When it comes to losing weight, a series of skinny beauties come to mind. Thin has become the undisputed king of girls who love beauty. Watching the actresses' sharper chins and thinner shoulders; Looking at them through unhealthy means or even scalpels will not become possible, that is, pursuing the effect of weak willows and helping the wind? Painkillers? The spirit is really amazing.
In fact, the case of China's body control has existed since ancient times. The earliest history of losing weight can be traced back to the Warring States period, and it is not aimed at women, but at men. Mozi? "Emil" recorded that the courtiers of King Chu Ling were dizzy with hunger every day, holding the city wall in and out for their own enjoyment. One by one sallow and emaciated, malnourished. Comparable to young women who are now pursuing skinny beauty. However, the so-called? King Chu has a thin waist? He doesn't particularly like women's thin waists. He likes men's and women's thin waists. The courtiers who were tortured to death in the record were mostly men. Slimming was not so much a trend at that time as people's personal preferences to please the king of Chu. This kind of weight loss has nothing to do with beauty, let alone health. When it comes to the trend of women losing weight for men, the history of the west is probably earlier.
The golden age and end of fat women
There were vomiting rooms in Europe as early as ancient Rome, and the nobles attending the banquet would spit out what they ate in the vomiting room during the dinner. Some scholars believe that this is to taste more food at the banquet, which is also considered as conclusive evidence that Rome died of extravagance. However, some people think that this is because the nobles succumbed to the majesty of the emperor, did not dare to leave the dinner without authorization, and had to find a place to empty their stomachs during the dinner so as to continue eating. There are different opinions about the original intention of building the vomiting room, but no matter which interpretation, it is obvious that the emergence of the vomiting room has nothing to do with losing weight. Instead, eat it? Is the best way to please the king. This can also be seen from the sculptures in ancient Rome. No matter Venus, goddess of victory or other female sculptures, they all have strong bodies.
The Western Roman Empire perished in 476 AD. In the long Middle Ages, for the next thousand years, Europe was shrouded in years of wars, plagues and various natural disasters. Hunger and turbulent memories go hand in hand. The population has dropped sharply, and most people are worried about whether they can fill their stomachs. People can see thin and hungry women everywhere. In contrast, the round, fat-coated female carcass has become the goal pursued by men. German historian Joachim? In his book Palace Culture, Bumke pointed out that among the criteria for judging beauty in medieval courts? Round chin? Is a basic feature. Is it customary for the world to describe beautiful gestures? White, round and shiny? To describe the arms and legs of a beautiful woman. Presumably, at that time, the pointed chin and flat, completely skinny arms that looked like the awl popular today were not very popular. People's subconscious fear of extinction makes? Are plump women more likely to have children? This irrefutable truth has been organically integrated into men's love for women before the Renaissance. Bad objective living conditions make men right? Good tutor? Some women have a preference for shyness. In order to please men, aristocratic women often wear scattered and multi-layered clothes and wrap their heads with scarves to satisfy men's fantasy of elegance and ease. In the middle ages? Women's appearance and morality are worthless, but their value lies in pleasing and inspiring men? . Men like fat women, so fat women are popular.
Looking back at China at that time, the ancient empire in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty was also fat. Although the Tang Dynasty was regarded as the heyday of China by later generations, few people knew that even in its heyday, its population was only 80 million. It was not until the potato was introduced into China in the17th century that the population of China increased greatly. Prior to this, China's grain output has entered the bottleneck. Before potato, corn, sweet potato and other high-yield crops were introduced to China, the poor class was already unsustainable, which also made? Fat? Become a symbol of privilege. In other words, for the Tang Empire, which is known as a prosperous time, food is still a luxury to some extent. Therefore, men in the Tang Dynasty at that time, like European men in the Middle Ages, felt the threat of nature and longed for comfort from women.
Things are scarce, and fat women are no longer favored, which is closely related to their growing ranks. /kloc-After the Renaissance in the 5th century, the scientific and technological revolution and the Enlightenment led people into a brand-new era. In the end, the industrial revolution in the18th century completely subverted the classical farming civilization. Modern lifestyles and new means of transportation have greatly reduced the cost of grain planting and transportation. Preservatives invented in the 65438+60' s in 2009 made food stored longer and longer. After the 20th century, trans fatty acids were widely used in packaged food, which solved the last bottleneck of food storage? Meat. Trans fats are easier to store, which makes fried meat a delicious choice with low price. This fast food, now called junk food, quickly fattened up a generation. They have developed rapidly in the United States and around the world. On the other hand, with the popularity of TV and cars after World War II, the resistance to losing weight is increasing, which also makes more men yearn for slim women.
People gradually realize the harm of obesity, and for the first time? Dieting? This concept has become a well-known healthy fashion. In 1970s, body mass index (BMI) officially became a general index to measure human health and obesity. The square of the height (m) gives the number. According to the official standards of China, the body mass index is considered to be normal between 18.5 and 23.9. More than 23.9 is obesity). It seems that overnight, men who consciously conquered nature changed their taste, and the figure of fat women no longer became their proud capital, but became a scarlet letter that could not be opened and was put on the table for others to ridicule and have fun.
Hard to please.
If there is any slimming standard in European history, it is people's preference for small waists (which coincides with the king of Chu). Even in the Middle Ages, which favored plump women, there were occasional descriptions of favoring thin waists. After the Renaissance, aristocratic women's pursuit of waist reached a new height. /kloc-In the 6th century, Spanish-style corsets became underwear that women rushed to buy. This is also the first time in human history that women voluntarily put on the shackles to please men.
Corsets originated in ancient Rome. Just before the Renaissance, this corset had no binding effect on the body, just as a petticoat for ordinary underwear. In the early Renaissance, the corsets of ordinary aristocratic women were still made of cloth, which would not cause too much pain to the body. Until around 1577, a kind of? Bodies? Corset. Thicker and heavier than before, the linen tights are also worn with whalebone on all sides to support the contraction effect of the waist. A hard wooden or metal bottom is also selected under the front face. The whole bra looks thick and hard. In order to pursue a smaller waist, aristocratic women put on all the materials that should not be used as underwear. These actually heavy clothes make them look very light. Many women have broken ribs, miscarried and even had internal organs displaced. Just like the cruelty of the three-inch golden lotus, it has become a typical case of China's patriarchal torture of women. The action of the court ladies' music ribbon appeared repeatedly in many movies and photos, and later became the era label of enslavement of women in the Renaissance.
In the18th century, King Louis XV of France strongly advocated Rococo style. Slender, flashy and complicated styles are very popular in Europe. Women's wear in that period was also influenced, paying attention to complicated and extreme formal beauty. The design of women's clothing is developing in the direction of thin waist and big skirt. A girl of noble birth was asked to wrap her chest and waist when she was a child. From the18th century until the First World War, girding became more and more torturous. Girls are tied up day after day, which leads to poor blood circulation. This kind? Torture tools? It's beautiful to tie it too tightly and burst the blue blood vessels. This kind of man enslaves women, and women succumb to men's aesthetics. This kind of desperate flattery was actually promoted to sexy and seductive beauty at that time.
The famous Austro-Hungarian Empress Elizabeth (Princess Sissi) is a typical representative of women in this period. The queen, whose height is 1 m 72, has a waist circumference of only 16 inch (about 40 cm). Even after giving birth to four children, her weight has remained at 50 kilograms. 1894 Cici, 56 years old, weighs 43.5 kg. If people whose body mass index is lower than 17.5 are worried about anorexia, Cece's body mass index as low as 14.7 is enough to be a typical case of anorexia. But actually Cece doesn't eat much every day. Beef soup, milk and eggs are her daily necessities. Most of the time, she won't go on an excessive diet, but whenever her weight fluctuates slightly, a new round of fasting therapy will follow. In order to keep her weight, she devoted all her time to various high-intensity exercises. She rode and ran, and built a well-equipped gymnastics room outside the living room, with rings hanging in the bedroom. This is a thin and powerful woman. Ordinary European ladies only pursue waistlines when they get married (until they succeed in pleasing men and sending themselves out), while Princess Sisi demands herself year after year according to the standards of girlhood. In order to highlight her proud waistline, she wears a lace bra all the year round. 1898, when she was assassinated while traveling, Cece didn't even realize the seriousness of the matter because her tights were too tight. She was 60 years old before she died? Old age The queen's waist is still below 50 cm.
Lose weight and become a national carnival
1906? Revolutionary? Fashion designer Paul Polly designed more comfortable underwear instead of tights. This new style of replacing corset with bra and emphasizing primitive body shape quickly swept the whole western market. He believes it? A woman's body bound from neck to knee must demand liberation. ? But ironically, this invention has lifted the physical confinement of the chest, but it has achieved? Thin? From the noble pursuit of luxury to a national trend. Compared with the standard of perfect proportion, people are ashamed of themselves. Under the background of patriarchal aesthetics, Paul's invention not only didn't liberate women, but made them crazy.
19 At the end of the 20th century, a large number of fashion magazines aimed at female readers emerged. Among them, VOGUE founded in 1892 and Harper'sBazaar founded in 1867 have become the best of their kind. They have the most sensitive sense of smell and capture the current female fashion. From the cover of Bazaar magazine of 1892 and VOGUE of 19 17, it is not difficult to see that the tights newly invented by Paul Borriel have not changed people's aesthetic pursuit of slimming. These magazines tell women what beauty is rather than what men think.
1945, Paris designer Louis? Reed invented it? Bikini? It also pushed fat women to the edge of social aesthetics. This kind of clothing that completely exposes women's waist and abdomen makes tights and other tools? Cramming at the last minute? The way to close the waist is pale and weak. Women began to pursue a thorough waist-thinning method without relying on any external force. Weight loss column has quickly become the unified choice of major newspapers and television. While the media continues to strengthen the beauty of this audition, professional models will even sacrifice their plump breasts and hips for a slim waist. Nowadays, thin beauty occupies the cover of almost all fashion magazines. The media constantly reinforce the view that slimness equals beauty and obesity equals stupidity and self-exile. Losing weight has become a national carnival, and everyone in the streets is discussing and practicing enthusiastically. All kinds of scientific and unscientific methods and foods to lose weight were developed, and then they were overthrown as mice after generations of brave practice.
Coincidentally, the trend of losing weight in China also started from the clothing reform. It is widely known all over the world? Hanfu? The Chinese dress actually refers to the cheongsam of the Republic of China, which was improved in the middle of the Republic of China and is famous for its enchanting grace. When Manchu was first used to enter the customs, women's cheongsam was much more subtle than in the Republic of China. In the Qing dynasty, cheongsam existed mainly to show identity rather than figure. The cheongsam of the Qing dynasty is spacious and gorgeous, and the pants are worn outside. It is not so much a dress as an out-and-out robe. Cheongsam evolved into the Republic of China, from robes to skirts: the close-fitting design revealed the curves of women, and the original pants were replaced with nude colors. If the charm of women in the Qing dynasty is the amorous feelings inadvertently revealed in reserve, then the sexy of women in the Republic of China is aggressive and downright? Temptation? . For a woman with a good figure, cheongsam is the best companion, and it has also become the biggest motivation for other women to control their figure.
The 1930s was the peak of the evolution of cheongsam in the Republic of China. There are more and more exchanges between China and the West, which makes China cheongsam completely conform to the popular women's dress curve in Europe and America. Ruan, a movie star at that time, was even known as the first skinny beauty in China. After that, although with the change of political power, the communication between China and the West in clothing styles was temporarily suspended. However, after the reform and opening up, with the process of global integration, the weight loss movement has also been integrated into it. We watch China's version of Bazaar of Fashion and the beautiful women in American blockbusters, and the tastes are more and more uniform. Losing weight has become the most popular topic for women, and slimness has also become a subconscious yardstick for men to choose women. As a result, the difficulty for women to please men continues day after day?
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This article is taken from People's Daily Online? Author: Lu Hanzi? The original title is: When will women become thinner to please themselves?