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After reading my post on Michelle Obama and the ridicule over her "big butt", reader Brian M. was left feeling some kind of way. Irritated? Yes. Peeved? Yes. Maybe even disgusted? Probably. But like me, he was also confused. How is it that we both see Michelle O.'s physique as... well, normal, and folks like Limbaugh could lambast it as fat? Which by the way, is comical all on it's own coming from a dude who's not slim himself. Anyway, Brian shared this:

 

Sitting here watching the 2013 Grammy Awards and seeing all of these women walk in front of rhe camera, some being fairly conservative like Carrie Underwood and others not so.. (Jenny from the block's leg comes to mind). I was wondering, who told these women that they were good looking? Who suggested that dress to Rihanna and Adele? For that matter, who or what determines beauty?

 

I mean, the standard of beauty has changed over time hasnt it? Does a woman need more than just a pretty face to be thought of as beautiful, or is a woman's worth wrapped in the bust, waist and hip measurements she possess at this particular moment in time? Would someone we Americans consider to be a classic beauty be viewed as such today? A Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Jane Russell, probably could have held their own against today's hotties of the Internet for sure. But before moving pictures were telling men what to look for in a woman, what was the ideal? Ok well at least in western history, I have always seen a little bit thicker woman. Check out the statues of Ancient Greece & Rome, the paintings of The Masters: Rubin, Monet, and Michelangelo. Were these the images that the women were aspiring to reflect at home or were they just the fantasy of the men who produced the work? Seems a handful of men have always told women what they should look like... dictating to them what they need to attract men.

 

My initial thought was that our ideals of beauty were taught to us by the women who raise us. Now, I'm not so sure that a few nameless, faceless guys in a smoke filled room haven't told us what we want. Have we lost our ability to decide what we like in the fairer sex? Your thoughts are welcomed.

You heard the man! Share your thoughts below!