Marilyn Monroe, Mamie Van Doren and Skinny Lie
It has been a big fat skinny lie for decades.
You know, the Twiggy era. The movement that drove fashion, fitness and food fads to fanatical extremes. And magazine profits through the roof and to the stars.
This was the time when phrases like: “Thin is in” and “You can never be too rich or too thin” came into popularity. They became the developed nations’ mantras. Yet, such phrases make little sense in the realm of survival or even history. It has all been a big, fat skinny lie.
See, on the primal level, the male mind registers female attractiveness with fertility.
Attraction is triggered by the deep-seated instincts in the limbic system. This is the parts of the brain that involve survival of the being and the species. So, you cannot lie to it. On a primal level, the survival instincts know what is needed to survive and reproduce.
Too often, media and peer pressure can CON-vince the logical part of the brain to believe that stick-figures are the ideal. And that brain- washed men and women actually believe what the celebrity magazines and fashion ads tell them.
That is, until you look to history or follow the research of Dr. Devandrah Singh and the real mathematics of attractiveness.
It starts with the Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR). The measurement of a person’s waist divided by their hips will often determine their health and a woman’s attractiveness.
For instance, a 38 inch waist divided by 34 inch hips on a woman gives her a WHR of 1.1 which is both unhealthy and unattractive for her. (A man’s WHR of .9 to 1.0 is considered healthy.)
A 32 inch waist divided by 40 inch hips on a woman, gives her a WHR of 0.8. This is healthy for a woman. (WHR over 0.8 indicates an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.)
But a 0.7 WHR is even better. According to research by Dr. Devendra Singh from the University of Texas-Austin, the 0.7 WHR figure is not only evident in 2,500 year old Venus sculptures, but also in all of the Miss America winners from 1923 to 1987 and Playboy models 1955 to 1965 and 1976 to 1990. So, wide hips are good.
Now, take this deeper into the laboratory. Singh and researcher Steven M. Platek, measured brain responses of 14 men with the average age of 25. The part of the brain, the Orbital Frontal Cortex, would activate the reward centers of the brain (anterior paracingulate gyrus) when shown pictures of seven nude female bodies at random times. The bodies with 0.7 WHR consistently received more responses than figures with smaller body masses.
Let me translate:
On a primal-survival level, male brains instinctively seek the curvy female figure over the slimmer figure. Part of the male primal brain recognises the 0.7 female shape as being more fertile and able to survive than the skinny figured females.
Now the media, fashion industry, gossip columnists and those (weak-willed) politically correct males might argue differently on a conscious, intellectual level.
But, the brain doesn’t lie. Curvy figures beat out the narrow figures in brain responses.. Civilization tends to make up its own ideas.
Cleopatra and Sophia Loren would all be considered “over-weight” by 21st fashion standards. Yet, they were the most knock-down, gorgeous women of their time.
It looks like the “full-bodied” figure is women really never went out of style. Regardless of the size of dress or body parts, the Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) of under 0.7 is what attracts the male’s eye.
This same formula even applies after middle age.
Learn more: Flat Gut After 50.