I'm taking a class on human sexuality this summer, and we were discussing what was attractive to men in females (we don't get to the LGBT stuff till the end of the term). Our prof was lecturing and we had a whole topic on body fat. She was actually involved in some research on it herself, but other studies have gone and shown that it is not % body fat that dictates "attractiveness" (read: who most people would spend more time looking at) but rather body shape, specifically the waist-to-hip ratio. Attractiveness in this sense is also an indicator of femininity, in terms of this study. This applies a bit in men too, but has more to do with a shoulder-waist-hip kind of ratio (she didn't give any research on this though, just speculation). Anyway, the point I found interesting was that our society puts so much pressure on being stick-thin (women in particular) when... that's really not what we want. Food for thought. I'm curious to see the body shapes of people who I'm paying attention to over the next little while. :rolle:
I had a class that talked briefly about body shape and attractiveness, and one thing they pointed out was how it was in the 50's. Take a look at these ads. Things really change over time don't they. Vintage Weight Gain Ads | Retronaut
✔ Same. I prefer my guys a little stocky. As for females, however, I did know that it's scientific that guys prefer curvier girls. Well, usually. King x
I don't really care for the skinny look at all. Give me a stocky guy with a barrel chest any day. I like the V-shaped torso, and you can have a little extra around the midsection without me minding at all.
That's crazy. My prof also mentioned how available nutrition dictates societal desire for how thin/fat women are. Was there a famine or poverty or something around that time? I'm terrible with history... :dry: Human Sexuality. Right now we're talking about the evolutionary view on things, but later we get into social psychology, love, and non-normative sexuality (fetishes, LGBT, etc.) Should be pretty interesting; the evolutionary stuff is always my least favourite to be honest Yep, that's what I meant by the shoulder-waist thing in men. It's an indicator of masculinity, basically. She said there's no real research on it because it's a "fairly obvious fact".
I think the reason stick thin has come into style is because they have the shape that fashion designers like since clothes hang off their bodies, meaning they don't have to account for how people actually fill out clothes. Most people don't seem to seek out that look.
I think your professor is onto something. Unhealthy food is so cheap nowadays, and most people's lifestyles are sedentary. Of course being thin is fashionable, because it's harder to achieve, unless you have lots of time and money. A lot of beauty standards are like that; being really pale used to be a big deal when the rich were pretty much the only people who could afford not to work outside. This is an aside, but since I'm an art history nerd, talking about how beauty standards change always reminds me of Peter Paul Rubens: [link] Those ladies would definitely not be models nowadays...
When I think about body types, I'm usually attracted to women that have curves and are not super skinny. I would be much more attracted to the women in those ads (they are still skinny) than the models of today. I'm not saying I would discriminate against skinny people.....just that my natural reaction is to be attracted to curviness. ---------- Post added 4th Jul 2012 at 01:26 AM ---------- This topic is interesting and we talked some about it in my Human Sexuality class. The professor did talk about the waist-to-hip ratio.
I like this because it reminds me of Marilyn Monroe in that she herself said she embraced her curves rather than getting skinny. I still wish we had Marilyn today...
Hehe there was a pic floating around on facebook for a lil while showing the difference between stars of the 50s and current day. Difference was ludicrous, Marilyn looked amazing! Keira Knightley looked more like.... a walking skellington.
