‘Nowadays people are more accepting of all body types’

I asked my mom what ‘sexy’ meant to her when she was growing up


Almost every single person loves to hear compliments, whether it’s being called beautiful, cute, or any other form of positive adjective. To many, the most complimentary term is being called ‘sexy’. However, this phrase has evolved over time and the same people that were considered sexy 100, 50 or even ten years ago may not be considered sexy now.

In 2016, sexy is generally portrayed as a skinny, light-skinned girl with a round butt and shapely breasts with an hourglass figure. Sounds like way too much to live up to? It definitely is! Women like Beyoncé and Blake Lively embody this type, and women try to live up to them. In comparison, back in the mid-1900s, women who were considered sexy were like Marilyn Monroe. This is proof of how much the definition of sexy has changed.

To better understand the evolution of ‘sexy’ I interview two women who were teenagers in the 1980s. One was raised in America, and the other in India.

First, I interviewed my mother, Sudha Pandey. She was raised in a small town in India and grew up in a very reserved environment. Now, Sudha lives in Jacksonville, Florida as a home-maker with her family.

When was your adolescence?

Throughout  the 1980s.

Where did you grow up?

Madhubhani, India.

What was considered sexy, in clothes and body types, during your adolescence?

Having a skinny body, but definitely not as extreme as it is now, was considered sexy. As for clothes, where I grew up people wore traditional Indian wear but the tops were very fitted. Also, short hair and bangs were in.

What is your opinion on how sexy has changed over the last few decades?

Nowadays people wear less clothes and in comparison to when I was growing up, girls are skinnier now.

How do you feel about those standards?

It really depends from situation to situation, but society nowadays gives women more freedom to wear whatever they want which is definitely a good thing.

My next interview was with Sita Shah. Sita is a first-generation Indian who grew up in Jacksonville, FL. She now lives in Fleming Island, Florida as a radiologist.

Where did you grow up?

Jacksonville, FL.

What was considered sexy, in clothes and body types, during your adolescence?

Farrah Fawcett was considered very sexy – the look of long wavy hair and having a super thin, tall body type. Wearing koolat pants and wedges were also very common.

What is your opinion on how sexy has changed over the last few decades?

Nowadays, people are more accepting of all body types, not just the tall skinny type. More voluptuous women, more full women, a little more rounded. As for hair, there are more chic hair styles, short hair and pony tails.

How do you feel about those standards?

I think it is a good thing. People are more accepting of not such a rigid genre anymore – people are more open minded now.

Clearly the definition of sexy has evolved over time, and was different in different places in the world. Yet there are also some similarities between Sudha’s and Sita’s answers which clearly differ from what is considered sexy today. Just like everything in this world, even the term sexy has changed with time.