What Do Men Prefer: Women With Curves or Women Who Are Model Thin?

What Do Men Prefer: Women With Curves or Women Who Are Model Thin?

My pal Ericka Andersen over at The Sweet Life wrote a post bemoaning the fact she thinks extraordinarily thin is in.

I really do HATE that the first row of bodies is the more envied body than the second.

There was a time in my life when I thought all I wanted was row 1. I had dreams of an ultra flat stomach with hips that slithered into virtually anything beautifully. I’d look over pages of magazines and promise that tomorrow would be my first day on the path to real thin. It was pathetic. And…I never got there.

I got somewhere better: here. My body is similar in size to the women in row 2 and I am happy with it. Sounds silly but the path to acceptance began when I was about 15 pounds+ heavier and watched “Real Women Have Curves” — America Ferrera’s big break.

…I don’t know if many celebrities are just naturally thin or not. I don’t know how hard these women work or what they eat to maintain this physique. I wonder how food/exercise would compare with the starlets of the 50s? How have men’s preferences changed — or not — from back then?

…I know my happy weight is 145-150. Sometimes, I get it down but I can’t maintain. Sometimes I go over, but that’s always when I know I’m overdoing it in an unhealthy way.

Yes, folks, this is what Hollywood, women’s magazines, and fashion mags have done to women. A woman like Ericka, who is not only extraordinarily hawt, but is also an honest-to-goodness MARATHON RUNNER, is looking at her body and thinking she doesn’t measure up to our society’s standard of beauty.

Too heavy? REALLY? This is supposed to be Yecccchhhhh?!?!?!

Isn’t it bizarre that as we’ve gotten heavier and heavier (63% of Americans are overweight), the women being presented as ideals have gotten thinner and thinner. That’s the thing, though; “the first row of bodies is the more envied body than the second,” but only amongst fashion designers, TV producers, and women who are competing to reach what they view as a feminine ideal.

Sure, most people, male and female, tend to prefer partners that are in shape to ones that aren’t — but, the women on row one aren’t really in better shape than the women in row two. They just have different body structures.

Additionally, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense for women to try to compare themselves to professional actresses and models who often have different body shapes, are genetically gifted, exercise for hours a days because they make a living off of their bodies, and then STILL get airbrushed when they end up on the cover of magazines.

Despite all the trash talk you read on the internet (Oh geeze man, her elbows are really pointy!), very, very few men are going to look at a woman who’s in pretty good shape or better and think she doesn’t measure up physically. Moreover, while there are some men who prefer extremely thin women, most men DON’T prefer them to women who have some curves. So, in answer to the question in the post’s title, men do generally prefer women with curves to women who are model-thin. Of course, that doesn’t mean really thin women are unattractive. They are attractive, but MOST men are not so “type driven” that they only like a woman with a particular body type. In other words, most of the men who prefer a woman who looks like Christina Hendricks to a woman who looks like Paris Hilton still don’t think Paris Hilton is ugly just because she’s not their ideal body type. So, if you’re a woman who’s in good shape, don’t feel like you have to look like a 19 year old runway model who hasn’t eaten anything in the last two weeks to turn a guy’s head. That’s just not true.

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