Not everyone is meant to be a stick....

What I am saying here is that not all women are meant to be stick thin. Although I think this is what a lot of women strive for through weight loss. I could be very well wrong but it really seems thats what a lot of the younger women on this site are going for. I think a lot of beautiful women in history have been curvy such as Marylin Monroe and Betty Paige. I mean when did having an hour glass shape become the crime known as "the pear shape?" Isn't the female body designed to have curves for child birth, hence the reason we have hips which give us this shape? I know every body is different but I think with the way the media shows all these stick thin women a lot of women have lost sight of how beautiful they are even though they are not a string bean with no butt and hips. I'd like some opinions please! Are hour glass shapes still sexy or am I insane because I love my hour glass shape?!

i love my hourglass shape...by losing weight i'm trying to emphasize it, actually--i'm naturally hourglass-y, but as i gain weight, the fat hides my waist...whenever i start to loose a little more weight...my bf comments on how hot my hourglass shape is

I think it's just a whole "it's black or white" thing. Either you're emaciated or obese. I know too many people who think that way.

 

My boyfriend did the same thing! I just don't get why some women would not want to have the curves they are blessed with. I understand its about weight loss and being healthy and everything but at some point I think people start to lose sight that we have a natural body composition for a purpose. Also, that you don't need to be itty bitty tinnie tiny to be sexy and/or beautiful. I dunno, I just woke up with this all in my head this morning for some reason and wanted some opinions.

I think that many times an hourglass shape becomes an apple or pear when the woman gains a significant amount of weight.    I had a lovely hourglass in my late teens and early 20s, until I started gaining weight.  At +40 pounds, I was an apple.  +80 pounds, I was a tent.

Amen, sista! I'm a natural hourglass as well and I would be bummed if I dropped the boobs and hips along with the spare tire and saddlebags. And honestly, men are naturally attracted to hourglass figures. It's instinct to want wide hips bc it signifies child bearing abilities.

An hourglass shape and a pear shape are pretty different. I'm such a pear and I don't really like it, if my bust measurements were to increase I'd have more of an hourglass and I'd be much happier/feel much sexier. Instead I have a really tiny bust and unproportionate hips along with this spare tire

Original Post by lillysmominpa:

What I am saying here is that not all women are meant to be stick thin. Although I think this is what a lot of women strive for through weight loss. I could be very well wrong but it really seems thats what a lot of the younger women on this site are going for.

I couldn't agree with you more!  I have been having my own 'thoughts and issues' about some posts that are beyond outrageous, not to mention hideously unhealthy.

I guess the only answer is to ignore the posters with whom we all know are being unrealistic (even after 10+ other helpful, healthy posters have offered wonderful, sage advice) and go on and support those who truly wish to gain knowledge, self esteem, confidence, and support from people in the same situation.

My 0.02

I agree with the poster who said that an hourglass shape and a pear shape are not the same thing. I actually went from 129 to 110 to lose the little bit of pear I had and acquire an hourglass figure. I still have definite curves: they are just in proportion now.

But that being said? Certainly, people come in different shapes and sizes. And some women carry off the pear shape spectacularly. On my 5' 3 1/2" small frame it didn't work, but I have seen women who look fabulous with hips that are a bit wide for their frame.

In the end, the important thing is to be healthy and confident.

2 things:

I remember watching a Biography on Petty Paige, and I remember them saying that she was obsessed with exercise (which was actually very rare for that time period).  I remember it being WAY beyond health consciousness.  So, clearly at the time she was not happy with her curvy figure either.

Second, my husband said something SO disturbing on Sunday.  I was lying on the floor in my underwear doing my back exercises.  He was like "you better stop that or I'm going to attack you."  I said why, and he said "cause when you're sitting like that, I can see your ribs, and it is really sexy."  WTF?!  Being able to see someone's ribs is sexy?!  Eww, that is just SO wrong.

I have very curvy hips and a tiny waist.  My hips are so wide that I can wear a dress size 2, but jean size 6. I think everyone is unhappy with their bodies. My sister despises her uncurvy "boyish" figure and longs for my girly hips... and I long to have her tiny jean size 2 bottom. It's a pain when searching for clothes that fit right, but all of the guys I've dated have said its their favorite part of my body...

i got over wanting to be a stick back in middle school when all the guys wanted to get with me because of my curvy body. okay--obviously this had it's own set of issues. but i never lost my confidence in my shape.

it was also weird growing up in the midwest in an mostly white area (i'm mixed) then moving to the cali and realizing how accepted my body type is here...that really helped!! :)

however--i agree with those here who have said, once you gain too much the main part that makes it an "hourglass" (the smaller waist!) seems to be less defined...which might not be considered as sexy by some/many.

like maddie109, by losing weight...my goal is to go back to that great definition--nice round booty, big boobies, and a slim waist! and yeah--that's hot by my book!

it's so interesting that "Hollywood" aka tv/movie/mags seem to feel that "curvy" means someone who is 120lbs and happens to have a little butt or boob. that's just not real life.

 

 

 

as someone w/a natural stick figure I can say it's not that great. No hips no boobs, just straight all the way up and all the way down and it's a long way! I actually try and dress my body to make it appear that I have more curves than I do, mostly because I feel more feminine that way. I don't like knowing that if I put on boys clothes and disguised my face a little I could look just like my brother...it's just disturbing!

I saw some random news thing the other day where cindy crawford was being interviewed and they were talking about the effect that the modeling industry has on women's body image and so forth. She was explaining that the main reason that designers like stick thin models is not that they have sexier bodies but because they're so thin they wear clothes like a hanger and it displays the clothes to the best advantage. All I could think is why would you want clothes that look they're best on a hanger! Why wouldn't you design clothes that look best when on the average persons body?! Isn't that what clothes are for afterall?  Just thought that was an interesting point to throw in to the discussion.

i like the hourglass shape, it's jus that i want the slender hour glass kind.

I couldn't agree more! But really it's because on a stick thin model the clothes don't have to be tailored as much. The clothes have to look perfect and on a curvier body if it's untailored it'll look flawed. Just like something off the rack will never look as good as something tailored to your body, something they make wont look as good unless they adapt it to the particular model. It also uses less material. HEIGHT is what makes model's attractive as we subconciously see length as a symbol of health apparently. Of course we see slender as healthy too but theres a big diff between slender and stick.

p.s. in response to "Why wouldn't you design clothes that look best when on the average persons body?! Isn't that what clothes are for afterall? " no thats not what high fashion is about. High fashion has always been about selling a dream an ideal that you can buy class and beauty. It isn't really supposed to be accessible to the average women, it's meant to be aspired to, dreamt about. Fashion is more like art really too. Which is WHY we shouldnt take our cues about our bodies from the fashion industry!

did anybody see that episode of Oprah about a year ago of the woman who had a waist the diameter of a bagel? Whenever I think "hourglass", I think of an actual hourglass and how skinny it is in the middle and that woman comes to mind.

She wears corsets 24/7. What on earth is the point of that (except maybe being in the Guinness book of world records). Where do her innards go?

Sorry, quite off topic. Concerning the topic at hand, though, I think the hourglass is beautiful- isn't that Beyonces shape? I share the same body as narfblast. (is "plank" a shape?)

beyonce has a pear shape

I love the pear shape, like a proper one flat stomach wide hips, small chest. I think it looks lovely. I think naturally like most women I have an hourglass.

I love my curves. It's the rolls over the curves i'm trying to get rid of!

Original Post by faieriesunshine:

I love my curves. It's the rolls over the curves i'm trying to get rid of!

Hahaha ditto! I like my shape even though I have a bit of weight to lose, I feel sorry for a few of my friends who are sticks and can't gain weight.

What about us poor apple shapes  I would love to be a Pear or an hour glass, but my natural shape is apple. I look at the rest of my family & we are all apples. Even as a teenager I was sporty & slim, but always had a little belly. Now after 3 children it is a bigger belly

I am not naturally skinny either, I exercise hard & eat healthily. I try to tell my kids exercise is very important, & a bit of what you fancy is good for you.