imperfections. Clothing choice was specific to the task being done but was always carefully matched with distinctly feminine traits (i.e. colors, jewels or sparkles). The beautiful woman was trim and fit and went to exercise classes. The beautiful woman was also expected to have a career which she was able to balance easily with her home life. The beautiful woman had an equally beautiful house, beautiful children and created elaborate meals for her family around her work schedule. The beautiful woman was always serene and never showed stress.
The beauty ideal has now shifted to a more natural woman. There is now a push to include a variety of colors and economic groups in the conception of beauty. The beautiful woman now has medium to long hair that is straight (prompting some of us to straighten our hair), wears makeup that is not noticeable and clothing is more androgynous. The beautiful woman is extremely thin and workouts at the gym daily. The beautiful woman is still expected to have a beautiful home but has more flexibility in maintaining that home. The beautiful woman is still expected to have beautiful children but she has more options for childcare; flexible work hours and partner sharing of tasks. The beautiful woman may have a career or choose to stay at home. An emphasis in meal preparation is now placed on quick, healthy, tasty and beautiful.
The beauty ideal has changed drastically during my lifetime (admittedly longer than most of my classmates). It will be interesting to see how the beauty ideal changes in the future with the push to include more women of varying sizes, colors and economic status in the conception of beautiful.