Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think people looked and felt better back in the old days vs now?

357 replies

wildernesswild · 09/08/2022 10:51

Currently watching videos of Olivia Newton-John (rest in peace Flowers) and I always notice people born years and years ago, maybe in the 60s/70s/80s look amazing then and now, no fakeness, I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues. Even the men groomed themselves and dressed amazingly.

What do we think contributes to our issues these days? Is it social media, processed food, unrealistic standards? I'd love to hear everyone's opinion

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Bootothegoose · 11/08/2022 10:54

MuddlerInLaw · 11/08/2022 10:47

Mixed race marriage was forbidden

Where? When?

You’re surely not talking about England in the 1960s or later? Because I was there and knew plenty of mixed race marriages amongst my parents friends.

Are you thinking of some other country?

not legally, but socially it certainly was.

One of MIL's earliest memory is having a brick thrown through the window that narrowly avoided hitting her brother (aged 6) on the head as the local yobs chanted 'bring the n out' because they had a mixed race family.

That was the early 70's.

In the late 90's/early 00's I distinctly remember animosity towards mixed raced relationships. My Grandparents had something to say when I got into a relationship with DH.

mewkins · 11/08/2022 10:58

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 09/08/2022 11:06

I don’t think using videos of incredibly wealthy people is a particularly good indicator of the health of a general population…

This is so true. Have you not watched old documentaries of normal people?

TheGraceFace · 11/08/2022 11:12

Obesity - they had nothing to eat.

MH - they’d put you in an asylum.

Cheminaufaules · 11/08/2022 11:12

Over the ages the idea of beauty changes. Back in the 70s and 80s ONJ epitomised the idea of beauty. She had that young, clear-skinned, sparkly eyes, fresh look, with a beautifully natural smile. She didn't need make-up. She was incredibly slim without looking gaunt.
Nowadays, the idea of beauty appears to be geared towards young women spending as much money as possible on lip enhancers, looking curvy, with big eyebrows and strong make-up.
The natural environment is obviously having an effect (more pollution) but it's more than likely it is the corporate environment that is setting the standard of beauty for young women nowadays.

ddl1 · 11/08/2022 12:22

Mollymoostoo · 11/08/2022 08:51

Suicide was a crime and so was homosexuality. Mixed race marriage was forbidden and unwed mothers had their babies ripped from their arms. People are tired and drained now after years of fighting to be treated with dignity.

It's easy to loo back with Rose tinted glasses but we are now feeling the effects of previous generations and clearing up mess of environmental catastrophe, high taxes and constant threat of war.

While I agree with you that the past should not be romanticized, much of what you're talking about was in the 50s and early 60s, not the 70s and 80s.

Attempted suicide ceased to be a crime in 1961; homosexuality in 1967 (though same-sex marriage was not possible till about 10 years ago). So far as I know, mixed race marriage was never illegal in the UK, though it was socially disapproved. It was illegal in many American states until the 1960s, but not here.

I do think that the idea that people looked and felt healthier in the past is incorrect. Obesity is commoner now, but is not the ONLY unhealthy characteristic that a person can have. People in the past were, for example, much more likely to smoke, and much more likely to work in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. People usually had a much shorter life expectancy.

I think that much of the idea that people in the past were healthier comes from the fact that there were far fewer elderly people when life expectancy was shorter! Also, people with health problems and disabilities were less visible. Severe problems were either rapidly fatal, or resulted in institutionalization. Milder problems were often not even slightly accommodated before the Disablility Discrimination Act, and often resulted in people leading very restricted lives, physically, socially and financially, and spending much of their time at home and outside the wider society.

Also, people may think that 'health was better in 1982 than 2022', when they really mean that their own health was better in 1982 than in 2022. Which is probably because they were then in their 20s and are now in their 60s.

Ulovememore · 11/08/2022 12:26

People looked “old” much earlier. I remember many older women were shapeless, dressed in ugly clothes, with short hair and making no effort.

ComtesseDeSpair · 11/08/2022 12:47

An example that always sticks out for me is the 90s TV series One Foot In The Grave and the portrayal of Victor Meldrew as a miserable, crotchety old man - indeed, the reference that he had one foot in the grave. Yet at the beginning of the series he was supposed to have taken early retirement at (I think) 56! Yet he was portrayed as elderly and this was presumably a completely typical portrayal of a man in his mid fifties at the time. I have colleagues older than him who are still playing sports, going to festivals, and training at the gym!

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 11/08/2022 12:59

*Suicide was a crime and so was homosexuality. Mixed race marriage was forbidden and unwed mothers had their babies ripped from their arms. People are tired and drained now after years of fighting to be treated with dignity.

It's easy to loo back with Rose tinted glasses but we are now feeling the effects of previous generations and clearing up mess of environmental catastrophe, high taxes and constant threat of war*

No, this wasn’t in the 80’s or even late 70’s. I don’t think mixed race marriage was forbidden. And my sil had ds unmarried in 81. And still has him. We just thought it was funny.

Size5s · 11/08/2022 12:59

i dunno. i thinks its a maturity thing. in the 80s i smoked and drunk and ate rubbish. i had youth on my side. however, i walked all over the place and wasnt being told what to do and where to go by social media. we looked good in pics because the ones we looked rubbish in went in the bin... not hang about in the cloud forever!
now i dont smoke, dont drink and eat well as i am a grown up, and look better than i did in my 20s.

TinaTeaspoons · 11/08/2022 13:02

All too fake now.
Fake nails
Fake tans
Silly eyebrows which look like slugs
Nose and tongue piercings
Ugly tattoos
Too much make up
Just my opinion. Olivia Newton John was an absolute beauty.

ldontWanna · 11/08/2022 13:11

TinaTeaspoons · 11/08/2022 13:02

All too fake now.
Fake nails
Fake tans
Silly eyebrows which look like slugs
Nose and tongue piercings
Ugly tattoos
Too much make up
Just my opinion. Olivia Newton John was an absolute beauty.

Because the powdered look, bright blush, neony eye shadows and eyebrows plucked within an inch if their life was such a good ,amazing look?

Styles change , oldies moan about the new looks, young people think they're the bee's knees and they know best, and they all look back regardless of the year and wonder "what the hell was I thinking?".

wentworthinmate · 11/08/2022 14:16

I think naturally beautiful people became famous (and stayed famous for decades) rather than the fake (plastic/turkey teeth) internet generation who last five minutes. You had to have a gift to make ‘it’ back in the day, now anyone can try get their five minutes of fame.

LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet · 11/08/2022 15:18

CounsellorTroi · 11/08/2022 10:53

I like cake as much as the next woman but I am often startled at the size of a slice of cake served nowadays. What's wrong with just two layers on a cake, why does it have to be about seven layers and six inches deep?

I agree they are ridiculous. DH and I usually a slice of cake when we go to a coffee shop. One coffee shop near me has toasted teacakes that are almost the size of a dessert plate.

I’ve found that lots of places do massive scones now too. I hate it - they’re soooo dry and have been baked so long it’s hard to taste the flavour. You can’t beat a lovely dainty scone

MasterBeth · 11/08/2022 15:20

MakeadealwithGod · 09/08/2022 11:09

I thought that when I saw the pictures of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta today. People don’t look like that any more.

"People" didn't look like that then. They were movie stars!

Waferbiscuit · 11/08/2022 16:11

OP did you vote Brexit? One of those people who thought things were so much better back, completely ignoring something called facts....!

antelopevalley · 11/08/2022 16:14

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 11/08/2022 12:59

*Suicide was a crime and so was homosexuality. Mixed race marriage was forbidden and unwed mothers had their babies ripped from their arms. People are tired and drained now after years of fighting to be treated with dignity.

It's easy to loo back with Rose tinted glasses but we are now feeling the effects of previous generations and clearing up mess of environmental catastrophe, high taxes and constant threat of war*

No, this wasn’t in the 80’s or even late 70’s. I don’t think mixed race marriage was forbidden. And my sil had ds unmarried in 81. And still has him. We just thought it was funny.

Gay and lesbian people could be sacked legally from jobs, denied housing, hotel rooms, services just because of their sexuality until 2010.
In practice most employers had policies protecting lesbian and gay employees, but those policies were rare in the 70s and 80s.
And it was only in 1980 that private homosexual acts between men 21 years and over was decriminalised in Scotland.

x2boys · 11/08/2022 16:47

Waferbiscuit · 11/08/2022 16:11

OP did you vote Brexit? One of those people who thought things were so much better back, completely ignoring something called facts....!

Some people have to drag Brexit into absolutely everything 🙄

FoodologistGirl · 11/08/2022 17:01

No they certainly didn’t look better. I found my old blue jeans annuals while clearing mums house and the pop stars and photo story characters all had frizzy damaged hair and oily skin, bad teeth and ungroomed beards. (That’s just the women🤣) I think now we have the ability to look better but probably some of us are too lazy. Back in the 50s & 60s ordinary people would mostly only have photos done in a studio with good lighting and be wearing their best clothes.

MuddlerInLaw · 11/08/2022 17:06

Some people have to drag Brexit into absolutely everything 🙄

And yet - my abiding memory of the England of my childhood / youth was how much more colourful life became once we joined the ‘Common Market’. It was really, really noticeable. My home life was lovely, but the Home Counties (town and country) were pretty drab for a child in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

And now look where we are …

LaDamaDeElche · 11/08/2022 20:38

I think in the "old days" people in their 60's looked really old, so no. People are much younger and more active in their older years then than now.

XingMing · 11/08/2022 21:39

Medical advances.... if you survive an illness that would have killed you in 1970, and there are tons, then you are fortunate. At my 66, my DM is alive and well albeit ageing at 87. But given her lack of contact with the NHS (apart from working for it) she is already streets ahead.

Minecraftatemychild · 11/08/2022 21:58

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 09/08/2022 11:06

I don’t think using videos of incredibly wealthy people is a particularly good indicator of the health of a general population…

This

Society · 11/08/2022 23:11

Waferbiscuit · 11/08/2022 16:11

OP did you vote Brexit? One of those people who thought things were so much better back, completely ignoring something called facts....!

I doubt it. The OP was barely old enough to vote in 2016!

Dibbydoos · 12/08/2022 08:24

I loved growing up in the 70s/80s. I would go back in a heart beat. Everyone seems self-absorbed these days.

I used Anne French make up remover, it was soo good. Haven't seen it forever, but also haven't seen anything that gets grime our of pores like that either... maybe that's why skin looked do good, lol!

Generally food was much more basic, but good - we ate at least 5 portions of F&V a day without being told we had to - there weren't take aways on every corner - and other than when my dad was home, we took busses and walked a lot!

I also hark back to the lovely summers low 20's - no heat exhaustion then!

Figmentofmyimagination · 12/08/2022 08:48

Definitely people were not as fat.64% of the uk population is currently overweight or obese. If you look at ‘beach scenes’ from the 60s you won’t see a single overweight person - of any age. Larger has just been normalised as the ‘new shape’.

Swipe left for the next trending thread