Body Types and the British Museum

As I was standing taking in the British museum, I was thoroughly entertained. The grandeur of so many of the statues and artifacts is intoxicating. As I walked around I began to see a pattern of expected male body type and masculinity. Every statue of a man had a strong build. There was always a muscular stomach as well as broad shoulders. There seemed to be no evidence of being unfit as an accepted trait for males. I followed this theme in almost the entirety of the museum. This expectation of masculinity is continued today in the depiction of superheroes, male models, and in general the "accepted" male body form. Without the physique of so called perfection, with a strong back, arms, and legs and a chiseled stomach, it is as though a man loses his worth. This expectation of the strong male body has influenced sculptures and art for centuries, allowing a solid base for the current expectations of masculinity.
What is noticed in the statues and characterizations of women was that it is accepted and expected for a woman to have a full figure. No statues were of the current (Western) "ideal" of thin. The women of the past were seen as child bearing and their statued bodies exemplified this, a full stomach, wide hips, and full breasts were the womanly traits seen as desirable. Another common theme among the women, though not universal, was coverage of all or certain areas of the body. If a woman was nude she was many times covering her breasts or genitals. This to me established an idea of a woman being more modest, or at least an expectation of this. I found these characteristics of the statues fascinating because of our talk in classes aobut masculinity and the social expectations involved.