# Are women's thighs usually bigger than men's thighs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615 "2011-06-15T21:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dirty\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dirty\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirty_hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/21 "2013-02-19T04:56:51Z")
I love thunder thighs! ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/22 "2013-02-19T05:23:23Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > 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. 😃 Let’s see, I saw this at parties. You lay down, head to toe, waists in approximately the same place. Hook the near leg of your opponent and try to roll him off his back. The ladies usually one, but in this configuration when the guy rolls off his back, guess where he ends up. curlylonghair may have a different sport in mind. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/23 "2013-02-19T05:24:33Z")
I knew a woman weightlifter/bodybuilder who was very proud that her thighs were bigger than her waist. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/24 "2013-02-19T05:37:59Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Let’s see, I saw this at parties. You lay down, head to toe, waists in approximately the same place. Hook the near leg of your opponent and try to roll him off his back. > > The ladies usually one, but in this configuration when the guy rolls off his back, guess where he ends up. Great username/post combo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/25 "2013-02-19T15:59:04Z")
> [@ChickenLegs](#): > > 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. I think it’s more along the lines of evolutionary results… If women piled on the beer belly like men do, it would impede the ability of the stomach to expand during pregnancy. So they are more likely to take the same fat and distribute it neatly (?) around the rest of the mid-to-lower body and under the skin generally. Of course, some excessively obese women do pack on the belly (let her tell you she’s expecting, don’t ask if you don’t know… 🙂 ) but usually not until the other repositories are also full and (just my observation) the incidence of excessively slack belly in that situation seems much higher in females than obese males. Sue Johanssen of “The Sex Show” referred to it as an “apron” where the stomach hangs down below the crotch. OTOH, both sexes could benefit from exercise… Starting with me. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/26 "2013-02-19T18:37:54Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > 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. 😃 If you had watched the first-ever episode of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” you would have seen George Wendt leg-wrestling with John Goodman. Alas, I can’t find a video clip online anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/27 "2013-02-20T00:40:02Z")
I’m skeptical about the data **Omar Little** posted too. I remember reading that women had significantly bigger legs on average, let me see if I can find that data. 21" is a small measurement for the largest part of the leg IMO. Mine are almost 20" and I wear a 00 in pants. Of course, the only place I carry any weight on my body is at the very tops of my thighs and my butt, the rest of me is a stick. It would definitely be possible for me to bulk my quads enough that my leg would be bigger than my (unusually small) waist. oO ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/28 "2013-02-20T01:13:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Fat bottoms, I know. Big thighs… not so much. Don’t be so quick there… Ah loves me some big thighs. 🆒 😃 And, the non-testosterone-driven answer. An inch one way or the other- no matter what the height to weight ratio- might well be attributed to water, musculature of one woman compared to another, etc. There’s both a NASA-funded study _and_ an adult film sneaking around here somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/29 "2013-02-20T17:41:27Z")
I’m a man. My calves are around 17 and thighs 26. My overall body fat percentage is not very low but my legs are muscular. I’m surprised the male average is that low- since so many people lift weights these days. However I notice a lot of of top-heavy men walking around, guys who don’t seem to reAlize they make weights for lower body exercises, too. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/30 "2013-02-20T20:50:25Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I’m a man. My calves are around 17 and thighs 26. My overall body fat percentage is not very low but my legs are muscular. I’m surprised the male average is that low- since so many people lift weights these days. However I notice a lot of of top-heavy men walking around, guys who don’t seem to reAlize they make weights for lower body exercises, too. Guys whose biceps are bigger around than their head, tend to look at their biceps and pecs in the mirror. I don’t recall to many situations where you would see guys checking out how their thighs or butt look in the mirror… Women, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/31 "2013-02-21T01:06:56Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > 21" is a small measurement for the largest part of the leg IMO. Mine are almost 20" and I wear a 00 in pants. Your measurements seem very proportional. Which is why it seems completely unbelievable that it’s _also_ roughly the same average for women who wear size 12-14 pants as the average woman does. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/32 "2013-02-21T02:01:18Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > However I notice a lot of of top-heavy men walking around, guys who don’t seem to reAlize they make weights for lower body exercises, too. Exactly. On the fitness forums they look with disdain on the people that only work the “ego muscles” - abs, pecs, biceps. Everyone gloats endlessly about how they do deads and squats for “real strength.” It’s true, but it’s not like everyone that does is picking up cars and stuff. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kokor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kokor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kokor)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/33 "2015-07-07T02:23:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > 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. No, it would be the opposite since taller people are usually more “stretched out/lean” than shorter people, this would mean that men’s thighs would actually be bigger (by a bit larger margin than in that article) than women’s. Also, I’m pretty sure that measurement is already taking into account height and weight. Not to mention that men have substantially more muscle and larger bones, as well. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/34 "2015-07-07T10:55:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If you had watched the first-ever episode of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” you would have seen George Wendt leg-wrestling with John Goodman. Alas, I can’t find a video clip online anywhere. Here it is: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eCofi_HPea8/hqdefault.jpg "Conan Leg Wrestles John Malkovich") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCofi_HPea8) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615/35 "2015-07-07T11:20:57Z")
> [@kokor](#): > > No, it would be the opposite since taller people are usually more “stretched out/lean” than shorter people, this would mean that men’s thighs would actually be bigger (by a bit larger margin than in that article) than women’s. Some taller people are “stretched out lean”, some aren’t. > [@](#): > > Also, I’m pretty sure that measurement is already taking into account height and weight. On what do you base that belief? I didn’t see such indicated in the article. > [@](#): > > Not to mention that men have substantially more muscle and larger bones, as well. Some men have “substantially more muscle and larger bones”, that’s not an absolute. Hence why the article looks at _averages_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-womens-thighs-usually-bigger-than-mens-thighs/585615.md?page=1)