Key Terms in Evolutionary Biology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: Waist-to-Hip ratio

= Waist-Hip Ratio =

The Waist-Hip Ratio is a measurement of an individual's circumference of the waist to their hips. It is a measurement that is more often referenced in women rather than men, and it is argued that it is a main indicator of female's physical attractiveness. The good genes hypothesis states that there are particular traits and characteristics that we are evolutionarily adapted to be attracted to because they signal high reproductive success rates, indicating a mate's high fitness since these traits show his/her healthiness, resistance to disease, and fertility. Humans are attracted to the high potential for reproduction. A female's particular waist-hip ratio is an example of a "good gene," and evolutionary psychology posits that this is why it is attractive to males. "To calculate waist to hip ratio, stand up and find the narrowest part of your waist. Then measure the widest point of your hips and buttocks. Then divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement." One can also calculate it here at http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/whr.

Scientific Background
In 1993 Devendra Singh, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas who studies physical attractiveness, conducted a study entitled, “Adaptive Significance of Female Physical Attractiveness: Role of Waist-to-Hip Ratio.” He discovered that men prefer a waist to hip ratio of about 0.70 in women, or a waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference. This indicates that the waist is much smaller than the hips, signaling fecundity to males. According to Livescience.com, “In general, a range of 0.67 to 1.18 in females is attractive to men, Singh concluded in a 2004 study, while a 0.8 to 1.0 WHR in men is attractive to women, although having broad shoulders is more of a turn-on."

Debates
Singh believes the waist to hip ratio measurement to be a “cross-cultural universal” despite the fact that learned cultural environmental factors do play a role in determining physical attractiveness. For example, “one small study suggested the Matsigenka men of Peru prefer wider women,” but Singh believes that given all of his findings, cultural implications are not the leading reason as to why men are so attracted to the hourglass shape - evolutionary considerations are. Women who fall into this range of waist-hip ratio produce high levels of the sex hormone oestrogen, which influences fertility levels. Big hips also indicate a woman's high potential to produce viable offspring. These women have “less difficulty conceiving” and “are less susceptible to disease such as cardiovascular disorders, cancer, and diabetes." The negation of this is also true, supporting these findings: “As a corollary, a sizable belly is reliably linked to decreased oestrogen, reduced fecundity and increased risk for major diseases by research conducted over the past decade."

Opponents of the evolutionary claims surrounding a man's attraction to the desired waist-hip ratio range, such as feminists and those who firmly support the nurture perspective of the nature/nurture debate, believe that this biological justification perpetuates the subordination and degradation of women. It reduces human behavior to biological functions and does not take into account the influence of learned ideals and environmental or cultural influences. For instance, popular culture greatly emphasizes, adores, and glorifies the sought after “hourglass figure” in women; this phrase is the conversational way that waist-hip ratio is mentioned. Actresses and singers who dominate the contemporary social moment exhibit and sometimes flaunt their slender frames, busty hips, and chests such as Beyonce and Rihanna.

It is contested whether the waist-hip ratio is a universally desired trait. There are many studies that contest the notion that Waist-hip ratio is a universally desired trait among men. This is a very lofty claim to make, and there is not much evidence to conclusively support this. Gender roles and cultural values appear to quickly dismantle Singh's claims and others claims about the waist-hip ratio connoting physical attractiveness. In a well-known study by Viren Swami, Nicholas Antonakopoulos, Martin J. Tovee, and Adrian Furnham entitled, "A Critical Test of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Women's Physical Attractiveness in Britain and Greece," BMI and WHR were measured in women from Greece and the United Kingdom. Participants rated them and found that regardless of the cultural setting, BMI appeared to be a primary determinant of women's physical attractiveness, whereas WHR seemed to matter in the Greek group, but not in the United Kingdom group. Another study that conducted in 1998 by Louis G. Tassinary and Kristie A. Hansen entitled, "A Critical Test of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness," yielded similar results and found that the waist-to-hip ratio was only of marginal important to perceived physical attractiveness in women.

Image


This image is from an offensive college humor website. It illuminates the importance that pop culture places on the hourglass figure of a woman, as well as its objectification of it. This image illustrates the superficiality of our culture, highlighting our preoccupation with our perceptions of sexual attraction as an “important parameter” for mate desirability. The caption under this image seem to reduce this girl to her physical attributes as if this is the only important parameter, and it neglects one's personality qualities, an obvious “important” if not vital “parameter” in mate desirability. Do the evolutionary claims of seeking after the desired waist-hip ratio measurements justify culture's preoccupation with this particular body type, the media's obsession with it resulting in low self-esteem in women who feel they must live up to this standard of beauty and physical attractiveness?

Questions
1. Is there any equivalent to the "waist-to-hip ratio" among animals? Is it at all present among any primate species?

2. What are examples of different physical mate-characteristic preferences among other cultures?

Author
Chelsea Faria