Hippies
by Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson

Jim welcomes Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson to present her hippie philosophy...

Okay, I admit it - I am a hippie. No, I've never lived in a commune; I'm not sure if I believe in free love; and I've never wished peace on anyone who didn't want it. I picked my fair share of flowers, but as a rule, I don't wear them in my hair. What does it mean when I call myself a hippie? It means I have hips - big, generous and wide hips. Being a hippie is nothing to be ashamed of.

Women have always had hips, but the relative size of an ideal pair has changed dramatically throughout the ages. Perhaps nowhere is this better seen than in the works of art left by successive generations. Leafing through a book on art history, it's easy to see the waxing and waning of ideal hip size. Based on carvings of ivory and stone found by archaeologists, prehistoric man's view of beauty revolved around the "earth mother" image: a woman with broad hips and pendulous breasts capable of mothering numerous children. These ancient people were the first hippies.

By the time of the ancient Egyptians, beauty standards changed. The women depicted in the funerary art of the Egyptians are slim-hipped and draped in figure revealing skirts. As time passed, tastes evolved. Just a few centuries later, the Greeks began to sculpt statues of women with generous curves below the belly button.

Hippies found even more favor with the artists of the Renaissance. Michaelangelo, Rubens, Botticelli and Titian all painted women who were considered great beauties. The models these artists used for their masterpieces had hips like mine. In fact, wide hips were such a popular measure of a woman's beauty that fashion actually began to emphasize them. Two centuries later, in the 1700s, dresses from Marie Antoinette's era demonstrated the evolution of the equation that big hips equals sex appeal. Hips were emphasized with enormous, bell-like panniers that held skirts out so wide, women had to pass through doors sideways.

The 19th century dawned and the definition of beauty was rewritten yet again. The exaggerated shapes were gone; dresses began to fall straight to the floor from an empire waistline. Generous hips ruined the drape of the fabric. Fortunately for the hippie ancestress that bequeathed me my hips, that fashion did not have a long run. Three decades later, with the emergence of the Victorian era, hippies were again in style. Hoop skirts, petticoats and bustles made sure that even women not generously endowed could present a picture of the feminine ideal.

Then it happened again. As the century changed, so did women's fashions. Hippie women who fit into the blowsy, voluptuous Gibson-girl mold found themselves out of style as slinky flapper dresses flattered women with small breasts and narrow hips. And once again, like so many times before, this style didn't last. Movie stars of the 1940s began to bring hips back into fashion. Mae West and Jean Harlow were among the hippiest. In the 1950s, women again donned their petticoats in order to present a full-figured silhouette.

Alas, as it has always done, standards of beauty changed once more. This time, a tiny model named Twiggy recalibrated the scale. Thin was in. And, in varying degrees, it has been in ever since.

So, what's a modern hippie to do? I've measured these hipbones of mine, and no amount of dieting will ever see them into a size 6. The definition of beauty will probably change, but I don't know when, maybe next week or sometime in the next millennium. In the meantime, I've decided that the best thing I can do for other large-hipped women and myself is to raise hippie awareness. The flower children of the Sixties stole our moniker and we need to get it back.

In this politically correct world of ours, most people realize the significance of labels and the psychological damage that a poorly chosen sobriquet can inflict. The people who used to be blacks are now African-American; those who used to be blind are now visually challenged; the bald are now follicly inadequate. I will no longer answer to the polite and not-so-polite euphemisms that currently exist. I am a hippie and proud of it.

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From:	Chris	Subject:	Hippy	2001-02-26 18:19:31
From:	beautiful hippie	Subject:	beautiful hippie	2001-08-29 04:02:59
From:	a guy	Subject:	wide hips	2001-09-08 22:45:01
From:	wasabi	Subject:	Hippies	2001-10-16 14:54:20
From:	Hung-Piece	Subject:	stolen identity	2001-11-03 01:14:59
From:	Tony	Subject:	Wide hips on women	2001-12-29 16:28:24
From:	steph	Subject:	my hips	2002-02-14 14:02:54
From:	Rich	Subject:	answer my hips	2003-02-28 14:00:48
From:	no need to know	Subject:	hips	2003-09-10 21:05:59
From:	Devlin	Subject:	big hipps are a good thing	2003-10-28 13:31:22
From:	Mark	Subject:	large hips	2003-12-26 17:42:50
From:	Ashtyn	Subject:	wide hips	2004-02-07 01:58:43
From:	Fran Velez	Subject:	Hips Make My Day!	2004-04-19 14:59:10
From:	Christine S	Subject:	hips!	2004-06-17 09:36:07
From:	Tara	Subject:	my body is gross!	2004-08-01 15:23:21
From:	James	Subject:	Hips reinforce life.	2004-08-05 18:00:02
From:	lara	Subject:	hips	2004-08-14 16:07:13
From:	Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson	Subject:	My Wee Article	2004-09-16 09:23:17
From:	Ray	Subject:	Women with wide hips	2004-11-09 14:12:01
From:	Ray	Subject:	Lara's Comment	2004-11-10 15:44:17
From:	linda	Subject:	hey u hippies	2004-11-12 20:33:19
From:	James	Subject:	Hips or...?	2004-12-30 04:40:12
From:		Subject:		2005-01-27 01:47:14
From:	gelfling	Subject:	ugh hips	2005-03-02 01:30:43
From:	Tei_opiti	Subject:	Wide hips are good	2005-04-30 00:38:47
From:	Ashley	Subject:	Hips of cousre...	2005-05-26 05:47:30
From:	sonia	Subject:	my hips are attention grabbers!	2005-08-03 18:32:59
From:	Irish Rover	Subject:	Nice Hips	2005-08-16 04:37:57
From:	hi	Subject:	normal hips	2005-09-01 17:25:00
From:	Mexican girl	Subject:	Hippie girls	2005-09-24 02:45:12
From:	Anonymous	Subject:	Men	2005-09-27 17:52:31
From:	ashley	Subject:	LOVE HANDLES.	2006-01-07 22:57:57
From:	eadon	Subject:	hips and ass part 1	2006-01-08 08:22:31
From:	eadon	Subject:	part 2	2006-01-08 08:23:05
From:	eadon	Subject:	part 3	2006-01-08 08:23:30
From:	Nicole	Subject:	wide hipped teenager	2006-02-10 03:13:07
From:	Craig	Subject:	hips	2006-06-17 08:09:51
From:	Dave	Subject:	Hips.	2006-07-09 20:43:39
From:	paul	Subject:	hips	2006-10-29 03:39:22
From:	Anthony	Subject:	Wide Hips	2007-05-26 15:01:56
From:	Daikatanox	Subject:	Wide Hips	2007-07-23 22:27:41
From:	k	Subject:	big hips	2007-08-15 23:05:44
From:	lil lisa	Subject:	i wish mine were big	2008-09-02 17:58:19
From:	Alex	Subject:	Big hips	2009-01-23 22:40:09
From:	rob	Subject:	wide hips	2009-04-03 14:36:15
From:	skybot	Subject:	wide hips	2009-05-07 23:54:39
From:	Rayna	Subject:	Appearance	2009-05-09 09:47:52
From:	Katherine	Subject:	Hippie	2009-05-09 10:30:02

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