Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I liked looking at those pictures. I grew up around women who dressed like that. My mother dressed like that!
I noticed that most of those women were not obese. If you took a group of present day middle aged women, more of them would be obese. I don't think the way they dressed was horrible. They were certainly dressed up! I also noticed their relatively toned and slim legs
The hairstyles and the way the color film made their faces too pink is what makes them look bad, IMO. in some of the shots, the faces took on the cast of the chair they were sitting in. In many of the shots, the faces were simply too pink to be realistic. In one shot, a face seemed to be as washed out as the wall around her face. So, I think the unnatural facial colors are part of what make these women look bad.
The hairstyles of the early sixties were not flattering to most women. Most of those women in the photos were permed. Some obviously colored their hair. But I do remember those hairdos. Their daughters were doing the "bubble" haircut, that would evolve into the bouffant look. One of the women has already adopted a full bouffant! All of these ladies will go in that direction within a year or two. But now they look like refugees from the 1950s.
It is impossible to tell much about their makeup because the skin tones are so off. It does look like they were wearing makeup though. Not all women of their ages, at that time did so.
I was surprised to see so many pairs of black heels. And all of their clothing was in very good taste for that time period.
The furniture surrounding them looks newer and in the middle class taste of the times. I was fascinated by the corner of a painted cupboard. That looked interesting. I saw only one cigarette! It was a hand holding a cigarette at the side of a pic of one of the women.
I think this was a group of friends or a women's club. Someone liked the women and wanted pics of them I think they are kind of sweet.
My mother died at age 80 with skin so smooth that the mortician was almost spooked over it. She was notorious for her non-aging skin (genetics, plus she avoided the sun). But, in spite of it, she still looked "old" to me due to the clothes she wore, and her disposition. I do think attitude contributes much to how one appears to others age-wise.
I think a bunch of these were taken at parties. In the comments below the pics someone noted that the same pink chair shows up several times with different women in it. Out of curiosity, I looked, and that's true. But the only reason I read the comments in the first place was that I noticed EVERYBODY seemed to be in a chair or on a couch. I thought: Why is the same basic arrangement showing for every single picture? I know women at least in the 70s (I don't remember the 60s) did things other than sit on living room chairs and pose, LOL. So yes, they nearly all look like dressed-up party pics and many, from the same party.
I do remember from the early 70s that you could tell the "older moms" (the ones who for whatever reason got a later start) because of how they dressed and how their hair looked. I mean it was really really notable. Indeed, assuming the pics in this photo essay really were from some point in the 60s, note that a bunch of the hairstyles look very, very 40s or early 50s. (A couple look distinctly 60s but definitely not all.) So again, it shows that stuck-in-a-time-warp thing that we even see occasionally, but probably much less so, today: women getting older but holding on to the hair and sometimes clothing styles of their youth, which again ages people as it "dates" them to a certain time period.
I see a few crinolines and the like...unless this was the VERY early 60s, those were absolutely dating these women as well, and a couple of other clothing styles, also, which look very 40s. (Again, not all.)
You'll note, too, that the pale face, bright or very dark lipstick look makes and made everyone look older. Look at a high school yearbook from 1955 or thereabouts. So many of the "girls" have way swept off the forehead hair, very dark lipstick, pale faces and pearls. They all look like their in their 30s and it sure as shoot isn't because of no Botox.
I am 69. I can vouch for the hairstyles looking like the early 1960s. Not the 1940s, or the early fifties. The dress styles look like the early sixties as well. Young girls were changing the hairstyles of the day. For awhile I wore the same version of hair as my mom. Then I wanted the "bubble" cut which started us down the road to the bouffant. In just a few years all these women will be having their hair set every week with back combing. Many of them wifi keep doing this for a couple of decades.
I liked looking at those pictures. I grew up around women who dressed like that. My mother dressed like that!
I noticed that most of those women were not obese. If you took a group of present day middle aged women, more of them would be obese. .
Half of them were obese. Depending on where you live, YMMV, but most women these days who are "middle-aged", if that is still defined as 40-60, are in good shape. These days, it even seems absurd to consider the 40's as part of "middle aged", they're so young-looking. Even at 50, it's not that unusual for women to look like they're in their late 20's or 30. Even if their face shows their age, their bodies are in good shape. In my observation, women tend to go through a noticeable change closer to 60, but even then, many maintain a healthy weight. Women are much more active these days, than back in the 60's and earlier. Back then, you never saw women at the gym, in the weight room, or out jogging. Times have changed for the better.
I'm fascinated with the legs, which a couple of people have now mentioned. Was it from more walking? I do recall doing much more walking in, say, the 70s...even the grown-ups. Parking blocks away and walking to an event was really nothing to us, and walking to town or whatever was pretty common, especially for families that only had one car. My sister, mom and I often walked to the grocery store to pick up two or three bags of groceries and walk them home. Nobody "worked out" (yet...that was more of an 80s thing), yet body shapes even when heavier, seemed curvier/less just all-around flabby/apple then, unless the women in these 60s pics all had girdles on.
Half of them were obese. Depending on where you live, YMMV, but most women these days who are "middle-aged", if that is still defined as 40-60, are in good shape. These days, it even seems absurd to consider the 40's as part of "middle aged", they're so young-looking. Even at 50, it's not that unusual for women to look like they're in their late 20's or 30. Even if their face shows their age, their bodies are in good shape. In my observation, women tend to go through a noticeable change closer to 60, but even then, many maintain a healthy weight. Women are much more active these days, than back in the 60's and earlier. Back then, you never saw women at the gym, in the weight room, or out jogging. Times have changed for the better.
I don't know about stats by age group, but we definitely are heavier overall now than we were then. I do remember that we expected (in the "old days") for "middle aged" people to pack on some pounds compared to younger people.
It could also be regional - a lot of those pictures appear to be taken in the same place/the same living room, you even see the same chair over and over again, so it was probably at one specific party, and then a sprinkling of other examples.
I don't know about stats by age group, but we definitely are heavier overall now than we were then. I do remember that we expected (in the "old days") for "middle aged" people to pack on some pounds compared to younger people.
It could also be regional - a lot of those pictures appear to be taken in the same place/the same living room, you even see the same chair over and over again, so it was probably at one specific party, and then a sprinkling of other examples.
I think definitely there's a regional aspect to it, even now. Those photos look like they were taken in the Mid-west, or possibly the South. And those are the regions where people are heavier today, too.
Aren't you in California now, Jerzz? Do you really see more overweight people, these days, than when you were a kid? I sure don't. What I see is middle-aged women who are much more toned than middle-aged moms used to be. 40- and 50-something moms in my world were not overweight, but they were a little flabby; there were midriff issues. Nowadays, their daughters may weigh the same as they did at that age, or more (due to muscle mass weighing more than fat), but they're much more toned, and so they look slim and young, vs. "middle-aged". If you put a photo of middle-aged moms from the 60's, 70's, 80's together with their daughters at middle age, the daughters would look a generation, or even 2 generations, younger. There's a stark contrast between then and now.
Half of them were obese. Depending on where you live, YMMV, but most women these days who are "middle-aged", if that is still defined as 40-60, are in good shape. These days, it even seems absurd to consider the 40's as part of "middle aged", they're so young-looking. Even at 50, it's not that unusual for women to look like they're in their late 20's or 30. Even if their face shows their age, their bodies are in good shape. In my observation, women tend to go through a noticeable change closer to 60, but even then, many maintain a healthy weight. Women are much more active these days, than back in the 60's and earlier. Back then, you never saw women at the gym, in the weight room, or out jogging. Times have changed for the better.
But I KNOW we didn't have the "fitness culture" back then. My parents were kinda weird; in the 1970's we were called "health nuts". While other kids were bringing Wonder Bread sandwiches & Twinkies to school in their lunch box, I had Tofu & Seaweed. Nobody knew what a Vegan was but thats what we were. "No animal products" didn't just mean "no meat"; it meant no dairy either.
And NOBODY went "to the gym" ... A "Gym" meant either the place we went as little girls for gymnastics or a place with free weights & a boxing ring where men went.
Even in 1982 when I was 13 years old, I was out running my daily 3 mile run, people used to ask me if I was "okay" because they thought I was running "away from" something! And once, a police officer stopped me & made me get in the back of his car so he could drive me home out of "concern".
I noticed in the OP's article that while there were heavy-set women; the "heavy" "sat" on them in a pear vs apple way.
I never paid much attention to the "hormones in the food!" controversy but now I'm starting to wonder if maybe there is something to it.
But I KNOW we didn't have the "fitness culture" back then. My parents were kinda weird; in the 1970's we were called "health nuts". While other kids were bringing Wonder Bread sandwiches & Twinkies to school in their lunch box, I had Tofu & Seaweed. Nobody knew what a Vegan was but thats what we were. "No animal products" didn't just mean "no meat"; it meant no dairy either.
And NOBODY went "to the gym" ... A "Gym" meant either the place we went as little girls for gymnastics or a place with free weights & a boxing ring where men went.
Even in 1982 when I was 13 years old, I was out running my daily 3 mile run, people used to ask me if I was "okay" because they thought I was running "away from" something! And once, a police officer stopped me & made me get in the back of his car so he could drive me home out of "concern".
I noticed in the OP's article that while there were heavy-set women; the "heavy" "sat" on them in a pear vs apple way.
I never paid much attention to the "hormones in the food!" controversy but now I'm starting to wonder if maybe there is something to it.
I know; it seems contradictory, doesn't it? Some of the obesity now seems to be in kids who are inactive, and eat or drink a lot of sweets and carbs/chips/snacks. My mom didn't allow us to have soft drinks/pop, nor Twinkies, though she loved white bread, and thought anyone who fed their kids whole wheat bread was a "health food nut" (this included her own sister).
When I'm in New Mexico, I see adult overweight/mild obesity, but it's in the Hispanic population, and to some extent, in the Native American population. The "Anglos" around me are in good shape, at all ages. In California, I don't see obesity (except for occasionally, among the 60+ cohort), but then...I don't shop at WalMart. Where are all the obese people? According to the maps I've seen, they're concentrated in the Mid-West, the Appalachian states and their border regions, and the south, though numbers have increased in the West and NE, as well, but not as much. Going by my observations, I'd guess that in the West, the increase in obesity has been among low-income families. This isn't a scientific survey, just my own casual observations.
I think definitely there's a regional aspect to it, even now. Those photos look like they were taken in the Mid-west, or possibly the South. And those are the regions where people are heavier today, too.
Aren't you in California now, Jerzz? Do you really see more overweight people, these days, than when you were a kid? I sure don't. What I see is middle-aged women who are much more toned than middle-aged moms used to be. 40- and 50-something moms in my world were not overweight, but they were a little flabby; there were midriff issues. Nowadays, their daughters may weigh the same as they did at that age, or more (due to muscle mass weighing more than fat), but they're much more toned, and so they look slim and young, vs. "middle-aged". If you put a photo of middle-aged moms from the 60's, 70's, 80's together with their daughters at middle age, the daughters would look a generation, or even 2 generations, younger. There's a stark contrast between then and now.
I am pretty far from the city proper (Los Angeles) but here in the burbs, I see many, many, many overweight young adults - MANY more than I ever saw as a child. That was in New Jersey, the 'burbs of NYC; this is the San Gabriel Valley, one of (many of) the 'burbs of Los Angeles. I don't know if that makes a difference.
I also see many, many more chunky/chubby, as well as definitively very overweight teens, and overweight children.
When I was a little girl there might be ONE overweight child in an entire class or even an entire grade. And "overweight" then was not "overweight" now - I see many chunky kids whose parents say their children are fine and not overweight. As far as adults, if you were the kid with the "fat mom" (I'm sorry, everybody), then everyone made fun of you. The overweight parent under the age of 50, 55-ish or more was absolutely the exception. A few had maybe 10 or 15 extra pounds on them, nothing like what I see today, here where I am now (as well as what I was seeing 11 years ago in the northeast before we left).
My son, today, is considered frighteningly skinny by almost everybody, including, just recently, his teacher, who has written to me fretfully. All my friends think he's about to blow over in a stiff wind or perhaps drop dead from lack of body fat. Sight exaggeration, but only slight. Here's what he looks like:
ALL of us looked like this in the 70s, nobody batted an eye.
Now, as for very fit women in particular (I don't see as much of this in men, I see more extremes but still many, many overweight men here and a good few in the city as well): *by contrast* to overweight women, yes, the women here who are fit, are ridiculously fit. It's an extreme. The "fit" have obviously very toned/muscular arms and the like. I feel as if just average-healthy, non-gym bodies are, well, not unicorns, they do exist, but they may actually be the smallest percentage, when I think about it. Hard to say, I just know they're definitely not the majority, but when I was young, they were, all the way up to, as I said, middle-age, generally, when a percentage of people would gain, I don't know, maybe 10 lbs., maybe 20. And then a few would get outright very heavy.
I believe in Los Angeles proper there are probably more thin/fit adult men and women than here. But I've been into the city and you absolutely do see overweight people, definitely more than I ever recall seeing as a little kid, and kids do notice stuff like that (we definitely did in the 70s, when it wasn't non-PC to outright pick on people, unfortunately).
Last edited by JerZ; 09-15-2016 at 01:46 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
