I’m all for it. Women should have bodies.
Yep. Women seem obsessed with minimizing their flaws. Forget that. Maximize your good points. Nobody notices your cellulite when they’re staring at your cleavage. Nobody notices your crooked nose when they’re staring at your ass.
I believe the term is vitalist. They can be cool, but they need to be alive.
Put it this way. When you see a guy, whether at the beach or at the store, the large majority I presume, you probably don’t give a second thought about.
At the beach, you might have passing thoughts, like, “yeesh, that dude’s a bit too pasty and overweight for that speedo.” But otherwise, they’re just background people.
I realize women are particularly self conscious about their physical appearance in ways guys aren’t, especially when required to bare so much skin, or in a suit that doesn’t hide as much of your percieved imperfections as your clothes do. But still, remember that you’re far more aware of these percieved imperfections than others are.
That guy you barely noticed might be super self conscious about his gut or whatever. And you, yourself, might not mind a bigger gut on a guy. The same with how you perceive yourself. In fact, the things you might think are your most loathsome features might be seen as the opposite for another, and even the reverse on what you might perceive to be your best feature.
To sum up, generally, no one’s probably paying all that attention to your figure as you are. And they might be just as self conscious about their body as you are being over yours. So, wear what you think feels flattering, and enjoy the water & sun.
If you could see someone’s nose while you were staring at their arse, then either they were an **actual **elephant or a contortionist in mid contort. 
Men are going to spend the most time paying attention to the hottest women. So basically if you’re worried about how you look to men, you’re worried that men won’t be looking at you. I’ll bet you’d be the subject of more negative thoughts from other women than from men no matter how you look.
Women may not realize this, but most of us men have moms, and we’re aware of the effects of aging on women, and yet still can maintain some sense of love for a woman whose physical appearance changes with age. We don’t compare every woman we see to naked models, and how any woman looks is usually filtered through our experiences, and even more so by anything else we know about that woman.
That said, men are men, and the whole point of a billion years of evolution is to make us attracted to young fertile women wearing little or no clothing. So you either look young and fertile and almost naked, or you don’t.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Heh. I was told that there is a Mexican saying that goes: “Bone is for the dog. Meat is for the man.”
Yep.
This. I don’t normally put someone’s entire post in a quote box when it’s this long, but I really wanted to quote the whole thing.
I’ll add that, as a guy, the sight of overweight women in bathing suits bothers me a hell of a lot less than the sight of similarly overweight men. I’ve often thought, “Dude, if you’ve got flab cascading over your belt line in all directions, could you spare our eyes and toss a shirt over that when you’re walking the boardwalk? Thanks.”
That was my strategy when looking for a new swimsuit for my cruise in February. Find something that makes my boobs look SO GOOD that nobody will notice I have a tummy. I think it worked. 
Not that I get to the beach much. But what you said.
Hmm… How can I put this.
I’m a married hetro male. Let me take a different track on this.
There is a commercial out (don’t remember what it’s for, so it’s by a bad ad agency). It’s basically a bunch of different shots of about 2 seconds each of a person making a talking point.
One shot is of a middle age guy standing by a pool wearing the appropriate swim trunks. He’s got the standard middle age paunch, but looks healthy otherwise (he’s a black fellow if that helps anyone remember the commercial).
He’s an actor of course, but just seems confident, and is not wearing something inappropriate. I’m also a middle age guy, and wear the appropriate clothing, and while I should lose a few ponds, I hope I look as good as that guy (I seriously doubt it).
So. Flaunt it a little if you got it. Project confidence if you can. A skimpy bikini on someone that it does not belong on projects desperation.
There is literally no swimwear on earth which I am truly comfortable in and I’m not a guy so I can’t help much there, but I felt like this was a great place to link the body height/weight chart:
http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html
Someone upthread mentioned 200lbs being in the range of “truly grotesque” and I don’t think that describes this young lady at all: http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/506-200.html
Or these: http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/509-210.html
Here is a collection of photos of folks who are 5’8" and around 170 for review in comparison to the OP: http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/508-170.html
What this Web site has taught me is that height/weight descriptions don’t really tell you anymore than pant size.
Let me clarify, I’m ok with my body, but who doesn’t wish they were a little thinner/toner/what have you. I’m also in a relationship, and I’m appreciated for who and what I am. I’m just curious as to what men really think about the average woman’s body. I inured this would be the best forum for honest, open opinions 
Figured, not inured…phone autocorrect!
Thick
Betty Grable was neither an elephant or a contortionist, but in her most famous portrait, one found on the walls of many a GI’s quarters in WWII, you can see both her nose and her ass. Both were fantastic.
Here is a gorgeous size 12… NSFW, as she is naked.
While I am one that thinks rice cake fed bean poles are just plain freaks of nature…that woman is a bit on the chunky side IMO. Not hideously so but not its aokay either…once your fat under your skin starts creating folds, particularly if you are young and toned otherwise…well I hate to say it…but you got a bit too much fat going on.
That photo, the one of the two women embracing, was really lovely. (I’m a chick and I’m straight–and I said “lovely” not “sexy”). Honestly, it looked almost maternal, with the plus-size model as a comforting mother-figure to the child-like waif in her arms. It was quite touching, and to me, there were all sorts of statements being made as to what it means to be a woman and whether our bodies are meant to be warm and soft, or angular and hard.
This has been a really interesting thread for me…
As a English chap*, I feel qualified to give my perspective.
- By a pool, I look at (in order):
- face
- hair
- boobs* :o
- legs
- bottom
I do not judge women, because:
- I’m no Leonardo Di Caprio myself :smack:
- there’s a wide choice to look at
- I only need to see one beauty to drift off into happiness
- I have a book to read
- If I meet a woman elsewhere, then her personality, humour and kindness matter more than her appearance (it took me at least a decade to learn this lesson!)
Do you look as if you’re in roughly the right proportions? Then when I look at you I’m more interested in the smile on your face. When I talk to you, I’m more interested in the brain behind that smile.
A woman who is beautiful is only superficially attractive; an attractive woman, OTOH, becomes beautiful when she smiles.
Of course, I’m a 45-year old who’s yet to manage so much as a kiss, so you should probably ignore me.