Victoria’s Secret models are skinnier than ever—as average U.S. dress size has gone up
We are in the age of Instagram beauty. Now, more than ever, women are stressing about how to make themselves look good online, whether that’s through the use of photo-editing apps or fancy lighting. Ask a woman or girl under 25 and they’ll tell you exactly how to take a “great” selfie. But before the rise of social media and its obsession with the “perfect” body, there was Victoria’s Secret. And Victoria’s Secret is still busy making life for women and girls about being their thinnest possible selves.
A new study from the Boston University School of Medicine has found that models for the lingerie company have gotten ever skinnier over the past 20 years, even as the average size of women in the U.S. has gone up. While Victoria’s Secret models have shrunk to a mere size 4, American women have grown to an average dress size of 16-18, researchers found. The models have become “more svelte, with a decrease in bust, waist, hips, and dress size,” The Boston Globe reported. At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control found that 40 percent of American adults were obese as of 2016.
The average Victoria’s Secret model has a 23.6-inch waist, an inch less than 20 years ago, and their hips average 34.4 inches, according to The Globe. The study also found that the models’ waist-to-hip ratio has remained consistent over time, denoting a standard of beauty that requires an hourglass shape—no matter the size.
“That ratio is very innate in what we perceive to be beautiful,” Dr. Neelam Vashi, an associate professor of dermatology at the BU School of Medicine and the study’s lead author, told The Globe. Vashi said the hourglass shape is the global ideal no matter the weight of the woman.
The World Health Organization defines the waist-to-hip ratio as “the waist circumference divided by the hip circumference,” and explains that having a ratio of greater than 1.0 may increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and low fertility. The WHO says a healthy ratio for men is .9 or less and, for women, .85 or less.
All the emphasis on being tiny has caused American women to undergo cosmetic surgery in ballooning numbers: buttock and lower body lift procedures increased by 4,295 percent and 256 percent over the past two decades, the BU researchers found.
The Victoria’s Secret televised fashion show was canceled in November 2019. Now if only cancel culture would apply to unrealistic body standards overall.
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