What The ‘Ideal' Woman's Body Looks Like In 18 Countries

What The ‘Ideal' Woman's Body Looks Like In 18 Countries
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What does a "perfect body" look like? It depends who you ask - and where they are.

UK online pharmacy Superdrug Online Doctors recently created a project called "Perceptions Of Perfection" that features 18 photoshopped images of the same woman. The company hired designers from countries around the world to photoshop a stock image via Shutterstock to reflect the beauty standards of their specific countries.

"Widely held perceptions of beauty and perfection can have a deep and lasting cultural impact on both women and men," a Superdrug press release reads. "The goal of this project is to better understand potentially unrealistic standards of beauty and to see how such pressures vary around the world."

The company asked 18 designers from 18 countries spanning five continents to photoshop an image of a woman to fit their perception of the culture's beauty standards. Below is the original image before the designers photoshopped it:

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The designers photoshopped everything from the size of her waistline to shoe and hair color to mold the photo into the ideal body type of that culture.

Out of the 18 designers, 14 were women and four were men, according to Superdrug. In order to highlight a woman's perception of her culture's beauty standards, Superdrug asked the four male designers to photoshop the image based on messages women in their countries receive about what an ideal body should look like.

Some of the images appear only slightly altered, while in others, the original image is barely recognizable. Photos from China and Italy were dramatically photoshopped to have very thin legs and arms. Images from Colombia, Mexico and Peru reflect the traditional voluptuous beauty standards of those areas with tiny waists, large breasts and curvy hips.

Scroll below to see what the "perfect woman" looks like in 18 countries.

Head over to Superdrug to read more about the project.

Perceptions Of Perfections Across Borders
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How To Teach Positive Body Image
#1(01 of10)
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I kept superficial comments about looks on the low down -- theirs, mine and other peoples. Looking well-kempt and co-ordinated was noticed rather than looking beautiful. (credit:Getty)
#2(02 of10)
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I didn’t ban Barbies or princesses, but I added to the mix some real proportioned dolls. Check out Lottie Dolls or Lammily. (credit:Getty)
#3(03 of10)
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Story time included books like The Paper Bag Princess or anything recommended on the Amelia Bloomer Project created by the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association.A Mighty Girl is another great site. It's tag line is: the world's largest collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls. (credit:Getty)
#4(04 of10)
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I made sure my children understood the word diet meant the food you eat. A monkey at the zoo has a diet and so does an athlete. Diet doesn’t mean losing weight.We all have to watch our diet to be healthy. We need to be in a healthy weight range as recommended by our doctors, not our peers or magazines. (credit:Getty)
#5(05 of10)
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As puberty approached I discussed genetics, hormones and the challenges that I faced, as had my mother before me. (credit:Getty)
#6(06 of10)
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My girls used their allowance to buy "J-14" and "Tiger Beat" magazines, but I would give them a subscription to "New Moon" as my Christmas gift. Also check out "Shameless" magazine. (credit:Getty)
#7(07 of10)
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We discussed how the human form comes in all shapes and sizes. Check out Queen Latifah and Beyonce. They are both proud women who embrace their shape and size. (credit:Getty)
#8(08 of10)
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When their bodies blossomed we looked online at what REAL breasts look like. Reality is very different from the porn sites or fashion magazines. (credit:Getty)
#9(09 of10)
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I educated my daughters about how models are Photoshopped by watching and discussing the Dove Self-Esteem campaign. (credit:Getty)
#10(10 of10)
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As they entered into high school we discussed friends who were developing eating disorders and who followed fads such as “pro-ana”, “thigh gap” and “thinspiration.”We talked about the political power to create change, as demonstrated by some magazines and organizations in the fashion industry that banned size zero models from the runway after several deaths of severely underweight models. (credit:Getty)