SubscribeDo You Pursue an Hourglass Figure?
Forgive the double entendre.
When it comes to the hourglass figure - many women pursue it, and it seems that men pursue women with it.
Psychologists at the University of Texas (obviously with way too much time on their hands) have reviewed hundreds of years worth of literature and concluded: Men lust after slender-waisted women.
Apparently it all comes down to Waist-to-Hip ratio. A slender waist is seen as "a core feature of feminine beauty that transcends ethnic-morphological differences".
...waist size was always described as narrow or small; there were 66 romantic descriptions of waist in these three centuries, and every one of them referred to a narrow waist. "They all seemed to like women with a low waist-to-hip ratio."
Here's the reality check on the hourglass phenomenon. Only 8.4% of women actually have an hourglass figure (source).
See another post about how fashion designers have been slow to catch on to changing body shapes.
More like this in Body Image · Mar 15, 2007
I fall between the hourglass/spoon group. But I notice if I loose too much weight around the hips, then the ratio is not so noticeable. So I have always tried to maintain a weight that keeps the shape I like. Obviously, according to 'medical standards' that puts me 'overweight' by about 10-15 pounds. Who cares? The important thing is to be happy within yourself.
But the point is, the hourglass figure means curves...curves mean a healthy amount of natural female padding=fat.
I never saw a skinny girl with an hourglass figure. They all loose their waist to hip ratio and look rather straight (no noticable waist) - rather rectangular or V shaped - which used to be the desireable shape for a man.
ReplyNot all slim girls or girls with a model like build are rectangles, it is completely possible to be both thin and an hourglass! I am complete proof of this - I am tall and slim (5'10", 121 lbs) and possess an hourglass bordering on spoon shape(30 c/d, 25, 37). I know that my hips are are a little over 3 inches larger than my bust, but I have broad enough shoulders to balance that out (plus having a bit of a bubble butt ups my hips measurement.
The funny thing is that I still get noticed and compliments for the same thing that got me attention when I was younger - My ass!
ReplyI am a triangle and I really hate it because pants are imposibble to fit. It is either waist to tight and hips fit or waist fits and across the hips to big. I really don't know very many women who are happy with the shape they are, we just have to make the best of it, after all what choice is there?(Excluding plastic surgery which even that would take a whole lot of work)
ReplyYou either have it or you don't. Fat has nothing to do with it.
Replyi agree. i have always had an hourglass figure at a high weight and lower weight. i recently lost 20 pounds, and although i am slimmer and more toned, i still have the same ratio, just smaller measurements ;)
ReplyI agree with William 100%.
I can't believe that somebody got paid to do this study.
ReplyActually, a woman who is a natural hourglass CAN indeed lose it to fat; especially if they develop PCO, hyperinsulinemia or diabetes and their fat stores are now targeted toward the mid-section as visceral fat and not the hips as subcutaneous fat.
ReplyHmmm - Maybe. I think muscle tone is sexy, and the configuration is less important... That's one of the auxiliary pleasures of going to yoga classes, good looking women with muscle tone.
ReplyHm. Usually women with alot of muscle tone have no boobs though...
ReplyErrr...not entirely true. I do yoga everyday and have plenty of lean muscle mass...and i'm a 32DD. So yeah...lol
Mouse &hearts
Replywell she did say usually...i'm pretty sure most women who do yoga aren't as well endowed as you are.
Replydo u think so?
ReplyI disagree... who is sexier? Salma Hayak (hourglass) or Penelope Cruz (ruler)? They are both beautiful women but I think that Salma Hayak is 100% more inately sexy.
ReplyHmm, according to this I have an hourglass figure...everyone says that to me..but I think it means "big hips" and not "small waist." When I lose weight I'm more of a rectangle.
ReplyShoutout to the triangles! WHOOP!
ReplyLOL!
I would have no problem with hour glass if it didnt make my but look bigger and my hips wide. As feminine as that may be Im not into people saying "nice waist, fat@$$"
I much perfer the triangle look actually.
Replynothing emaciated.
For most women with small bust, I guess that the best they can get is a rectangle. Pursuing hour glass figure would mean physical changes for the body to attain the desired figure.
ReplyTHIS IS BULLSHIT.
all this and that about the hourglass figure makes more and more teenagers like me want to shed a shit load of weight to be perfect and have the perfect figure
i say kill the models or at lest give them food for crying out loud.
SHEEEEEESH ALL THIS WEIGHT TALK PISSES ME OFF.
ReplyI so agree. Down with MODELS!!!!!!
ReplyOk, women are not perfect and i didnt say they had to be? but losing a little weight to stay healthy could never hurt. And the whole model thing? wats that about? I'm not a model, but what do you have against them? models are people too. You say they dont eat... and all that stuff, but you don tknow for sure! From my point of view, models eat just as much as any other person. but they exercise? They have feelings. So next times you wanna drag on someone, think of it from their point of view.
ReplyReading a study about how hourglass figures are more attractive doesn't make teenagers want to lose weight. You can't make that generalization, because I'm a teenager and it makes me want to keep my figure rather than lose weight and lose the figure as well.
ReplyAnd models never did anything wrong. Most are rectangle shaped, anyways, like prepubescent boys. Being skinny doesn't mean you're an hourglass--it usually means you're a rectangle.
Besides, there's no harm in staying healthy, and having a nice waist is usually a good indicator of that.
I think women with any shape, as long as they look healthy, look great. I think Salma Hayek (hourglass) is just as sexy as Drew Barrymore (triangle) and as Kristin Davis (spoon) and as Sharon Stone (rectangle). There is no ideal shape, that is all b.s. And BTW, Salma is a surgically-enhanced hourglass...
Like Claire S., I'm in the minority, but I'm so fixated on my big hips I don't really think it means "small waist" or "nice bust", I look and can only see hips.
ReplyI totally agree! Im an hour glass shape but all I see are these HUGE hips!
From the side i'm like, "looking good there." Turn around to face the front and "oh my dear god!"
It makes it so hard to buy any type of trousers - I buy some that fit around the hips but then they are too big around my legs.
Having a small waist maybe good but not always do you wear clothing that accentuates the waist so you just end up looking bigger then you actually are because of the hips!
ReplyI don't think you have to lose weight to get an hourglass figure...I think (well for me at least) that gaining weight actually makes the hourglass figure stand out more. Of course, I don't want to be overweight, but I'm not sure losing weight can get you the shape you want. I think it has a lot to do with bone structure.
ReplyI remember a few years back watching 20/20 and they were saying that some scientist found that though history, art depicted the perfect hip to waist ration as 0.7, or something like that. And even with paintings of more natural looking women, their hip to waist ration was almost exactly the same as kate moss or naomi campbell today.
ReplyI used to be more spoon-shaped, but when I lost weight, I lost most of it through my hips and now I'm more of a rectangle or triangle. My husband would prefer me to gain a little weight so that I look more "proportionate", as he likes to think of it. Mostly, he thinks my hips are sexy and wants them to come back!
ReplyUnfortunately all the women in my family seem to be shaped less like an hourglass and more like a Zen Alarm Clock. Doh!
ReplyA broadhipped woman learn from some society's standards that broad hips always equate to 'big bottom' and this is undesireable. Move to Italy or Spain, you'll feel much better. Here, a 'bottomless' or 'flatbottomed' woman is pitied a little: 'Yes, lovely woman...too bad she has no bottom'.
Excellent points and true.
Then, dear, perhaps you are at the wrong blog?? A blog on diets will invariably be about figures. Perhaps stop trying to fit into someone else's idea of perfect...there isn't really one...as you can see by the opinions here. Try to discover who YOU are and work to polish out that.
ReplyVery solidly in the hourglass figure. Am when I'm slim, am when 20 lb overweight like I am now. (Measurements 42-31-42 now) My mother and sister were hour glasses as well... when my mother was slender, she was 36-24-36) The only time it fades away in my family is when you switch from overweight to obese-- we gain weight all over, but when that it gets to the point of obesity, it concentrates more in the stomach.
I think figure type, even ignoring overall size, makes a difference. But those curves are sexy!
ReplyIt is arguable that if a woman can maintain an hourglass figure- even if she is technically overweight- she still probably has a healthy heart- as it is hip waist ratio that has been shown to be the most accurate indicator of that! Suck it up ladies- but an hourglass figure is an indicator of HEALTH. Hourglass and Spoon are considered the most healthy.
I would like to point out that historically this was achieved through a process called TIGHT-LACING or Waist- training. Someone should do an article on it.
ReplyIf you also do a search on corsetts, there will be many links to follow. And some bizarre, but fascinating photos.
ReplyI'm still pursuing the hour glass figure. Funny thing, you can have an hour glass figure and still have 30" waist, right? Just a fat hour glass. Anyway, I think that some guys like the triangle figure more, figures.
ReplyIt used to be at least 10 inches less than the bust should be the waist measurement and 12 inches larger (than the waist) was the hip measurement. Those were 50's standards for the hourglass. Eventually this was upped to 12 inches less the bust was the waist...so 36-24-36 was an ideal size with 38-24-36 (M. Monroe) was said to drive the men mad. Remember this was the sweater and tight belt era (also corselettes a la Liz Taylor, G. Brigida).
ReplyThe book "Survival of the Prettiest" mentions that research, among other things. Kate Moss at the height of her thinness and Mae West both have the exact same waist-to-hip ratio, which is 0.654 or some precise number like that.
Yes, Rhonda, I'm one of the "fat hourglasses" myself. Right now I'm 40-26-38, but I was taking in the last of my fat pantsuits yesterday and it was 44-27.5-45, so it was even more exaggerated when I was fat.
ReplyYou can definitely lose your hourglass if you lose (or gain) too much weight. There's a physical limit to how small your waist can get because you have internal organs in there. So if your hips and bust shrink and your waist is already at it's smallest point, you're going to get rectangular, that's just how it works. My waist is 26" and my hips are only a 34" and my bust is only 32". When I gain weight, it usually goes to my hips first, increasing my W/H ratio.
ReplyI don't believe that I actually measured myself after reading this! I'm pleased to report that I'm a perfect hourglass. I feel so much better about my big hips. Now all I have to do is move to Spain or Italy so I can feel better about my big butt. ;-)
ReplyIts all pre-programmed. Attraction to a certain ratio of hip to waist has everything to do with how men view a woman's fertility (same goes for breasts) as we evolved. I think, historically, women with larger hips were suppose to be able to give birth easier (and therefore more often) and thus were more desirable than women with smaller hips, among other factors, like health and age.
I guess its all just primal instincts that make men think a bustier and/or hippier woman is sexy and for women to want to be busier/hippier in order to attract men. But, then are cognitive abilities clash with our instincts, leaving us confused about what things should or should not be. Sometimes, we just can't help ourselves, but this causes those who "don't have it" to do things that were suppose to be otherwise impossible without technology (e.g. implants).
ReplyHourglass, it can be done:
1. Muscle can be built or lost in the hips/glutes
Reply2. Muscle can be built or lost in the abs/obliques/lower back
3. Muscle can be built or lost in the chest/lats
4. Fat can be lost over the entire body
5. Fat deposit locations can be selected based on hormone levels, which can be manipulated naturally through diet and stressors
I've read about the effects of certain herbs which act as precursors to estrogen. Can you eleborate on the last point you make here about targeting certain areas (hourglass-hips and bust) for weight-gain here? I always thought a health hormonal balance was necessary for a good figure, but please do elaborate....oh, and are you male by chance??
ReplyHe is male.
If increased estrogen made women gain weight on the hips and bust only, all women who go on the pill wouldn't be complaining of their waists increasing.
ReplyKailash - I take it you're a guy? A woman can certainly gain/lose muscle in her chest/lats, but this will have a neglible effect (if any) on her bust measurement.
The only way a woman can significantly change the size of her breasts is through gaining/losing weight or surgery. And of course, if a woman gains a *lot* of muscle and has a low level of bodyfat, her breasts will shrink - which is why many female bodybuilders have breast implants.
Reply34B/C - 24 - 37? is that a spoon or an hourglass?
ReplyAccording to the ratio I mentioned earlier you would be an hourglass, not spoon. You have a very small waist when compared to the hip size. And I would think with your small ribcage, but full cup sizes that you should be very happy with those proportions!!
ReplyAlso, weight gained on the hip measurement won't visually create an hourglass shape, since it will be at the back, at the butt. Even if the woman gains a couple inches and that makes her a perfect hourglass, when you look at her from the front or back it won't look like one... you'd need to look at her from the side to see that increase. That is why I think measurements are silly, there are so many factors, like cup size, whether she has large hips or just butt, and even the shape of the ribcage. Some people just have ribcages that are shaped more straight up and down, giving them a more rectangular look, and some people have v-shaped ribcages, which gives them an hourglass look even when measurements say otherwise (makes it hard to wear button-down shirts though....)
ReplyI meant weight gained through weight training. Weight gained through fat will deposit at the hips.
ReplyACTUALLY: Because of the fact that we have two eyes and depth perception muscle gain on the glutes or fat gain on the hips will BOTH be perceived as an increase in an hourglass or spoon figure (dependent on weight distribution at the waist).
ReplyEchoing what Spectra and Patrcia noted upthread...there are men who like big hips/bottoms with a smaller waist, my boyfriend being one of them. (lucky for me!)
And oh, I would like to wake up with a Zen Alarm Clock--those chimes are so neat!
ReplyWhat Jan posted is true...a good reminder. Someone with a generous 'southern porch' - one that spreads more to the back than noticable out to the sides - will still fill up that tape measure, but may not look much like an hourglass. True, one simply does need a decent hip bone to hip bone width to distribute those curves. Fortunately, this is runs in my family (wide hip bone spread and smallish rib cage). Fortunately too, all of us feel blessed.
But I thought this was obvious. We are talking, afterall, about a particular shape and needed some ratios to play with.
If it looks like an hourglass, it is most likely an hourglass...er...hourglass shape. ;>D
Ummm...isn't there something about if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it is a duck? ;>D
ReplyI disagree with the study... I'm pretty sure more than 8.4% of women have hourglass figures. It doesn't matter if the woman is overweight, thin, or somewhere in between. Even if a woman has gained weight to the point that the waist has gotten somewhat lost, there is still her natural figure underneath. Besides, all hour glass figures have their own problem areas... for some it may be their thighs, love handles, and personally for me, its my lower abs.
The major problem with the study is that its ignoring that there are certain areas that most people of these shapes gain weight. Hourglass figures gain on the upper and lower areas of their bodies. Spoon gain in the lower area and are slim in the upper. You can have the lower measurements that this study says is of a spoon, but if you've got problems with your triceps, back, and have boobs you are STILL an hour glass.
ReplyLat muscles would most definately create an hourglass appearance, particularly when viewed from behind. They are THE V-shaped muscle group between shoulders and waist. BTW, I forgot to mention shoulders, for adding to a V-shaped upper body.
How often do you look at someone only from the direct front, though? There are side views, back views and particularly isometric. Mostly we see people at some sort of angle. Especially when we are slyly checking them out.
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ReplyThe term Hourglass refers to a shape of a woman seen from the front, not a woman who is a rectangle with a bubble butt. That is called... bootylicious, I guess, if you wanna use the Beyonce dictionary. It is not called Hourglass.
The study refers to waist-hip ratio. The captions for diagrams above refer again to circumference.
Where are you getting this "from the front" definition?
Yes, you can attain an hourglass shape.
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