It has a lot to do with the culture you live in. In different areas of the world, curvy or even overweight women are ideal. In some places in Africa, an extremely thin man is desired. In reality, it makes sense for a man to want a curvy woman. You don't need to be fat or overweight to have a curvy figure. This is because it means she is capable of reproducing which is a big part of mate selection worldwide. Super thin isn't attractive in that sense. By curvy, we are talking about a waist smaller than hips and noticeable breasts (like an hourglass shape). Also, long legs are unconsciously desired because they are related to a grown woman.

I just read through all 141 posts. I feel I could provide a 5th (I think there were only like 4 or 5 guys posting) male perspective and some thoughts on the curvy definition.

Let's go with curvy first. I want to explain why it bothers some people and why it doesn't bother others. I think that it comes down to your own values and your own thoughts on realism and the truth. If you are someone who values having a completely realistic view of their own self image then it would bother you that others don't. This works in reverse as well. This is hard to put into words properly, since I do not mean to imply that if you don't value a realistic self image then you're a liar. That's really far from the truth. It just comes down to how some people like to look at things. They want the stark truth, no fudging and this is exactly the way things are.

There are others who want to know the truth, but they don't want it put bluntly. They want there to be some tact attached to it - a little bit of flattery with the put down that the truth often entails. There are also people who don't care for the truth, but they're another story. The issue between these two camps of people? The people who want the blunt, stark truth tend to feel that anything less than the absolute is disillusion and shouldn't happen. That's where this seems to stem from.

After all that being said, I personally feel that everyone is better off with the blunt, stark truth. This is the way things are. I think it should be worded more nicely and much thought given to its presentation but this does not change the view in my eyes that Fat and Curvy are different things. This doesn't make me right or wrong, this is my interpretation of things.

Deep down I always knew I was overweight, fat, chubby, whatever you like. I didn't want to confront that and my self esteem but now that I have it has made a world of difference. I want others to feel the same and all I can preach is how I achieved it.

Ok, so now to talk about curves! I am 23. My favourite body type has always been short and volptuous. I love a girl who is 5'2 with a C cup and a nice handfull of a bum. But that's just body type and it doesn't mean a lot to me in the long run.

What I have always found is this - it is your face that matters most. I am a face man. If I think you have a pretty face then the rest of you is beautiful. I don't care about the imperfections that you think you have, they fade away.

That brings up the question - what do I think is a pretty face? LIVELY! The girls I tend to really care find and find attractive are the ones who smile a lot, who look comfortable, who have funny and quirky reactions. It's so real, so natural that I love it. I love when girls make funny faces and stick out their tongue at you. Playful is good too.

I don't like stick thin girls either. I prefer a fuller girl, but not fat in my eyes. It's hard to describe what I see though so I'll give you an example. My last gf and I dated for a year and a half. When I first met her (4 mths before we dated) I thought she was a bit too skinny. Once I got to know her better and we started dating we talked about it a bit. She put on something like 10 lbs in that 4 months, but I thought she was absolutely gorgeous. I was consistently marvelled at how someone like me was with someone like her. I liked her more when she gained a little weight.

Final side note - girls in magazines. I always find them more attractive when they have a natural smile. Not one that says "I'm smiling cause this makes me money - stop looking at my ass" but one that says "I'm happy and comfortable with each part of my body - but keep your eyes up here mister!".

My next girl will be a beautiful unstick like girl. Unless her personality wins me over. That's completely and absolutely possible.

^_^

Dave

I had one more thing I'd like to add - I find muscular women very attractive. I like women strong in character and in body. I find it makes them a more fun partner and I feel less like I'll break her when play fighting and just being silly.

Some of those olympic girls with pretty faces and nice muscular arms and legs are just gorgeous. Not the ones where the ribs be pokin out. They just be fugly. (simpsons!)

Guys like girls. That's all there is too it. All sorts of guys like all sorts of girls.

I agree that's it's not fair to make the blanket statement that all guys like curves, just as it's not fair to say that all guys like the very thin cat walk model body shape.

I'd also like to say having curves has NOTHING to do with weight, curves are about proptions -typically a hip to waist ration of 0.7 is considered attractive (once again NOTHING to do with weight)

I'm underweight and I have a hip to waist ratio of 0.7, so I am also curvy.

Dita Von Teese weighs about 105 pounds, her BMI is 16.8, and there's no way you can say she isn't curvy.

It's all relative, people!

mochi-cha, I agree: since when did being fat become having "curves". I have a particular friend who loves saying she loves her curves, and all I think is: which curves? She has no breasts, no butt, but she sure has a bulging tummy! I assume that's the curve she talks about. I know a few guys who love overweight girls because they seem to find it appealing to be "covered in a woman's skin"; to each his own, of course.

Regarding the main subject of the threat: I lived in Miami for a while and a lot of hispanic men appreciated the "meat in the bones" look, meaning slightly heavy. I live in a college town now, and nobody appreciates that look... personally, I'm glad, because I don't like the heavy look.

Yeah, I know, right? I get confused by the "curves" euphemism too. You know the classic 36-24-36, well that's a very curvy hourglass, but usually when you hear "curves" nowadays it's a big girl doing some self-affirmation. And her measurements will be something like 42-38-42 which is rather refrigerator-shaped, I mean, she will literally be a straight up-and-down column of excess fat, but she will swear she is "curvy".

Someone on this thread said "You never hear a guy say 'nice ribs' or 'what lovely bones' about a woman," and I laughed because my grandfather used to quip the exact same thing. He was fat and Grandma was fat and he liked it that way, LOL But I always replied that you never hear a guy say "what lovely rolls of fat" or "nice cellulite" either.

I lived in Miami too (pretty much my whole life), don't exaggerate, they prefer their women to weigh maybe 5-10 lbs. more than the college-kid preference, and mainly in the butt and hips. We're not exactly talking BBW here.

Oh yeah, and speaking of this:

Original Post by dcyounts:

I agree. My friends and I like thin girls. Boobs aren't really that important to us compared to being skinny <100 lbs for a shorter girl, <120 lbs for a girl around 5'9". I know it is horrible but I am just being honest.

It's true, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's read that study they did on BMI vs. WHR... where they found out that BMI is overwhelmingly the most important factor in attracting a male, and waist-hip ratio only accounted for 2% of men's attraction to female bodies. So if you take two women with the same BMI, a guy is of course going to prefer the more curved one over the more rectangular one. But if you're comparing an hourglass-shaped overweight girl and a rectangle-shaped slim girl, most guys are gonna go for the slim one. Thin first, curvy second, that's what the studies have shown. Here, links:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12427313

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a741405962~ db=all~jumptype=rss

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10097394?dopt=Abstract

And then there's the studies that showed men prefer a BMI of 18-21, which is healthy-thin, and their attraction decreases slowly over BMI 21 but sharply under BMI 18 because being 30 pounds underweight is more dangerous than being 30 pounds overweight. So no, men don't like "sticks" with bones poking out all over the place but they do like a size right above that. Besides, I hear a lot of the larger ladies here calling girls "sticks" who are really a healthy and attractive weight. A "stick" is a runway model, not a Playboy model. Guys may not like Nicole Ritchie but they do like Carmen Electra.

I said "slightly heavy" for hispanic guys because... well, even girls who are heavy (say my friend who's 5'3'' and around 150lb) are thought of as attractive. I'm 5'1'' and 103lb and guys liked me, but she was looked at as "sexier", and even though my waist to hip ratio is around 0.6 they thought I was beautiful, but more like a little doll. Well, thinking it over, I shouldn't compare because I'm 22 and everyone thinks I'm 12. 

That was quite the tangent, my apologies. Anyway, queen-Jannine, I agree. Nicole Ritchie was so unappealing that my roommate in college (a guy) seeing as I and the other three girls he lived with were losing weight continuously, placed a picture of her on the fridge and told us "EAT MORE!". I felt bad for the poor girl, after all, god knows what she was going through, but in the picture she looked so sickly that we ALL ATE MORE. But every time he saw Scarlett Johansson or Jennifer Connelli, he drooled.

Original Post by sarahnovak:

Nicole Ritchie was so unappealing that my roommate in college (a guy) seeing as I and the other three girls he lived with were losing weight continuously, placed a picture of her on the fridge and told us "EAT MORE!". I felt bad for the poor girl, after all, god knows what she was going through, but in the picture she looked so sickly that we ALL ATE MORE. But every time he saw Scarlett Johansson or Jennifer Connelli, he drooled.

Yep, the whole thing comes down to the statistical drop at BMI 18: it's a much thinner line (pardon the pun) between attractive and emaciated than between attractive and fat. Let's say the "perfect" sexy BMI is 20. A guy finds that BMI most attractive above all others, but if he has to choose between a BMI 16 and a BMI 24 (both of which are 4 points away from "perfect"), he will find the 24 more attractive. (Or less unattractive, depends on how you look at it...) So even though the difference between Scarlett Johansson and Nicole Richie is probably a measly 15 pounds, guys feel dramatically different about them.

So, enough statistical rambling, the moral of the story is that anytime you're "perfect", you're a mere 10-15 pounds away from being unattractively thin. It's a really fine line. In other words, guys would rather do chubby than anorexic, but their "ideal" is closer to anorexia than to overweight.

Original Post by r2r2:

i think guys have the same complexes girls have about being slim. It's not like every guy out there is a muscular, atheletic looking Ken-doll (just as we girls like to imagine :). Guys probably dream of looking like this - yet in reality there are skinny guys with knobbly knees, chubby guys, short guys, super tall guys, guys with abs, guys who are trying to get abs....so they probably sympathise with us! All that pressure on them gives them "no excuse" to not date a girl because she is not 6'2 clothes horse with gangly limbs.

Course, in guys dreams, they probably imagine a tall, leggy, Barbie-doll with big boobs, hips and a tiny waist with come prancing up in a miniskirt and ask them out...but c'mon, how many girls are there like that in reality?? more to the point, how many girls are there like that who are smart?...or nice [not bitchy]? or arent just sluts?

I really, really, really don't like the Ken look. I used to like it when I was around 11 years old, back when I played with Barbies and Kens. My first boyfriend was actually four years older (he was 15) and he was Ken-like. Right now every time one of those guys approaches me, I just take him as a friend. Period. Regardless of how he likes me.

I don't think girls who look like Barbies are beautiful either and yes, I'm bisexual, I'm not just an envious woman. I like dark hair, light eyes, and a normal body. Neither for girls nor guys do I like an over-worked body or a flabby body.

Original Post by shanonna:

"But I dont think its good that large women be using the term 'curves'  to feel good about themselves because being overweight is unhealthy anyways."

Grrr I can see I am in the minority here feeling that a woman has the right to call herself whatever she wants. I am so truly offended. Basically you're saying that a fat woman either has to learn to feel good about herself by using the words fat and obese which obviously have such negative connotations, or she has no right to feel good about herself at all! Because she is unhealthy. This is total bullcrap! You can be overweight and be curvy. and even if your not curvy in the hourglass sense who says a curve has to be concave anyway? I'm so angry about this attitude that people who probably have no idea what it is to be an overweight young woman and still try and hold your head up feel it is appropriate to even have an opinion on what a fat woman is allowed to call herself. And if you are wondering why I am so angry it is because you are directly insulting me and your doing it in such a nonchalant fashion I want to scream. I feel like posting naked pictures of myself with little curved arrows pointing out my curves.

Also you are lumping all fat people together when you are probably thinking of apple shaped women no? Women who's stomach is larger than their breasts, not all fat women look like that you know. And those women shouldn't have to feel ugly either they can call themselves whatever they want. You can be fat and curvy and I am and so are many others. You tell me please why the word curvy should only be used by healthy people? Because it has positive connotations which are only allowed to be used by those who eat right n exercise? So us fat girls should just go die in our corner with words like fat **** and chubby and obese and rotund hovering over our heads until we are thin and beautiful enough to be allowed to choose our own terms for defining our own bodies.

You aren't aware you're doing it, but you are pulling people down.

Granted, people can call themselves WHATEVER they want. I can start calling myself "tall" tomorrow morning when I'm 5'1''. As much as I love the politically correct rambling, there are words that are defined by societal norms. Perhaps in the 1500's I would have been rather tall. I was very fat when I was younger (from around 13 to 20); granted, I wasn't obese, but my BMI was probably hovering 28. I used to get a little down when people bluntly pointed out that I was fat, but guess what? I was. I didn't ask anyone to change their vocabulary or the definitions in their lexicon to suit me. People who are morbidly underweight are called "waif figures", and they can only acquiesce to the name. Isn't it true, after all? I could have coerced people back when I was overweight into calling me "curvy", but they would have never thought of me as "curvy", because even though I had curves all over the place, society knows real "curvy" from forced-by-the-PC-inclined "curvy" (and yes, I also had a smaller waist than stomach); I didn't want people to lie to me. I appreciated honesty.  Then again, I was and am a realist, what I did when it bothered me that I was fat (because undoubtly THAT is what I was) was to lose weight. I DID recognize myself as fat even though I loved and love myself, my personality, the way my hair falls on my face, etc. I never ever liked deluding myself: A rose by any other name... You, on the other hand, can call yourself "Bettie" and we'll just nod and smile.

Also, have you ever heard about semantic change? Well, it's the way a word changes in meaning through time. As in "nice" formerly meaning "stupid" and "gay" "happy". By this point, some people think already of "curvy" as just meaning "fat", thus if you like that word because it's "less offensive" then rememeber that euphemisms must be changed from time to time, because they eventually acquire the real meaning of what they are trying to sugar-coat, so... start thinking up new words! (although "fat" is just a simple adjective, which should not be offensive, just descriptive. If you don't like what it describes, then change it).

Just one thing to consider - would you like to have sex with a two-by-four?

Yeah, guys wouldn't either. Apparently when we are skeletal and emaciated, it's like "doing it" with a two-by-four.

(nods)

My boyfriend finds it revolting when girl's thighs don't touch. He likes it when girl's have hips and a butt, and likes my little 'pot belly'.

But everyone has personal preferences. But biologically, men look for the most attractive, healthy looking partner they can so their children are healthy. So in wall walks of life, women with curves rule.

i'm 32-24.5-34 and even i have curves.

of course guys like curves. people aren't just flat boards even if they are really skinny models. and if you are a person and a flat board, than you probably shouldn't or won't be alive for much longer.

I see just as many jutting collarbones and ribs in Playboy as in Cosmo. Even after the models have been arbushed to "perfection". Of course in the real world where personality comes to play, physical appearance doesn't matter as much, for a lot of people it even take the back seat. But if you show 100 guys a picture of a girl with the body of a lingerine model vs. your average girl with a healthy BMI of 22, tits, ass and a belly pooch, I'm sure most of them would prefer the lingerine model.

As an example, just look at FHM's list of sexiest women in the world. Most of them are/were clearly underweight.

lol Jules!  funny YOU!  soooo right on.  Ok now I have been "stick thin" (see gallery) and 145 lbs and I have to say when I gained weight from 110 lbs. all I ever heard is "you look soooo muuuch better!"  I remember this in my fight to lose a few pounds-(145 down to around 120) I think 120 should still be "ok" since I am 5ft 6in.-boy I will hear it if I look bad-my family is the BEST barometer, but feelings can be hurt too.  So YES guys like a little meat ok?  It's a FACT!

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I think teenage guys dig curves, curves as in having some boobs or butt, not necessarily being overweight.