In case you haven’t seen it already, below is the video ‘Body Evolution’ by GlobalDemocracy.com.  It offers a fantastic insight into the way that women’s bodies are remoulded to fit current standards of beauty.
 

 
Of course, beauty is a social construct and so our ideas of what constitutes beauty vary over time and place.  There are a lot of before-and-after type photos which show the difference that has been made to a person’s appearance when the image has been digitally altered. Thanks to the internet, a lot of people are familiar with them now. But do such images and videos help to reduce the anxieties many women feel about their body shape and size?
 
I’m not sure that they do completely: a woman’s relationship with her body is complex. But, in my opinion, they make us aware of, and therefore help us to navigate through, this increasingly visual culture where narrow and unrealistic standards of (heteronormative) beauty prevail.
 
Acknowledgement:
 
The Citizens of Fashion