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100 Years of “The Perfect Body”

One of my favorite sections from Tina Fey’s 2009 bestseller Bossypants deals with body image:

I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom — Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired. And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful.

Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyoncé and JLo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful. Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.

I know that in this day and age, we women are taught that true beauty shines from within, that our happiness, health, and confidence are far more important than our physical attributes. But let’s face it — I have not come across a single woman in my life who was 100% satisfied with her body, all the time.

And how can we, when our society’s perception of an ideal body is every-changing as well?

To illustrate this point, The Greatist has put together a series of images that outline just how much the American standard for the “perfect body” has evolved over the past 100 years. Take a look!

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Two Fascinating, Potentially NSFW Charts

I'm not sure exactly why I find these charts — depicting the various subjects and categories that turn people on and how they differ between men and women — so interesting. Well, duh it's related to sex so it's naturally intriguing. But I think for me, the science and research behind human attraction has always been captivating because the driving forces behind what makes one person attractive to another can vary so greatly. Granted, these charts are not necessarily about attraction. But what turns someone on can't be too far from their preferences in pornography, no? Here is a ranking of Pornhub's most-viewed categories: And the most-searched terms: Is it just me, or is the fact that "teen" takes the top spot for men in both charts sorta disturbing? Head on over...

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How Much Damage Did Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes Fame) Cause? [$$$]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that raising a child from birth to age 17 costs, for those in the middle-income groups, anywhere from $226,800 to $264,600. If you think that figure is large, consider the fact that those numbers do not take into account any damage (the physical kind, not emotional) the child can cause...

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The Changing Face of Koreans

You probably presumed from the title of this post that I will be talking about plastic surgery. ;-) Well, you're partly correct. My intention behind this post is to share with you an article published in today's WSJ: "The Changing Face of South Korea," which discusses how Korean faces are changing over time — from tens of thousands of years ago to 100 years into the future. The Korea Face Institute (only in South Korea would such a thing exist :-P ) has taken 20,000 photographs and skull measurements, then factored in interracial marriage, plastic surgery, and nutrition in order to create the following "past," "present," and "future" pictures: The Korea Face Institute's assessment of a typical Korean face in 12,000 B.C. The typical Korean...

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Fascinating Ways in Which ‘Based on a True Story’ Movies Differ from Real Life

I think most of us are smart enough to know that Hollywood takes a lot of liberties in making its films more marketable to audiences. Even if a movie is “based on a true story,” it can be safe to assume that many changes were made to the original narrative in order to make it more likable, entertaining, and relatable.

Still, I was shocked to read some of the actualities revealed in 24 Movies Based On a True Story (That Are Full of Shit). I’ve picked 10 of my favorites below — did you know about these?

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