(no subject)
Been a few months, but I've stayed up to date with most of you. This isn't really a "catching-up" entry- sorry. I was thinking about something interesting to me, and want to write it down.
In this month's Wired, there is a chart that tracks average BMIs of American women vs. Playboy Bunnies. Currently, the BMI of the Bunnies is the same as it was in the early 80s (having increased just a little recently) while the average woman's BMI has skyrocketed from just over 22 to 26.8. A healthy BMI is between 20 and 25. The average Bunny's has been consistently between 2 and 3 points low. So why has the average woman's BMI gone up some much. I have some theories, but I'd love to hear what you think.
My theories:
Technology has advanced considerably, making keeping the house easier. Women no longer spend 3-4+ hours a day cleaning, instead we have machines that do dishes and laundry for us, and we can hire other people to dust and vacuum. That's not all though- the ideal of the clean and well-kept home has changed. Men don't expect women to keep a spotless house, especially when that woman also works 40+ hours a week. Women who do stay at home during the day also have more to distract them. House wives spend almost as much time on the internet as their teenage children, if not more.
Meals have changed, obviously. Not only do we, as a nation, consume a ton of fast food; we don't make as many home cooked meals. Personally speaking, growing up, I had maybe 3 home cooked meals a week, and that many only because my parents could afford to hire a babysitter who also cooked dinners. My parents cooked maybe twice a month. Many people consider a home cooked meal popping a pre-made lasagna into the oven (can I just point out that I spelled lasagna correctly on the first try!). My grandmother, on the other hand, is a wiz in the kitchen and, despite working as a full time nurse and raising four boys, she mastered the art of the quick, healthy home cooked dinner.
Standards and ideals have changed. Duh. So have the types of professions open to women. In the 50s, women could be secretaries or nurses. Nurses obviously spend a LOT of time on their feet. Secretaries had to conform to strict ideals of female beauty. In the last fifty years, value placed on strict conformity to one ideal has changed. Thanks to the 60s and 70s, more value is placed on being different (Hairspray!), and it's possible that that acceptance of difference has begun to apply to weight.
The demands placed on women have changed since woman's rights became the right to work. Fertility is less valued, and strength/ambition more so. I read a few studies recently saying that the "shape" of women in the work force has changed- less hourglass figures, and more apples. This difference is supposed to be linked to testosterone levels, which are higher in women with ambition and steadier emotional states- necessary in today's fast pace and competitive world.
Okay, so that was really long, not to scientific, but it's a change I find interesting. I'm not idealizing the 50s and gender roles, but I do think that the change in gender roles is, at least in part, to blame in the change in body type. Women can work, we're equal, dammit, so now we're facing the consequences.
In this month's Wired, there is a chart that tracks average BMIs of American women vs. Playboy Bunnies. Currently, the BMI of the Bunnies is the same as it was in the early 80s (having increased just a little recently) while the average woman's BMI has skyrocketed from just over 22 to 26.8. A healthy BMI is between 20 and 25. The average Bunny's has been consistently between 2 and 3 points low. So why has the average woman's BMI gone up some much. I have some theories, but I'd love to hear what you think.
My theories:
Technology has advanced considerably, making keeping the house easier. Women no longer spend 3-4+ hours a day cleaning, instead we have machines that do dishes and laundry for us, and we can hire other people to dust and vacuum. That's not all though- the ideal of the clean and well-kept home has changed. Men don't expect women to keep a spotless house, especially when that woman also works 40+ hours a week. Women who do stay at home during the day also have more to distract them. House wives spend almost as much time on the internet as their teenage children, if not more.
Meals have changed, obviously. Not only do we, as a nation, consume a ton of fast food; we don't make as many home cooked meals. Personally speaking, growing up, I had maybe 3 home cooked meals a week, and that many only because my parents could afford to hire a babysitter who also cooked dinners. My parents cooked maybe twice a month. Many people consider a home cooked meal popping a pre-made lasagna into the oven (can I just point out that I spelled lasagna correctly on the first try!). My grandmother, on the other hand, is a wiz in the kitchen and, despite working as a full time nurse and raising four boys, she mastered the art of the quick, healthy home cooked dinner.
Standards and ideals have changed. Duh. So have the types of professions open to women. In the 50s, women could be secretaries or nurses. Nurses obviously spend a LOT of time on their feet. Secretaries had to conform to strict ideals of female beauty. In the last fifty years, value placed on strict conformity to one ideal has changed. Thanks to the 60s and 70s, more value is placed on being different (Hairspray!), and it's possible that that acceptance of difference has begun to apply to weight.
The demands placed on women have changed since woman's rights became the right to work. Fertility is less valued, and strength/ambition more so. I read a few studies recently saying that the "shape" of women in the work force has changed- less hourglass figures, and more apples. This difference is supposed to be linked to testosterone levels, which are higher in women with ambition and steadier emotional states- necessary in today's fast pace and competitive world.
Okay, so that was really long, not to scientific, but it's a change I find interesting. I'm not idealizing the 50s and gender roles, but I do think that the change in gender roles is, at least in part, to blame in the change in body type. Women can work, we're equal, dammit, so now we're facing the consequences.