How ideals have changed. The women are no longer the same. How and why ideas about female beauty have changed. Beauty standards in different eras
Priest's response:
According to God's plan, the purpose of the earthly life of each person is the correct self-determination regarding God and His Truth - Jesus Christ (John 14:6), as well as the achievement of a saving relationship with God through the Redemptive Sacrifice of Christ. These relationships are designated as: deification, holiness, or reverence (2 Peter 1:4). The family, on the other hand, is a small church (Col. 4:15), which serves as one of the means to achieve the above goal, for each person has two legal paths leading to Eternal Life: holy marriage, or holy celibacy, one of varieties of which is monasticism. In an Orthodox family, as in a small church, there must be a process of preparing its members: husband, wife and children, through the right faith and church life, for Eternity. This is why the apostle Paul commands Christians to marry in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39), that is, with a person who shares with us the most important thing: our Orthodox faith. The entry of a Christian, or a Christian woman, into marriage with a non-believer, or a non-believer, in particular, with a Muslim, is a violation of both God's plan about the ultimate goal of life - deification, and the commandment of the Apostle Paul: to marry in the Lord. Until the 18th century, such marriages were unconditionally forbidden in the Russian Orthodox Church. But, beginning with Peter 1, concessions began to take place in this area: the Orthodox were allowed to marry non-Christians on the condition that the latter would not seduce them into their faith, and the children born from such a marriage would be baptized and brought up in Orthodoxy.
But entering into interreligious marriages, spouses, as a rule, say: “Who believes in what is not important, because God is One! The main thing is that we love each other! As a priest, I have repeatedly had to be convinced that this love continues until the Orthodox (Orthodox) living in such interreligious marriages inevitably encounter fundamental differences in cultures, and most importantly, religions: Islam and Orthodoxy. This can be revealed, for example, when the future husband, or his relatives, offer the bride, as a condition of marriage, the Muslim rite of "marriage" and the automatic acceptance of Islam by her, leading to the renunciation of Jesus Christ. Or when children are born in such a marriage, and the Christian wife wants to tell them the Sacrament of Baptism, joining them to the Church of Christ, and the Muslim husband, on the contrary, circumcise, initiating Islam (sometimes spouses agree this way: girls - baptize, boys - circumcise. It turns out: girls go to heaven, and boys go to hell!). Or, these contradictions are revealed when a Christian, after marriage, will try to fulfill her religious duties: attend the temple, pray at home, etc. Of course, you can come to a different option: become secular people (read, renounce your religious beliefs), but it is not yet certain that this problem will not resurface in the future. After all, a secular husband, an ethnic Muslim, may have believing relatives practicing Islam, who will inevitably raise the issue of the religious affiliation of his wife and children. Only in very rare cases do spouses manage to get along without changing their religious views (again, provided that these views are simply not there!). Basically, as a rule, there are severe conflicts of choice: either my Orthodoxy, or my family ... There was such a case in my parish: an Orthodox woman married a Muslim, and he did not allow her to go to church, pray Orthodox, baptize those born to them children until, many years later, he died. In another case, an Orthodox woman who married a Muslim, until the moment of her death, could not only perform religious duties towards God, but also simply wear a pectoral cross. She hid it ... in her hair, where he was discovered when, after her death, they began to wash her body.
That is, if there are different religious views of a husband and wife, there can be no unanimity between them. Their marriage is built on a foundation that initially has a deep crack that threatens to turn into an abyss at any time. By the way, research in this area by American sociologists suggests that mixed marriages have a chance to break up three times more often. This problem is also acutely revealed in the process of raising newborn children. St. John Chrysostom writes: “Educating the hearts of children in virtue and piety is the sacred duty of parents, which cannot be transgressed without becoming guilty of some kind of infanticide ...” But how can children be raised in faith and piety if parents understand this faith differently and cannot be unanimous either in words or in the manner of their religious life? The upbringing of a child should not consist in introducing him to some kind of abstract, allegedly common, for all religions, God, but in identifying him as a member of a clear religion, giving him specific forms of worship, prayer, public worship, etc. Difficulties of religious education begin in an interreligious marriage from the moment the child is born. According to Islam, firstly, the unbelieving spouse (spouse) must accept Islam. Secondly, children (in any case, boys) must be circumcised and brought up in the traditions of Islam. According to Orthodoxy, children born in interreligious marriages must be brought up in the Orthodox faith. This means that one of the spouses will be forced to withdraw from religious education, or conflict situations will arise between them, and children growing up in an atmosphere of duality, as a rule, grow up as unbelievers. Quite often the problem of upbringing is “solved” by the spouses in this way: we will not have children, neither baptize nor circumcise. Let them grow up and decide what religion they belong to. In practice, this leads to the fact that, not seeing in their parents an example of a unanimous religious life and an appropriate worldview education, children grow up religiously indifferent. This is how, in the words of Chrysostom, an Orthodox parent "becomes guilty of some kind of infanticide."
Few people think about the fact that even the death of one of the spouses does not put an end to these differences. An Orthodox husband cannot bury his wife - a Muslim woman according to the Orthodox rite, cannot pray for her: order a funeral service and memorial services, funeral masses. Even the natural desire of spouses to be buried together in the same cemetery cannot be realized, since Muslims forbid burying non-believers together with the faithful, and according to Orthodox canons, non-believers are not buried together with Christians in a Christian cemetery. Therefore, before an Orthodox person marries a non-Christian, one must carefully weigh everything and consider the consequences of his decision.
What if this has already happened? “Now you have to live in a distorted family atmosphere and put up with it. Is it necessary to persuade a heterodox spouse (spouse) to accept Orthodoxy? “It will be extremely difficult to do so. In no case should you impose your religious views here. It is better - in practice, in everyday life, to preach Christianity by your own example.
Can a Muslim mother attend the christening of her children? - It's possible, it's possible. But here one more abscess of interreligious marriages comes out: from the point of view of Islam, Christians are infidels, polytheists, because they profess faith in the Holy Trinity. And a Muslim mother (even an ethnic one) to be present at the initiation of her child into a polytheistic religion means to break the ideas of her religion in herself, to double.
Now, quite often, girls on the forums write “I’m looking for a Muslim husband”, considering Muslim guys a more profitable party - religion forbids them to drink alcohol, and family is a sacred concept for them. But is it really so good in Muslim families? Surely there are some peculiarities here.
Muslim husband, Christian wife
Many ladies are interested in whether it is possible for a Christian woman to marry a Muslim, will the wife be obliged to accept another faith? According to the laws of Islam, a Christian woman may not renounce her faith, but she will not be able to raise a child in Christianity - he will have to become a Muslim. You also need to remember that parents in Muslim society are very respected, and therefore their word is often equated with the law. And if the parents are categorically against the Christian bride, then the man is more likely to break off the relationship than to argue with his parents.
In Islam, one can marry women from among the People of the Book, and especially Christian women. Islam does not limit the age of a husband or wife, therefore it is allowed to marry a woman who is 9 years older than you.
Islam does not encourage interfaith marriages. The general rule of Islam is that Muslims must marry Muslims. Muslim men are an exception, as they are allowed to marry girls from among the People of the Book. Although a Muslim woman is still better suited for a Muslim than a Christian or a Jew, despite their merits. We would like to quote you the fatwa of the famous Muslim scholar, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, taken from his book “Permitted and Prohibited in Islam”:
“Islam allowed marriages between Muslim men and Christian or Jewish women because they are from among the Ahlu-l-Kitab (People of the Book). The Qur'an says: “Today you are allowed to eat fine food. The food of the People of the Book is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them.
I think you need to wait with your feelings. Muslims are people from some other planet. I am amazed by their thinking. They beat their chests that they are the most religious people, that their god is in the first place and demonstrate ardent reverence for their Allah. But in this way they kill, organize terrorist attacks, they believe that they have been given the power from above to deprive people of their lives. Look how many of their wives they sent to their deaths. In children, first of all, they bring up aggression towards other nations. Your husband will not reckon with your Orthodox faith. First love, and then you will wash his feet and drink this water. I condemn our women who want extreme sports, change their faith, marry foreigners. Look how many beautiful our men are. Even when you have disagreements, at least you will speak the same language, because. one mentality. You will be satisfied with a “heavenly life” by the Muslim family, his friends. They will all blame you for everything. Where is your patriotism? Maybe you are just in love, passion.
Fact number 1. Gotta change my faith
Read Quran
Very rarely a Muslim is ready to marry a representative of another faith. Therefore, the first condition for entering into marriage with a Muslim is the acceptance of his faith. Seriously think about whether you can be happy within the framework that the Koran preaches for women.
Fact number 2. A woman should be silent
In Muslim countries, women rarely have a say in the family. Moreover, a woman is not allowed to walk in the “male” part of the house, where the husband and his friends smoke hookah and play cards. The wife's place is on the "female" half, the main part of which is reserved for the kitchen.
Fact 3. The servant is the husband's woman
The wife of a Muslim is obliged to please her master, her husband, with everything. In that it, the number has no right to argue with him. Whatever happens, you will have to obediently fulfill his every whim.
Good afternoon I am married to a Muslim. Moreover, we went through the Muslim ritual nikah. Before deciding on this, I talked with the imam personally. He assured me that it was not necessary for me to convert to Islam. Which, in fact, I didn't do. She was just present at the ceremony, did not repeat anything. Is this a terrible sin, and what needs to be done to be cleansed? And one more question. We really want kids. What prayer should be read for everything to work out? I really look forward to your help! Thank you!
Alexandra, based on the experience of my friends, Muslims are not allowed to marry representatives of another faith, and therefore, a Muslim, especially after marriage, will insist on you converting to Islam (one husband began to spud during pregnancy and she went to the mosque from her family home (md )), especially if you live in his homeland. If you remain in Orthodoxy, then the question arises of your participation in the Sacraments (the advice of a priest is needed, a friend was banned from Communion). Before marriage, I strongly advise you to read about the duties of a woman in an Islamic family. Decide for yourself, but think very well. I think getting married is not a sin, it will be a sin if you have to renounce Christ.
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thanks for that
for discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us at Facebook And In contact with
Beauty standards have existed at all times. And with the development of cinema, the first style icons appeared, which are worshiped and imitated even today.
website I decided to briefly tell (and show) you how the images of the “ideal woman” have changed over the past 100 years.
1910s: Time for change
In the early 1910s, the "ideal woman" was considered a modest beauty with ringlets, like Mary Pickford. But after the end of the First World War, many men were shocked to see their wives with short hair when they returned home. Girls became more liberated, did not hesitate to use cosmetics, and vamp women became popular heroines of silent films.
1920s: Flappers
By the early 1920s, long hair was completely out of fashion. At the same time, the cult of "eternal youth" was born and new cosmetics appeared to help hide the flaws in appearance. Brightly painted "grown-up babies" in short, straight dresses with a low waist - this is what the girls of the jazz era, or flappers, looked like.
1930s: Glamor
“Ideal” in this decade were considered tall and slender women with regular features, curly hair, long eyelashes and thin eyebrows of perfect shape. It was in the 1930s that what would later be called glamor first appeared - thanks in large part to film stars such as Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo.
1940s: Strong women
Many women of the 1940s were not up to beauty for obvious reasons: these years fell on a terrible war. Even those who were less affected by these events - for example, Hollywood actresses - looked rather reserved at that time.
1950s: Emphasized femininity
The 1950s will forever remain in history as the era of new look and pin-up, which gave us Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and other beauties. Thinness was not welcomed, because it reminded of past hardships. The canonical image of that time is lush hips and high breasts along with an aspen waist, narrow shoulders and slender legs.
1960s: Petite beauties
The ideals of female beauty of the 1960s are thin to transparency Twiggy and fragile Nancy Sinatra. Admittedly, they looked great in miniskirts and dresses. Not surprisingly, some girls specifically went on a diet to be like their idols.
1970s: Disco divas
Painful thinness and pallor are in the past - for a while. In the 1970s, slender but strong girls who play sports and dance a lot, such as actress Farrah Fawcett and singer Donna Summer, became popular.
1980s: Aerobics Queens
Athleticism was also welcomed in the 1980s: at this time, the craze for aerobics began. Outrageous divas Madonna and Grace Jones were among the recognized style icons, and many diligently copied their image. And, of course, it could not do without crazy hairstyles that we all remember.
The ideals of female beauty are constantly changing and what was considered the standard 100, 50 and even 10 years ago will now seem ugly, not to mention the changeability of views throughout history. Throughout time, women have constantly changed their appearance and often rushed to extremes from excessive fullness to painful thinness in order to correspond to the ideal inherent in a particular period of time. Beauty standards will change endlessly, such is human nature, and what kind of figure will be “fashion” in the next decade, one can only guess.
Ancient Egypt
Let's start with the basics. In ancient Egypt, gender equality reigned, society was liberated and free. But at the same time, there was a very definite ideal of beauty of the era - a slender body with an elongated waist and narrow shoulders, long black hair, classic strict facial features and expressive eyes lined with black paint.
Ancient Greece
We can see the ideal of female beauty in the surviving ancient Greek sculptures, in particular, in the sculpture of Aphrodite. At that time, the idea of physical perfection was actively promoted, the Greeks even calculated the formula for the beauty of the female body, which shows the ratio of the size of the feet, hands and other parts of the body to each other. The face of a Greek beauty should have been symmetrical and even, with large eyes and a straight nose. The ideal body type was considered to be a "pear" with a small chest, but voluminous hips.
Medieval ideal of beauty
In the Middle Ages, the attitude to appearance compared to antiquity has changed a lot. Beauty during this period was considered sinful. But a certain canon still existed. The ideal of beauty of the Middle Ages is a girl with very pale, snow-white skin, thin and emaciated. The oval of the elongated face is framed by blond wavy hair. The mouth is small and modest, the eyes are large and slightly protruding. To achieve pallor, the girls not only rubbed lemon on their faces, but also made bloodletting. In the Middle Ages, many also shaved off their eyebrows. So the portraits of the beauties of those times look rather strange.
Renaissance
Classical examples of the ideal of feminine beauty in the Renaissance are the Mona Lisa and the Venus by Botticelli. Still the same pallor and high forehead, but the facial expression becomes more mysterious, and the hair is now loosely styled. The magnificent figure becomes one of the main values of this period. Full arms, wide hips, soft and flowing features - all this was appreciated in the Renaissance. As for the hairstyle, blond wavy hair was ideal.
Baroque and Rococo
The 17th and 18th centuries dictate new rules for female beauty. One of the main ones is a thin waist. The era of corsets is coming, some girls manage to shrink their waist to 33 cm. At the same time, a very deep neckline always goes with a corset. Beauties carefully protect themselves from the sun, because snow-white skin is in fashion. Ladies in lace ruffles resemble beautiful porcelain figurines.
19th century
The time comes for the Empire style, which appreciates natural beauty. The girl should be slender, in a light muslin dress, with large eyes and white skin. At the same time, in the 19th century there was another direction - puffy dresses with tight corsets and complex styling. In both styles, the so-called painful femininity was in fashion: pallor, weakness and fainting.
20th century
This era gave us many different ideals of female beauty. In the 20s, an androgynous appearance came into fashion - the corset was forgotten, boyish figures with small breasts were valued, and for the first time in many centuries, women began to wear short haircuts. In the 30s-50s, in the era of golden Hollywood, femininity returned to fashion . An hourglass figure with a thin waist, large breasts and voluminous hips, lush styling with curls, long eyelashes, blush and scarlet lips - Marilyn Monroe and other actresses were the ideal beauty of the era.
In the 60s, the most popular model was Twiggy with her slender body, long legs and small breasts. In the 80s, the ideal changed again: aerobics came into fashion, as well as supermodels - tall, athletic and fit. By the 90s, the ideal had shifted a little to the other side, painful thinness and pallor came into fashion.
21 century
The modern ideal of beauty is a rather complicated concept. Today, health and harmony are valued, but not anorexic thinness, as in the 90s. A flat stomach, large breasts and a firm butt are considered ideal. Which, as we know, is practically unattainable. Fortunately, more and more people are leaning towards the idea of natural beauty in all its diversity. But it will take a long time for this idea to really become popular.
