Posted on 12/03/2008 8:36:45 AM PST by Lucky9teen
An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says.
While pop culture seems to worship the hourglass figure for females, with a tiny waist, big boobs and curvy hips à la Marilyn Monroe, this may not be optimal, says Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah.
That's because the hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist.
So in societies and situations where women are under pressure to procure resources and otherwise bring home the bacon, they may be less likely to have the classic hourglass figure, Cashdan hypothesizes in the December issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Curve crazy
Until now, scientists (and apparently Western society) thought a curvy figure trumped other body shapes. The idea was based on results from medical studies that suggested a curvy waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 or lower (meaning the waist is significantly narrower than the hips) is associated with higher fertility and lower rates of chronic disease.
In addition, past research has revealed that men prefer a ratio of 0.7 or lower when looking for a mate. The preference makes perfect sense, according to evolutionary psychologists, because the low ratio is a reliable signal of a healthy, fertile woman. Along those lines, Playboy centerfolds tend to have a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.68, Cashdan found.
However, women around the world tend to have larger waist-to-hip ratios (more cylindrical than hourglass-shaped) than is considered optimal by these medical and social standards.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
This one sorta looks like my wife. You can find plenty more here: Varga Girls
“This one sorta looks like my wife.”
Hopefully the resemblance is closer than the one I claim to Brad Pitt...
Her pants look too big for her. :O)
Both the apple and the pear have a lezzoid bowser cut; where did you get that?
> Hopefully the resemblance is closer than the one I claim to Brad Pitt...
(big grin!!)
Do these pants make me look fat?
I can honestly say, no, the pants don’t make you look fat.
in their mid to late 30’s
to each his own man...they think skinny is disgusting....and so do I (and I’m female - jsyk).
google images?
This is nothing more than this professor trying to justify her own dissappointments that result from her concentrating onher career and now having regrets.
That’s the one. I was about 12 the first time I saw that and was absolutely smitten. Still am.
In the old fashion sense, if there’s a good spread in the hips, childbearing is easier.
Porker: 
Same girl.
Being fit is sexy. Being fat...is just being fat.
I thought this was about women, not Hottentots. ;)
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