Brown, thank you for such a wise post. That article didn't sit right with me and I didn't take the time to think it through.

Well, I think the underlying biological implications are interesting. A number of studies have shown that men across cultures show a preference for a specific waist/hip ratio in women....

This is attributed to a biological cause. Women's waist/hip ratio is related to fertility, which is related to.... guess what? Overall health.

Women who have truncal obesity, meaning, they carry more weight, proportionally around the waist, have increased health risks: a decreased waist/hip ratio is a marker of risk for insulin resistance, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and PCOS.

Miss Average is healthy. She has a healthy waist/hip ratio. She will usually have fewer problems getting pregnant and having healthy babies. Men, across cultures, seem to have an innate preference for this. Makes sense.

Now, of course, lots of people can and do have healthy babies in spite of a less than perfect waist hip ratio.

But, if we all strive for a healthy waist hip ratio, it will make us healthier for ourselves. That men also will find us more attractive is incidental.

It bugs me that the study refers to the size 14 women as “real” women. Playboy models are real women…centerfolds are real women…

Well maybe in India.....men in Australia a size 14.....the men in USA seem to prefer size 0.....((good luck with that guys!!!))

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/06/size...perfect_10.php

Even more shocking...ever see all 8 parts of "truth about size zero" on youtube??? Interesting watch..... No thanks....never for me!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4XWGvGYFRQ

LOL tea2, me to *giggles*

It definately depends where you go. It makes me laugh to see sizes like that because back in the days, most clothing was measured in inches espicially for pants.

SO in inches I have 32 waist which is a size 14 yet some store I am a size 12 even 10!! Its just to show that these sizes are wrong as some companies reduce the number.

No matter where I go in the world I have a 32 inches waist but depending which store and where I can go from size 10 to 16!

In my personnal experience, I always find foreigners more attracted to me than people from my background (im french canadian). Im not sure if they are just more vocal about it, but I always found that my curves were celebrated a lot more from people around the world then in my own country.

When I went to university, we had a research going on on what is considered beauty in different part of the world. It was extremely interesting as we used not only peoples opinion but also the image on TV, Magazines and drawings (some of the cultures were from africa and did not use technology)
In short, it was obviosu that in some country the image of beauty was more curvy and bountyful. The women in maagzines and on TV were very different than the one we see here.

It all comes down to personal preference... and even more ironic, *sometimes* love. :P

If that is what men prefer why do they put the super skinny women in playboy and on the cover of magazines? And why do Rockettes have to be over 5'8"?

I think the men in the study just picked the woman they would most likely ask out, not prefer to look at. They don't have the self esteem to go for the super skinny model.

That's my very cynical opinion, though.

Thanks for sharing - interesting piece

My boyfriend says he has always been most attracted to the "Superhero" type of female body- so tall, strong, curvaceous.

But if you look through his exes, you'd get the idea he's a chubby chaser (self included before I lost the weight)

However, he also says it isn't all about what you look like (gotta love this guy- 5 years with him!) and that he has always had a "one date" policy where he would go out on a date with any woman because in his words "How do you know if you like somebody without talking to them?"

Men aren't like people make them out to be. There are a lot of genuinely good guys out there who are more interested in making a real connection than simply what you look like.

Personally, I've been obese and I've been thin. I've never had trouble dating. There's somebody for everybody.

Well, either around 10% of those men weren't sexually interested in women at all, or they deliberately filtered for heterosexuality. In which case what else did they filter for? Age, presumably, if they're students, and probably social background for the same reason. Ethnicity? How attractive they were?

I'm also wondering why we never seem to hear about studies into what women prefer in men, let alone what people prefer in same-sex partners. It's 36 years since "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" was published, and we are still assuming that men are the ones who do the looking and women are the ones who are there to be looked at.

This kind of gloomy thought crossed my mind as I watched Sky Sports (sound off) from the rowing machine at the gymn this morning.

Wasn't there some thing recently where they tried to force female badminton players to wear skirts and were told, "Er, no, sod off, if people are watching us it's because they want to watch someone playing badminton"?

Ha ha. I hadn't heard that. I'm pleased and impressed. And encouraged. Thanks.

The enlightened times we live in. You'll be glad to hear that the proposed rule was scrapped. Yay for feminist badminton!