As Jean Kilborne so states in her film Killing Me Softly "Women are trying to achieve a body type that represents only five percent of all women."" The sad fact is that most of these five percent have been genetically endowed with that particular type, and the other ninety-five percent of the women will probably never attain such a figure.
The "Ideal- woman wasn't always in the form that she takes today. It is not clear why she evolved into the images common today, she simply did. Just over a hundred years ago, the "Ideal- form was one that was that of a plump individual. In a time where early settlers were struggling to survive in a land filled with hardship, a woman's size correlated to her wealth, and indirectly to her physical health, so the plumper the woman, the more desirable. Fifty years ago, a moderately sized figure was "in-, but women still maintained a fair amount of modesty, being very careful not to expose too much of herself in public. Today's "Ideal- woman is wholly different from any previous "Ideals-, some say that now that women have somewhat achieved social equality with men, the only weapon in the arsenal left against men is that of their physical bodies, which evolved into this extreme form of expression. Holly Devon in "Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes- says that sexual orientation requires women to dress, move, speak and act in ways that men will find attractive. Although this argument remains debatable, one thing is for sure, with the proliferation of mass media, the "Ideal- woman has a greater and more widespread effect on our society than ever before.
Looking back at Mind, Body and Spirit Fitness magazine, it is seen that advertisers exploit the power behind the female sexual figure to sell their products, which would "help- them to achieve that "Ideal- figure. Most advertisements feature scantly clad women in sexually provocative poses. One ad for a female razor shows four confident "Ideal- women in a convertible.
