New York City has been a mix of cultures and people since it was the hub for immigrants throughout the 20th century. Between the late 19th and early to mid-20th-century immigrants began coming into New York through Ellis Island, the main immigration station in New York. Through this spike in immigration, New York City obtained its “melting pot” fame. People from all over the world have different body types mainly due to their genetics and the diets of their country of origin. New York City having people from all over the world come to them created an environment filled with all sorts of body types. This environment led to people straying away from perceiving one body type as the “ideal,” although there are still media outlets and social media; they are still impacted by the world around them. Even with the media, the advertisements that are seen around New York City tend to reinforce this concept of body positivity by presenting models of different body types, skin colors, and ethnicities. The world with which they interact directly over years and years can and has led these individuals to become accustomed to all sorts of body types for both men and women. For example, their views on what body types are considered beautiful would most likely be different from someone who lives in Montana where the demographic is 89% white, with little immigration to the area. These differences in perception would arise from the lack of exposure to different people from different countries those in Montana have. Perception is influenced by surroundings, by default, those with different surroundings tend to have different ways of interpreting things like beauty in body types.

Citations:

Immigration. (2015, February 26). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_immigration.htm

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Montana; Minneapolis city, Minnesota; New York city, New York. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MT,minneapoliscityminnesota...