I'm curious about what/who all of you reference when you think of the "normal" woman's body type?

I'm using a celebrity (albeit a minor one) here as they are easy to recognize and there are pics online of them.

For me it's Anna Silk, star of "Lost Girl". I think a lot of women would find her "fat" and would prefer her co-star (the skinny one - Keesia something).

http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/***...xauTK8J1qhkxg8

Dagmar (inquiring minds want to know)

I think her body is amazing. And if you saw her wiggle into the skin tight leather pants she wore in the pilot, there's no way anyone could call her fat!

Wow, I would NOT say that celebrity is fat, at all! I think the confusion is that she most likely has a large frame and is curvy, which, unfortunately confused with being fat (and that's certainly not the case!). I don't know the show you're talking about but if she's playing opposite a small framed actress than she could seem larger than she really is (think Christine Hendricks playing opposite Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men.

I actually posted about body types awhile back with the basic conclusion that it's freaking hard to put most women into a simple category because their's a lot at play. I'd even say that about weight and size perception. I also think you have to say be careful with the idea that men or women would prefer a certain body type over another. We all have our preferences, which are extremely hard to put into a box.

I think Hilary Duffs body (Before baby) is the idea body type. She has curves in the right places, but she is still toned..


http://theblemish.com/images/2011/08...11-500x751.jpg

I think Anna Silk has a great body. But honestly, there are many beautiful body types out there. I have seen beautiful pear shaped bodies, apple shaped bodies, super lean, super curvy, and everything in between. I am not sure what I would consider "normal", since I think that is kind of relative.

I will say though... I think women shoot for a trimmer look than most men actually prefer. I have a lot of male friends, and most of them agree, they like a woman with a little meat on her bones. I saw a youtube video of a girl one day (kind of sad) and she was in a bikini and she was asking what she could do to "look better" in it. She thought she was overweight (she had a little wiggle in her thighs and butt) but the comments were mostly guys, and they were all like "Don't change a thing!!!"

I guess I would consider her "normal", and the guys loved her. But I bet there are some people who would look at her and consider her "fat" because of their own perceptions of "normal".

I think Jessica Alba has a nice body, and so does my hubby, lol. She's trim and healthy, but not overly thin. I like that look and personally, that's what I am shooting for. But I am pear shaped and I know my butt and thighs will never be as thin as hers, lol.

I don't think celebrities can be used as a real example. The camera is deceiving. Remember all the flack Alicia Silverstone got while filming Batman? Some people weren't happy because she was too heavy. I've seen her costume and she was TINY. Hollywood standards aren't realistic.

I think we need to be very careful about calling some people's body types "normal", as the implication is that other people's body types are "abnormal".

I admit to being baffled by the question - I simply couldn't come up with "normal". Bodies come in such a huge variety, that an "average" no longer resembles any one individual in my head. Weird!

The celebrity who best exemplifies my ideal body type is Kendall Jenner, half-sister to the Kardashian gals. She's very tall and slender and doesn't look as curvaceous as her more famous siblings, but when you see her in a bikini she has a pronounced waist, flat stomach, nice square shoulders, and probably B cup breasts. Nothing wrong with her face, either.

Freelance

Oh dear. Seems my use of the word "normal" (though I did put it in quote marks) has put many people off. And I didn't ask for the universal normal, or a particular standard, just people's own personal opinions.

At the risk of digging my grave even deeper I take shovel in hand. My meaning for "normal' is taken from the Oxford dictionary.

Normal: conforming to a standard: regular, usual, typical.

Let me try this with a different wording. In my opinion Anna Silk has a typical woman's body. She has breasts, hips, and thighs. For me, and I speak only for me, that is what I think of when I think of a woman's body. Curves, with muscle underneath.

An athlete might think a stocky musuclar body is typical. A fashion model might think tall and thin is typical. A weightlifter etc. etc.

I was only asking for people's opinions. I have no IRL people to query so I did it here. I'm curious about what other people think about all sorts of stuff in the world, is all.

Sorry, I meant nothing offensive! or to imply that anything other than Anna Silk's type was "abnormal" "atypical" etc.

Dagmar

Dagmar, no sad smilie needed! We all interpreted the word our own way. My version of "normal" is the statistical one of the symmetrical bell curve. I can't put a name to an example, but your description sounds right to me, for a Z=0. Of course, to put that in perspective, we'd have to spin that bell curve out of 2D space and make an imploded helmet shape to account for other parameters ...

OK, Becky.

Everyone find a space, please.

And we'll do it ... now. Spin out! Helmets on! And ... implode!

Beautiful.

(Just teasing, friend. Normal distribution and the 2D bell curve is one of my work tools. I'm going to be thinking about how to use it in 3D, and how to pitch it to clients, all week! Thanks. )

(Also thanks to you, Dagmar, for coming back to us and explaining. )

I don't spend a lot of time looking or thinking about other people's looks. But if pressed for opinion, I think she looks fine there. But she's a celeb and they work in a "looks" industry and work much harder to keep a "look" than the average person.

What I reference as "normal" is "more or less average" subdivided by decade or age.

Like my age in mid 30's? That's the typical average mom person you'd see at the grocery store or park or school pick up line with her kids.

That a different look than the teens you see hanging around campus, coffee shops, the mall, etc.

A.

Silver, the idea is that the bell curve in 2D is one axis. A 2nd bell curve is rotated 90 degrees out of the paper (a traditional Z axis). The helmet shape comes from an infinite number of Z's rotated around Y. The inversion comes from a 4D motion through time. So we could have bell curves for hips, boobs, waists, weight, bone density, yadayadayada and show how it moves with time. OK, I'm going back under my rock now.