Ratio of size between man and woman

Discussion in 'Quackenbush's' started by VYFan, Apr 25, 2012.

  1. VYFan

    VYFan 2,500+ Posts

    Do you think people gravitate toward some size ratio that makes them comfortable in picking out a mate?

    For example, I am 1.4 times as heavy as my wife. It seems about right to me (obviously). My aesthetic is that it would seem odd to be double the weight of my wife (which some couples are), and it would also seem odd to me to be of equal weight (again, which you see sometimes).

    So, do you have a relative size ratio that you think you gravitate toward for your own preference, and do you think people in general do that?
     
  2. omnipresent

    omnipresent 1,000+ Posts

    So your girlfriend rollsa Honda, playin'workouttapesby Fonda But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda My anaconda don't want none Unless you've got buns, hun You can do side bends or sit-ups, But please don't lose that butt Some brothers wanna play that "hard" role And tell you that the butt ain't gold So they toss it and leave it And I pull up quick to retrieve it So Cosmo says you're fat WellI ain'tdown with that! 'Cause your waist is small and your curves are kickin'
     
  3. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Is this somehow related to a midlife crisis?

    I once dated a girl whose size I would classify as extra-medium. Not marriageable but fun for a while.
     
  4. georgecostanza

    georgecostanza NBHorn7’s Protégé

    It doesn't really matter to me what height a woman is. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be around a woman taller than me, but I don't have that issue come up very often (I'm 6'3"). I would prefer a mate who was 5'6"-5'8"ish (just seems logical for some reason), but it's not like I find 5' girls unattractive because of their shortness.

    My dad is a foot taller than my mom, btw. Just in case you wanted to do some extensive research on the subject.
     
  5. Texanne

    Texanne 5,000+ Posts

    Anyone who selects a mate based on body size is an idiot.
     
  6. GT WT

    GT WT 1,000+ Posts

    In reply to:


     
  7. RomaVicta

    RomaVicta 5,000+ Posts

    I'm still working on what the distinction is there, GT.

    I was defensive tackle sized in high school and was interested in one girl who was maybe the tiniest girl in school, certainly one of the tiniest.

    I may have nipped that interest in the bud because I had some notion of the aesthetic absurdity of seeing the two of us together. I don't know if she had any interest or similar thoughts about me or the aesthetic considerations.

    For me, the spectrum of attractive women has always been broad.
     
  8. Dogbert

    Dogbert 500+ Posts

    Take an Evolutionary Psychology class at UT and you'll learn what men look for in women and what women look for in men, both as mates and as long term partners. Fun class.
     
  9. Gadfly

    Gadfly 250+ Posts

    I wonder about that, Dogbert. I am not very “masculine” looking. I’m tall, but thin with almost no body hair (even under my arms). I have been called “feminine” by bullies in middle school. Oddly enough, the women who are attracted to me tend to be bisexual – which is fun. I actually dated one girl that turned out to be lesbian – ha that wasn’t fun.

    Anyway, I don’t think we choose what we are attracted too. I’m attracted to thin, petite blondes. Don’t care about breast size, and I don’t recall making that conscious decision. Having a cute face is my number 1 thing.

    I have had a few gay men get crushes on me, too. That grosses me out. I don't like seeing men naked. I don't like men in porn either. There have been some parties, though... They got pretty crazy, and who knows what you're doing in the dark. TMI yet? [​IMG]
     
  10. VYFan

    VYFan 2,500+ Posts

    Well, see, you just never know where a thread is going to go.

    My question is proportion. Lots of men, for example, would have a proportion in mind for a woman's body, such as hourglass figure, or whatever. I've also seen studies where they try to quantify what is in a "pretty" person's face that people respond to--gathering ratios between nose length, space between eyes, etc.--and they come up with these math relationships of what people respond to.

    Anyway, along those lines, I wondered whether there was an aesthetic in terms of size or weight ratio that we consciously or subliminally gravitate toward in coupling up. For me, I've seen that I have ended up in the 1.4/1 range usually, even though the factors in making these choices were multiple, complex, and contradictory, and I never intended to be making a choice on that basis. (Some choices were so bad that I might as well have been using that as my first criterion!)

    Anyway, I just wondered whether in your own history and experience, you observed that you gravitated toward a ratio like that, even if it was unintentional or accidental.
     
  11. chango

    chango 2,500+ Posts

  12. Dogbert

    Dogbert 500+ Posts

    I'm not an expert, just someone who attended the class. Men tend to look for physically attractive women of child bearing age. Women tend to look for men who have resources, be they physical ability or financial or earning potential. They want someone who can protect them and provide for them and the couple's children. Both sexes that have significant emotional or physical issues (healthiness cues) tend to be lower in attractiveness. Women tend to like men who are a few years older than them and taller. Men tend to want to have sex with every woman of childbearing age and the more attractive the better. Men are easy. Women are pickier because they usually bear the burden of child rearing.
     
  13. Crockett

    Crockett 5,000+ Posts

    I'm big and tall and always was more attracted to women who were 5'9 or taller. They didn't have to be big boned, but looking frail was a definite turn off. Then after my first marriage I had a short, fun relationship with a petite woman and I found a broader range of women attractive.
     
  14. elface

    elface 250+ Posts

    dogpiling on dogbert's submission.

    from wiki...

    The concept and significance of WHR as an indicator of attractiveness was first theorized by evolutionary psychologist Devendra Singh at the University of Texas at Austin in 1993.[15][16] Singh argued that the WHR was a more consistent estrogen marker than the Bust–waist ratio (BWR) studied at King's College, London by Dr. Glenn Wilson in the 1970s.[17][18]

    Some researchers have found that the waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a significant measure of female attractiveness.[19] Women with a 0.7 WHR are usually rated as more attractive by men from Indo-European cultures.[20] Beauty icons such as Kelly Brook (0.70), Jessica Alba (0.70), Marilyn Monroe (0.63), Salma Hayek (0.67), Sophia Loren (0.63), Raquel Welch (0.64), Bo Derek (0.65), Jayne Mansfield (0.59), Elizabeth Taylor (0.58) and Brigitte Bardot (0.57) typically have ratios close to 0.6, even though they have different weights and heights. Betty Brosmer had a waist-hip ratio of (0.51) and Sabrina (Norma Ann Sykes) had a natural waist-hip ratio of 0.47. Preferences may vary, according to some studies,[21] ranging from 0.6 in China, South America, and some of Africa[22] to 0.8 in Cameroon and among the Hazda tribe of Tanzania,[8][23][24] with divergent preferences according the ethnicity of the observed being noted.[25][26]

    It appears that men are more influenced by female waist-size than hip-size:

    "Hip size indicates pelvic size and the amount of additional fat storage that can be used as a source of energy. Waist size conveys information such as current reproductive status or health status ... in westernized societies with no risk of seasonal lack of food, the waist, conveying information about fecundity and health status, will be more important than hip size for assessing a female's attractiveness."
    —Journal of Biological Psychology, [27]
    To enhance their perceived attractiveness, some women may artificially alter their apparent WHR. The methods include the use of a corset to reduce the waist size and hip and buttock padding to increase the apparent size of the hips and buttocks. In an earlier attempt to quantify attractiveness, corset and girdle manufacturers of the 20th century used a calculation called hip spring[28] (or hip-spring or hipspring), calculated by subtracting the waist measurement from the hip measurement. However this calculation fell into disuse because it is a poor indicator of attractiveness; for example, a hip spring of 10 inches (250 mm) would likely be considered quite attractive for an average-sized adult woman, but a child or petite woman with the same number would more likely be seen as malnourished.
     
  15. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    I once dated a girl, then a few months later her mother. What was I supposed to do(?), they were both hot.
     
  16. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin


     
  17. swTXSU

    swTXSU 100+ Posts

    I'm 6'2 and my wife is about 5'3". We have twin boys that will be seniors in high school next year. One is 6'3" and the other one is 5'10".

    Never really thought about size/height when we were dating, but it is kinda funny how the kids both turned out taller than mom.
     
  18. IowaHorn

    IowaHorn 25+ Posts

    Ratio means nothing. I have an ideal woman's figure that I'm most attracted to, and that has stayed constant for 25+ years, regardless of my own weight fluctuations. At the start of college and today, because I'm slim, the ratio is 1.6. When I stopped exercising a few years back and gained 35 lbs, the ratio was 1.95.

    Put another way... I'm 6-1 and 160 lbs, and all my adult life my brain is wired to be most attracted to women at 100 lbs, for a ratio of 1.6:1. When I got up to 195 lbs, I didn't magically start thinking 120 lb women were ideal. If the ratio theory is true, if I ballooned to 250, would I suddenly find 156-pounders irresistible??

    Of course, with me at an obese 250, I'm sure the pool of women who were attracted to me would tend to be on the heavy side too... but that's a whole 'nother discussion on self esteem, survival of the fittest, and settling for a mate, etc...
     

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