Large breasts give the illusion of more milk to feed the young, and wide hips suggest greater ease in bearing children. Scientists have discovered that the lower the body's waist-hip ratio (medically known as the WHR), the more attractive the woman.
While the old adage about having “childbearing hips”, is not usually a compliment, many women consider it an advantage when it comes to childbirth. As midwives, we are used to allaying the concerns of petite women who are worried that their hips, or their bodies, are too small to give birth normally.
Men find wider hips more attractive because once again, they signal fertility and good genes for mating. Psychologist Devendra Singh conducted a study of people's waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and found that men were most attracted to women with a WHR of 0.7.
Your Hips Get Wider
Same goes for your rib cage, which also had to open up to make room for your growing child. For most women, these enlarged bones go back to their original place by about 18 weeks postpartum, but some women keep the extra girth permanently.
"During pregnancy, very often a woman's activity and nutrition levels go down," says OB-GYN Michael Dawson, M.D., of Atlanta Women's Specialists. "These factors mean you gain weight. The extra fat then gets distributed to places where women most often put on weight: the backside, hips, and thighs."
With the onset of puberty, the male pelvis remains on the same developmental trajectory, while the female pelvis develops in an entirely new direction, becoming wider and reaching its full width around the age of 25-30 years. From the age of 40 onward, the female pelvis then begins to narrow again.
A gynecoid pelvis is one of the most common pelvic shapes in people assigned female at birth (AFAB). If you have a gynecoid pelvis, your pelvic bones are wideset and low. Biologically, this pelvic shape best accommodates pregnancy, labor and delivery.
Widening of the hip bones occurs as part of the female pubertal process, and sex hormones in females (estrogens) cause a widening of the pelvis as a part of sexual differentiation. Hence females generally have wider hips, permitting childbirth.
But the main reason for girls' hips to grow after marriage is their physical relationship. When all girls have sexual relations with their husbands after marriage, it causes hormonal changes in their body. It also affects other organs like their waist and hips. After marriage, women's hips gradually begin to grow.
Researchers at the University of California in Santa Barbara led by William D. Lassek investigated which female body type men find most attractive. The result was that very skinny bodies, like those of many top models, did not score very well. The so-called hourglass figure proved to be the ideal.
Without knowing it, it appears that men are attracted to a woman's curvy figure because it signals an abundance of DHA supply. In addition, a smaller waist signals that she is less likely to be a mother so her potential to bear children is completely untapped.
Hourglass Body Shape
One of the most desired body shapes is an hourglass one. It looks the most balanced of all, and if you have this body shape, then it means your hips and bust measurements are equal in size, and you have a waist that is well-defined and narrower than your bust and hips.
Studies show that men (and perhaps people in possession of sperm) are more attracted to women with large breasts and wide hips. Large breasts give the illusion of more milk to feed the young, and wide hips suggest greater ease in bearing children.
Widening hips allow for the baby to pass through the pelvic bone during birth. You can rest assured that your widening hips, in most cases, will return back to their pre-pregnancy state, usually by 12 weeks postpartum.
Mikel Ruffinelli is an American woman who currently holds the record of widest hip in the world, according to the World Record Academy. Her weight is more than 420 pounds (190 kg) and her hips measures an unusual 8 feet (2.4 m) in circumference, although her waist is only 3 feet 4 inches (102 cm).
Excess estrogen, also called estrogen dominance, can change your body shape, causing an increase in fat deposits in the area of your thighs and butt. This is what gives some women a “pear” shape, where the hips are far wider than the shoulders.
Exercise helps prepare you for childbirth.
Some studies suggest that the fitness level of the mother can result in shorter labor, fewer medical interventions, and less exhaustion during labor. Being in shape will not decrease the pain, but it definitely will help give you the endurance needed to get through labor.
Transition to the second stage of labor
This can be the toughest and most painful part of labor. It can last 15 minutes to an hour. During the transition: Contractions come closer together and can last 60 to 90 seconds.
Motherhood changes you inside and out. After having a baby, your clothing size, breast shape, hip width and even your shoe size might be different. These changes are evidence of the work your body has done.
If someone is skinny and wishes to change it, it's possible. Longing for much bigger, thicker thighs is not enough and it doesn't matter whether someone aims at increasing core strength or just looking better in general. The calorie intake and the workouts put into the hips and thighs have a major part.
Puberty usually starts when you're between 9 and 13 years old. But it can start earlier or later. Thanks to hormones like estrogen, you'll notice changes like your breasts starting to grow and new curves forming on your body.
People with wider hips tend to have a higher amount of body fat stored in their hip and thigh area, while people with narrower hips have less fat in that area. This is partly determined by the distribution of fat cells in the body, which is influenced by hormones and genetics.