Perceived Beauty

A couple of weeks ago, there was a wiki presentation about how the ideal 'beauty' has become distorted - women now have to be extremely skinny for them to feel beautiful in many cases. Take ballerinas or models for instance; they are extremely skinny and unhealthy, yet they are constantly told how great they look.

During the first viewing of "Bend it Like Beckham", I overheard a couple of classmates talking about how 'buff' and 'inshape' Keira Knightley's character is. I was shocked and a little bothered by their comments. As someone who is extremely interested in fitness and active, healthy lifestyles, I think that Keira's character doesn't look like a real soccer player, and she is most definatley not buff or in good shape. I think she looks like a starving model. I think the fact that several of my classmates identified her as an ideal body type is disturbing and it goes to show just how twisted our idea of ideal beauty is today.



When I think of a female who is 'buff' and in shape, I think of actual fitness models or athletes. Those that are healthy and have muscle tone and definition. Not only do these girls exercise to look great, but they are doing so in a healthy way that keeps their weight down and also decreases the chances of any serious illnesses caused by over-eating or having a sedentary lifestyle. I think that the ideal body should reflect these qualities and not look like Keira in the above picture.