In an oft-quoted passage of Bossypants, Tina Fey hilariously yet accurately details a laundry list of body aspirations our society currently imposes on women: "Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose ... doll tits." But while this ridiculous (not to mention impossible) list of standards might be the current "ideal," the truth is that "ideal" has looked very different for women of different cultures throughout history. BuzzFeed posted an amazing video this week to illustrate just how much the "perfect" female body type has shape-shifted throughout the centuries, from the voluptuous curves of the Renaissance to '90s heroin-chic:
It's certainly eye-opening—and some of the factoids listed are kind of mind-blowing. (In ancient Greece, women were considered disfigured versions of men?!) But the real takeaway is that while many of these standards were painful to obtain (corsets, anyone?), all these women are absolutely gorgeous—and if women have aspired to such an array body types over thousands of years, shouldn't that give us the perspective to know that our current idea of perfection is just going to fade out anyway? If only it were so simple.
