July 2nd - Girls Just Wanna Have Sun (From the Virtual Girls blog)

   As this was the first blog post of the summer, I decided to highlight the importance of multiple swimsuit sizes to reflect on how women's bodies have changed over the years. I researched the size of an average American woman, as well as included information about Ashley Graham, an inspirational figure in the world of plus-size models. Advertisements that promote unrealistic body standards, as shown in the "Beach Body" image featured, encourage young women to continually lose weight in order to be deemed desirable by others. Due to my experience with software like Photoshop, I recalled photo-editing tools that reduced the size of different parts of an image (such as a waistline) or smoothed any imperfections (wrinkles or fat). In actuality, the body types of women in swimsuit advertisements can never be attained because of these photo-enhancing techniques. I learned that the hourglass figure was a silhouette desired by women for centuries, as corset companies attempted to cinch waists as tight as possible. A voluptuous bust, small waist and curvy hips were seen as healthy and attractive, which contributes to domestic values of bearing children as mothers.