Preferred Women’s Waist-to-Hip Ratio Variation over the Last 2,500 Years
| Autor: | Jeanne, Bovet, Michel, Raymond |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
MESH: History
17th Century MESH: Sexual Behavior Sexual Behavior lcsh:Medicine MESH: History 15th Century MESH: History Ancient History 18th Century History 21st Century [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences History 17th Century Beauty Humans lcsh:Science History Ancient History 15th Century MESH: Humans Waist-Hip Ratio MESH: Beauty MESH: History 18th Century MESH: Waist-Hip Ratio lcsh:R History 19th Century History 20th Century C400 History Medieval MESH: History 16th Century C800 MESH: History Medieval History 16th Century [SCCO.PSYC]Cognitive science/Psychology MESH: History 19th Century Female lcsh:Q MESH: History 20th Century MESH: History 21st Century MESH: Female Research Article |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, 2015, 10 (4), pp.e0123284. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0123284⟩ PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2015, 10 (4), pp.e0123284. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0123284⟩ PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 4, p e0123284 (2015) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0123284⟩ |
| Popis: | International audience; The ratio between the body circumference at the waist and the hips (or WHR) is a secondary sexual trait that is unique to humans and is well known to influence men's mate preferences. Because a woman's WHR also provides information about her age, health and fertility, men's preference concerning this physical feature may possibly be a cognitive adaptation selected in the human lineage. However, it is unclear whether the preferred WHR in western countries reflects a universal ideal, as geographic variation in non-western areas has been found, and discordances about its temporal consistency remain in the literature. We analyzed the WHR of women considered as ideally beautiful who were depicted in western artworks from 500 BCE to the present. These vestiges of the past feminine ideal were then compared to more recent symbols of beauty: Playboy models and winners of several Miss pageants from 1920 to 2014. We found that the ideal WHR has changed over time in western societies: it was constant during almost a millennium in antiquity (from 500 BCE to 400 CE) and has decreased from the 15th century to the present. Then, based on Playboy models and Miss pageants winners, this decrease appears to slow down or even reverse during the second half of the 20th century. The universality of an ideal WHR is thus challenged, and historical changes in western societies could have caused these variations in men's preferences. The potential adaptive explanations for these results are discussed. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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