Divine Blog

In 1980, researchers compiled the measurements of Playboy centerfolds and Miss America contestants from 1959 to 1978. They wanted to assess any changes to the so-called “ideal” figure over the previous twenty years.

Anyone who doesn’t believe culture fosters a specific beauty “ideal” need only hear the opening line of the Miss America Theme Song, written in 1954: “There she is, Miss America. There she is, your ideal.”

How beauty standards have changed over time and why we should stop paying them any mind. “Ideal beauty is ideal because it does not exist…" --Naomi Wolfe Each decade or so, a new prototype ascends, bearing little resemblance to the one who came before her. The dramatically changing beauty standards are enough to give a gal whiplash. Despite the fickle standards, putting any body shape on a pedestal (to the exclusion of others) is harmful. The subconscious yearn for society’s “stamp of approval” has dangerous implications for a woman’s achievement and personal fulfillment.

Beauty standards are ever-changing. The size and shape of the hottest celebs vary widely from one decade to the next. Like fashion trends, you can often identify a period just by the silhouettes of its beauty icons.

Have you ever had a friend, colleague, aunt, or mother-in-law get judgmental with you when they find out you invest in cosmetic treatments? Why do some people still see “aging gracefully” as a kind of moral high ground? And who decided that taking steps to look your best is any less “graceful” than deciding against it, anyway?

We get a lot of mixed messages about what it means to be beautiful. We're told beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is only skin deep. Imperfection is beauty. Sentiments like these are as varied as they are numerous.

F**k 2020.  Remember all the memes about how much 2020 sucked? Think about our naive excitement to ring in the new year in 2019. A few months later, so much changed, and so quickly. Just weeks into the madness, we all longed to go back to normal. But slowly, lockdowns, social distancing, masking, remote work/school, and videoconferencing made it harder to recall what normal even was. For as much as we hated the changes happening around us, we were changing too.

Piece of Me~Britney Spears (2007) Exc. Tryin' and pissin' me off Well get in line with the paparazzi Who's flippin' me off Hopin' I'll resort to startin' havoc And end up settlin' in court Now are you sure you want a piece of me? How have we not talked about Britney yet, y'all? If you're not familiar with the #FreeBritney movement by now, it might be time to come out from under that rock, LOL, but I'll try to get you up to speed… The hashtag #FreeBritney first appeared over a decade ago, roughly a year after Britney's father, Jamie, petitioned the court to control his daughter's financial, medical, and personal affairs, citing concerns over Britney's mental health.

The Ugly (Let's get it out of the way, shall we?) Wearing a face-covering has been fodder for heated debate since the onset of the pandemic. What started out as a way to keep our potentially contagious droplets to ourselves quickly became code for one's political affiliation or symbolic of your care and concern for the greater good. But as the "new normal" goes on to become anything but new, there‘s a lot happ  ening behind each of our masks that's rarely addressed. I know it’s difficult to separate the idea of masks from the divisive debates they’ve sparked in our country, but if you can, set aside any feelings the issue might bring up for you for a moment. Let’s explore how this small piece of cloth affected us as individuals, far and away from the hostility and judgment it's provoked.