Talk:Female body shape

This article was nominated for deletion on 11 May 2007. The result of the discussion was no consensus.

Female Body Shape vs Male Body Shape

There is no corresponding article on 'Male body shape' so why do we have an article on Female Body Shape? Should either have both or neither. I also contest the usefulness of this article, as it is all over the place. veracity-or-mendacity (talk) 01:49, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Agree. Propose Merge with Human Body Shape article. JohnWycliff (talk) 23:18, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I disagree. As much as I find the bodyshape obsession disagreeable, there is much material in both pop journalism and academia dealing with female body shape, body shape obsession, and societal implications of it. It's not Wikipedia's job to police things to our liking or our idea of fairness. BoosterBronze (talk) 21:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

If you feel that an article is required on Male Body Shape then feel free to make one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.255.58.85 (talk) 09:57, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

This page is entirely pointless. If it were essentially dealing with the female body in art, culture, society etc. (as others have suggested), it would make sense, but as it is just a collection of biological facts and figures which are available in other articles, it is an unnecessary addition to the site. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.12.178.120 (talk) 02:20, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

I agree, all the biological facts are found on other pages mainly (body shape)so I would agree with a merge with Body shape. If this article contained new information on the pop culture, art culture, symbolism, sexism etc of the female body it would be worthwhile having this article. At the moment this clearly fails WP:POV as for example, there is nothing from the point of view of feminists in particularly the objectification and idealization obsesseions, how it is used in media, there is nothing about freudians who would say that male obsessions of the female body shape stems from their own mothers body shape, or even how some women make money with it. 188.223.18.19 (talk) 16:44, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Mistake in BWH Measurement section

I've noticed a mistake in the BWH measurement section. The article states that someone who measures 36A-25-38 and someone who measures 36C-25-38 both have 36" busts. This is incorrect. Someone who measures 36A has a 37" inch bust and someone who measures 36C has a 39" bust. I really can't figure out how to reword the section, though.

Fixed. 36A, 34C, both 37" bust. --AliceJMarkham (talk) 02:38, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Also, the "36" in a 36A bra indicates a 32-inch approximate rib cage measurement. When measuring for a bra, you add 4" to the actual measurement (defaulting to the tighter band if you are in-between), and, every inch above the calculated number increases the cup size, so, a 36A would have a rib cage of about 32" with a bust measurement of 37". But, I'm having trouble wording it straightforwardly rather than a correction to the misinformation. A straightforward statement with the misinformation removed would be better, I think. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.245.37.123 (talk) 19:09, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

Inflection points

I dispute this term. The page itself links to the mathematical concept of an inflection point, at which the curvature is changing its sign. The BWH are merely the local extrema of the shape. There are only two inflection points per-se, and they are basically between these three points, but the actual placement is quite irrelevant. -- Jokes Free4Me (talk) 18:58, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

I've never particularly liked the term "inflection point" in this article but hadn't found a suitable alternative. I agree with your suggestion that local extrema is probably a correct term, even though I don't really like that term per se. I'd probably be inclined to describe them as [local extrema|key measurements] or similar. --AliceJMarkham (talk) 23:25, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

I agree, inflection points is incorrect. We're dealing with two maxima (bust and hips) and one maxima/minima (waist, would be a minima for the hourglass shape and a maxima for a fat woman). Proxy616 (talk) 06:18, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Reworded to avoid use of incorrect 'inflection point'. - Rod57 (talk) 13:40, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Circular reasoning

"A low waist-hip ratio has also often been regarded as an indicator of attractiveness of a woman, but recent research suggests that attractiveness is more correlated to body mass index than waist-hip ratio, contrary to previous belief.[10][11] "

Recent "research" is subjective; there is no such thing as objective "attractiveness". Thus the people studied in this "research" reflect their own cultural bias and are as much a sign of the times as any other time. Not only is an appeal to the general idea of "research", an appeal to authority, it goes so far as to say that it is a matter of fact contrary to all other times--we've found out the truth on "attractiveness" have we? It implies that we're smarter than prior generations thus sounding as silly as other generations who thought this about themselves. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.85.183.148 (talk) 17:52, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Sexism anyone?

This article reeks of it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.113.141.160 (talk) 06:01, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Acknowledgment of variability in the figures of human females is not inherently sexist; unless you feel that the article has specific NPOV issues that need to be addressed, your comment is entirely worthless. 64.211.50.218 (talk) 20:16, 27 May 2009 (UTC)Tiktok

Masculine Female Shapes

In the "Female Shapes" section, both "Apple" and "Banana" shapes are described as "More Masculine." Later, a study shows that 46% of women are banana and 14% are apple. If 60% of women are "more masculine" perhaps that isn't the right term. Even if that were not the case, I think that terminology seems to imply that the other two body types are better/more attractive, which I don't think we want to do. Kjsharke (talk) 01:38, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Higher estrogen leads to a more hourglass- or pear-shaped figure. Higher testosterone leads to accumulation of body fat in the abdomen and less pronouncement of hips (apple and banana shapes). Hence, yes, those are more masculine. It's also why hourglass shapes are indeed considered more attractive in real life. Men seek high-estrogen women because it signifies (instinctually, of course) higher fertility. I keep telling everyone that Wikipedia is not a place for sugarcoated PC demagoguery, but no one listens, LOL... Succubus MacAstaroth (talk) 21:19, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

If your terminology is taken at face value as correct, then one can only conclude that the terms masculine and feminine are themselves flawed; as the majority of women have a "masculine" shape. Perhaps this needs addressing on the pages for those terms? ... I went to those pages. Ineed, the definition of both is not considered scientific: "Cultural standards vary a great deal on what is considered feminine." So you are both correct. Yes, those shapes may be considered more masculine and yes there's a problem with using a societal norm to solely define women's body shapes. 76.182.83.46 (talk) 07:23, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Photo removal

I've restored the photo, which was removed with the comment 'nudity unnecessary'. I think past precedent and in particular this recent conversation are a pretty clear consensus for its retention. Olaf Davis (talk) 15:39, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

It looks like you guys are still reverting each other back & forth : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Although I think the Image in question does little for the Article, labeling it "pornographic and unattractive" or "nudity unnecessary!" are not valid arguments to remove it. See WP:NOTCENSORED & Wikipedia:Options to not see an image -- GateKeeper^(X) @ 00:15, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

The worst you could do for this article is censor art which gives the reader a great example of body type. To use a clothed model would be like having a picture of a face with sunglasses in an article about eyeballs. 75.142.234.137 (talk) 12:12, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

Concerned about picture on Female body shape

This section was copied here from Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests by GateKeeperX. Olaf Davis (talk) 16:00, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Quality of nude photo

I do not object to the idea of a nude photo demonstrating an hourglass shape but I think the particular photo on display should be replaced. The fact that the model's legs are crossed drastically obscures her shape. Moreover, were her legs uncrossed, I think we would find that she does not have an especially hourglass-like hip-to-waist ratio. PetiteFadette (talk) 07:06, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Pictures - is there a decent one available with body hair?

I notice that all the pictures illustrating this article are of women with a weird absence of body hair. I know this has been conventional in some painting traditions, but this article isn't just about those traditions. I think this article would be more useful if at least one of the pictures featured a woman with something approaching normal levels of body hair. But looking at the article, I see the pictures (other than the abstracted diagrams) have been (tastefully) selected so that they are all classical paintings. Does such a classical painting exist that shows some body hair, since I don't want to disrupt the article? 86.164.66.4 (talk) 22:43, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Redirects to Female body shape article

There are a number of redirects to this article. Per the Principle of least astonishment (WP:REDIRECT#PLA) these terms should be mentioned at the beginning of the article and they are not. I think many of these should be changed and would like to get everybodies input on this before changing them. Here's my suggestions

• Amazonian build → don't know, leave it for now, maybe delete it later.
• Buxom → soft redirect to Wiktionary using Template:Wi
• Curvy → soft redirect to Wiktionary using Template:Wi
• Volupshious → redirect to Big Beautiful Woman as it describes voluptuous
• Voluptous → redirect to Big Beautiful Woman as it describes voluptuous
• Voluptuous → redirect to Big Beautiful Woman as it describes voluptuous
• Voluptuousness → redirect to Big Beautiful Woman as it describes voluptuous

Does anybody have any input before I update these redirects? - Hydroxonium (talk | contribs) 07:11, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Seeing no objections, I have changed the redirects to those listed above. Anybody is free to change them back if they feel the need. Please keep in mind the Principle of least astonishment from WP:REDIRECT#PLA. Thanks - Hydroxonium (talk | contribs) 13:26, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

Link to eating disorder pages

I think that since this page talks a lot about 'ideal' body image, and because there is already so much pressure on women and girls from the media to have that ideal body even if very few people /do/ have it, there should be links to the Anorexia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa) and the Bulimia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulimia_nervosa).

Srjohnst (talk) 15:14, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion to change name of article

I think that the article should be rename "Female figure", which is probably a more commonly used term. Ewawer (talk) 07:54, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

sagging breasts

i understand that the sagging of breasts is due to a lack of mammary glands, and that there is evidence that wearing a bra does not help reduce it. in any case there is no citation for the sagging section — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.56.250.210 (talk) 05:57, 20 November 2011 (UTC)