Three words: sex, blonde, diamonds. What do they all have in common? Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe. Known for a revealing white dress and a (seemingly unfortunate) subway grate interaction, Monroe defined what it meant to be sexy in the mid-20th century. Today, Marilyn Monroe maintains her legacy, but for a reason you wouldn’t expect. After spending a lifetime as a sex object, Marilyn Monroe now represents body positivity for women nationwide.
In the 1950s, women had a strict image to uphold. Half of the time women were supposed to be in the kitchen with the kiddies, the other half of the time they were supposed to be desirable sex objects. They had to look like Betty Grable and cook like Betty Crocker. How was a woman supposed to be capable of upholding two such contrasting standards? As only a woman, she couldn’t possibly handle juggling complex tasks, let alone an alter ego. As we learned from Mad Men, women are only capable of trivial secretarial tasks and motherhood (and oral sex).
As an elaboration to the above sarcasm, that was not to say that it was impossible to be a sexy mom or a starlet with some cooking chops. I am just saying it’s a lot to ask of women to keep up with multiple personalities…especially since they’re so naive (oh hey — there’s that sarcasm again!). So why is it that this fictitious superwoman was (and *cough* maybe still is *cough*) the ideal?
Stereotypes: We know them. We love them(?). We hate them. Common stereotypical adjectives of women include, but are not limited to, sexy, ditzy, demure, quiet, feminine (whatever that means), maternal, caring, emotional, passive, profligate (in terms of spending their husband’s money and shopping overzealously), clean, and helpless.
Today, women have taken a bunch of these words back. Marilyn Monroe and other notable women of the 1950s have suddenly switched from being models of women to role models for women. After a history of men controlling the media and how women are portrayed, women are finally fed up and taking action. Feminism continues to surge and the movement definitely incorporates body image. Through venerating sexy icons of yesteryear, women have reclaimed their sexuality. What used to define women or even be held against them is now being used by women to celebrate women.
Why is it that Marilyn Monroe, who was unfortunately a very troubled soul, being idolized today? Perhaps because she was so objectified and lusted after, modern women are doing that whole reclaiming thing I talked about earlier. In reclaiming a sex symbol as a symbol of body acceptance and self-love, women today are normalizing female sexuality.
Or maybe women are embracing Marilyn Monroe’s body as a whole. By today’s standards, Marilyn Monroe would be considered “curvy” which is Hollywood-talk for “bigger” or “busty” or definitely “not a size 0.”꙳ Monroe helps to remind us of the notion that you don’t have to be super skinny to be attractive. In a world where the media wants us to see Victoria’s Secret models as the end all be all of beauty, Marilyn Monroe helps us recognize that there is no one reigning body type.
Today, mainstream models generally wear 4 dress sizes smaller than models of the ’50s wore. Though interestingly enough, the average woman today weighs about 20–30 pounds more than she would have fifty years ago. So not only is the current media portraying women as skinnier, but women are also less and less likely to look like the women the media idealizes.
Marilyn Monroe has definitely lent some inspiration to the body image movement, but other celebrities today like model Ashley Graham, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, activist and actress Miley Cyrus, and queen Beyoncé Knowles have all adopted this body positive mentality as well. None of these women look alike or wear the same dress size, yet they are all proponents of self-love. They have taken on the role of Marilyn Monroe in that they have all been sexualized by the media, yet they have also promoted their own sexuality on their own terms. Just look at Kim Kardashian’s Paper Magazine cover or Beyoncé’s GQ cover. While maintaining body positivity and using sexuality to empower women may not always be easy, it is important that mainstream celebrities use the media as a platform to fight back against the #haterz.
Not (yet) gone are the endless days of catcalling, internet trolls who live for telling celebrities they’re “ugly” and “fat”, and magazine headlines that focus on “the best and worst beach bodies of the summer!” as if there’s some sort of a scale on which one can measure the quality of bodies…? However, in light of a movement that focuses on loving yourself and finding that you deserve to be proud of the skin you’re in, I cannot imagine the media maintaining this nasty power over a woman’s body image forever.
Marilyn Monroe famously said “Imperfection is beauty…” And while many people would agree that there isn’t much — from purely an appearance standpoint — that is imperfect about Marilyn Monroe, it is pertinent to recognize that what some people see as flaws, others idealize and vice versa. Standards are changing faster than we can keep up with them and no two bodies will ever look the same.
*Cue the cheesy (but necessary) “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” speech*
The body image movement reminds us that whether you’re a size 22 or a 00, you have the right to love your body. You can own your sexuality. You don’t have to leave it up to meanie boiz or the media to decide who deserves to feel beautiful. All bodies are beautiful. And remember that if you’re feeling low, you can always look to role models like Marilyn Monroe.꙳
꙳Sidenote: Why do manufacturers even make a size 0? Zero means nothing. How can you be a size nothing? The wonderful women wearing those size 0 clothes definitely have some sort of body mass!! But, I digress.
꙳Or whoever that person is for you! But I am a sucker for a rhyme scheme!
