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The Sexiest Women In The World: Will The Global Economic Slowdown Change Our Perceptions Of Beauty?
FHM, the acceptable face of highstreet smut, have published their annual run down of the top 100 sexiest women in the world. As usual the vast majority of their countdown consists of high-profile, well-airbrushed celebrity 'babes'. What else could be expected? After all, how else would FHM peddle their rag to the pubescent boys and leering lowbrows who thoroughly read it before shuffling guiltily to their bedrooms for a 'nap'.
It could be argued that the FHM Top 100 is an interesting insight into the communal male psyche. As a woman has children, settles down and drifts from sex symbol to mere mortal she inevitably slides down the scale. Take Angelina Jolie for example, previously a top ten stalwart, as she gathers children from all corners of the globe, her position steadily slips.
The perhaps chauvinistic rundown of this year's top totty also serves as an easy way to see just who is currently considered beautiful and so see what body shapes are currently fashionable. It's easy to think that modern standards of beauty have always applied, that big chests and tiny waists have always been en vogue but this is simply not the case. Beauty, like all things, has fashions which wax and wane over time and is dependent on all manner of surprising factors, including economic climate.
A question which simply begs to be answered is just where did the modern perception of beauty come from? When did these nubile, half-naked creatures become so appealing? How different is modern beauty to that of days gone by?
It's no great secret that what we consider to be attractive today would not have been appreciated by previous generations just as their great beauties are lost on us. Cheryl Cole, for all her lovely big hair and disarming mannerisms, would be considered a prostitute just a century or two ago just for wearing make-up, never-mind some of her more adventurous costume choices.
Victorian ideals called for women to be chaste and delicate in order to be beautiful. The result was porcelain-faced, childlike women, creatures so delicate they would be lost in the modern age of binge-drinking, fake tan and overt sexuality. So, when did the change happen? When did we go from Lillian Gish to Keeley.
Between the early 1900s heyday of Ms Gish and the modern age of super-sexualisation we have seen perceptions of beauty change several times. The childlike slowly evolved into the feminine, for the two are not as far apart as you might think, and the austerity of the Victorian era gave way a new, softer yet less fragile woman who wore draping, elegant fabrics.
Almost as quickly as this type of femininity arose, it disappeared as the 1920s fashion for androgyny took hold. Women flattened their busts, wore their hair in the short bob style. Stars of the period like Greta Garbo used this androgyny as a way to appear mysterious, and very, very modern. Conforming to theories that times of economic plenty breeds thinner, less feminine women, the 1920s were a time of prosperity that has been likened to the boom of the 1990s, another time when waif-like women were favoured.
Fast forward to the post-war era of recovery and economic hardship and lo and behold, the fashion was for tight sweaters and pointy bras, the binary opposite of the breast-strapping seen in the 1920s. The ultimate 1950s icon, Marilyn Monroe would be considered chubby by the harsh standards of today, and one only look to the public's reaction to Britney Spears appearing onstage with a slight tummy to see just how unforgiving current standards can be.
As the global economy continues to spiral into financial armageddon we will inevitably see more curvaceous women gain popularity. Last year's FHM top 100 featured skinny celebrity Keira Knightly in the top ten, while this year there is not a single woman in the top ten who would be considered the slightest bit androgynous.
If history is to repeat itself (and it usually does) then when next year's FHM top 100 comes out we will see even more curvy women, with a focus on femininity. You wait and see.
For those wanting to compare and contrast, the FHM 100 Sexiest Women for 2009 are:
1: Cheryl Cole
2: Megan Fox
3: Jessica Alba
4: Britney Spears
5: Keeley Hazell
6: Adriana Lima
7: Elisha Cuthbert
8: Kristin Kreuk
9: Anna Friel
10: Freida Pinto
11: Ana Ivanovic
12: Abbey Clancey
13: Scarlett Johansson
14: Angelina Jolie
15: Kate Beckinsale
16: Summer Glau
17: Frankie Sandford
18: Marisa Tomei
19: Thandie Newton
20: Zoe Salmon
21: Natalie Portman
22: Olga Kurylenko
23: Katy Perry
24: Jennifer Aniston
25: Ali Larter
26: Jessica Biel
27: Hayden Panettiere
28: Eliza Dushku
29: Eva Mendes
30: Louisa Lytton
31: Amber Heard
32: Gemma Arterton
33: Diora Baird
34: Konnie Huq
35: Doutzen Kroes
36: Keira Knightley
37: Kimberley Walsh
38: Jennifer Metcalfe
39: Sarah Michelle Gellar
40: Carla Bruni
41: Eva Longoria
42: Marissa Miller
43: Rihanna
44: Rachel Stevens
45: Maria Sharapova
46: Jessica Jane Clement
47: Emma Watson
48: Kelly Brook
49: Holly Valance
50: Alessandra Ambrosio
51: Katie Melua
52: Georgie Thompson
53: Charlize Theron
54: Amii Grove
55: Isabel Lucas
56: Miranda Kerr
57: Nadine Coyle
58: Nicola Roberts
59: Beyonce Knowles
60: Nicole Scherzinger
61: Alexa Chung
62: Alesha Dixon
63: Jessica Simpson
64: Madeline Zima
65: Christina Aguilera
66: Jennifer Garner
67: Vanessa Hudgens
68: Odette Yustman
69: Malin Akerman
70: Heidi Klum
71: Hilary Duff
72: Kristen Bell
73: Emily Blunt
74: Holly Willoughby
75: Kate Moss
76: Taylor Swift
77: Christina Hendricks
78: Emma Willis
79: Katherine Jenkins
80: Emily Scott
81: Gemma Atkinson
82: Katherine Heigl
83: Michelle Ryan
84: Victoria Pendleton
85: Carmen Electra
86: Elizabeth Banks
87: Sarah Harding
88: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
89: Lily Allen
90: Lisa Snowdon
91: Christine Bleakley
92: Billie Piper
93: Ellen Page
94: Evangeline Lilly
95: Rachel Riley
96: Gemma Bissix
97: Dannii Minogue
98: Fiona Bruce
99: Lindsay Lohan
100: Mischa Barton
About the Author Samantha is an expert Research and family breaks consultant. She is currently writing for Play and Stay and is very excited about the upcoming British summer
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