I ask because I’ve noticed that my thighs are pretty big in comparison to most men’s thighs (they’re 21 inches around at their thickest). Is this par for the course or an aberration?
According to this site: Andrea, The Transition: Average Body Measurements
the mean thigh circumference for men is 20.35 inches. The mean thigh circumference for women is 20.12 inches. At 21 inches you are slightly above the mean for both.
Taking into account that men are usually a bit taller than women, the closeness in those two measurements would seem to indicate the proportionally women’s thighs are larger than men’s, even if they’re smaller in absolute terms.
It would be interesting to compare thigh measurements of men and women who are of the same height.
Good luck finding a man of 5’0" to compare me to!
Actually, that could be part of the problem with measuring. Since it seems to me (not like I have any actual data) that taller people tend also to be lankier (some kind of “stretched out further” effect?) the mean measurement of taller women’s thighs might be narrower in proportion to their bodies than women of average height.
Q) Why does fat deposit on the hips and thighs of women and around the stomachs of men?
Monday, May 15, 2006
*"A) … Hormones drive the deposition of fat around the pelvis, buttocks, and thighs of women and the bellies of men.
For women, this so-called sex-specific fat appears to be physiologically advantageous, at least during pregnancies. …”*
I don’t know, but I’d be willing to volunteer to start measuring women’s thighs. I already have a tape measure.
There are lots of songs praising the beauty of big leg girls.
Fat bottoms, I know. Big thighs… not so much.
I don’t know, but I’ve been told, big-legged women ain’t got no soul.
The average man is significantly taller than the average woman, so based on these measurements, yes, women do have bigger thighs relative to their frames.
Missy Elliot seems to think so.
I tend to think they are bigger pound for pound and height wise.
I am 5 7" 124lbs athletic my husbby is 5 10" 170 athletic. we are both in good shape but my thighs are 22.75" and his are 21"
if I was his height and weight what would mine be? 25"?
we’ve talked or teased that my thighs are thicker and stronger than his… He finds its sexy that i’m athletic. and yes we tested the theory and mine are stronger 
Tested how?
As someone already mentioned, women tend to store their fat around the hips and thighs, while men store their fat around their abdomens. So this can explain why women’s thighs are bigger. Stronger? Not so much. Also compare a skinny woman to a skinny man. Woman would have smaller thighs, even though not by much. In fact, lower body sizes for a man and a woman do not differ all that much when controlled for height, it is the upper body where men are substantially bigger. Back to the strength. Even at the same size, women are weaker. This can be observed at weightlifting records for say squat, where men’s records are bigger than women’s in the same body weight categories.
lol like leg wrestling, leg press with weights. also endurance… i can do many more plie squats, like 100 more while holding a light weight lol !
I have a lot of difficulty believing that the average is really that low for women considering the other average measurements. I wear pants that are 2-3 sizes smaller than the US average (depending on if 12 or 14 is the current average) and my thighs are bigger around than that. The average waist size is 31" so the average thigh size being just 20" doesn’t seem very probable.
i agree, us girls of today are more athletic and active than they were in years past. 20"? sounds like they are measuring one type of person.
I just took out a tape measure and that figure looks really skinny. my hubby said Hey, I am only 1" bigger than that… I said, well 20" is like a twig lol
and I wouldn’t be considered a big girl at all, size 7, 26" waist. I’m average size I would say.
Just checked. My thighs are 17". But then again, my name…
Womens’ thighs are proportionally bigger because their asses are bigger. Their asses are bigger because their hips are bigger. Their hips are bigger for childbirth.
You can’t put skinny thighs on a big ass. That would look funny, like sticking two toothpicks in a potato. They gotta taper down.
Sorry if this is a stupid question but what is leg wrestling, exactly? I’m picturing arm-wrestling, just with legs instead. It’s looking kinda odd in my head. 