# what does a curvy body look like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909 "2008-12-05T20:19:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/61 "2008-12-06T12:59:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’m having difficulty thinking of “thick” as anything but an insult. To reassure you that it is NOT an insult in certain zip codes, go to a black focused dating site, do a search for a user with the word “thick” in their name. You will be absolutely dumbfounded at the number of female results. I am reminded of a friend, who, when I gained weight, said to me “You aren’t fat, you just live in the wrong neighborhood.” It was a comfort to know that my problems were not weight, but geography. The same person who told me I had a surprisingly nice ass for a white girl. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/62 "2008-12-06T13:17:43Z")
Kelly Brook - as someone on popbitch once said “designed by a committee of perverts” [http://www.handbag.com/fashion/worst-dressed-celebrities-2008-kelly-brook/gallery](http://www.handbag.com/fashion/worst-dressed-celebrities-2008-kelly-brook/gallery) is curvy. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/63 "2008-12-06T13:26:39Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Most women wear a few different sizes because of the stupid differences in clothes for women. I have clothing in a zero and a 2 for the most part. I have a couple of fours. I have a couple of shirts and a dress that I bought in the “pre juniors” department at The Limited. [I](http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll135/WithButterflies/?action=view¤t=trashy.jpg) [don’t](http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll135/WithButterflies/?action=view¤t=couch.jpg) [look](http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll135/WithButterflies/?action=view¤t=boat.jpg) [like](http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll135/WithButterflies/?action=view¤t=bahamas2.jpg) a 12 year old boy. Hon, you are plenty cute, but most (white) women cannot keep a figure like that past their late teens/very early twenties. Sometime before around 23 or so, the hips spread and things start to round out. Even if the weight stays the same, the distribution is quite different. The problem is that many women try to achieve the look they had when they were 18. Since this isn’t possible, they just end up starving themselves to the point that they look like birds. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/64 "2008-12-06T14:35:33Z")
Looking for curvy? Google “Jennifer Tilly”. Yowza. She may be in her 50s and I may be in my early 20s but I would hit it so hard whoever pulled me out would be declared the Ruler of all England. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/65 "2008-12-06T15:30:46Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Doper twickster Thanks – on the assumption that you meant this as a compliment. 😉 It doesn’t really help along the discussion though – and not just because most people on the boards haven’t met me. (In my case, it means a fair amount of flesh, some of it emphatically presented as tits-‘n’-hips – though, FTR, my ass isn’t particularly big.) The discussion seems to boil down to “do you like women who are skinny ectomorphs, or do you like women who have some flesh on them?” If you like skinny women, you’ll describe a normally curvaceous woman (say a size 14) as fat – if you like flesh, you’ll describe a plump woman (say a size 20) as curvaceous. The good news is that using the word “curvy” actually works for both sorts. For instance, in personal ads, “curvy” tells the thin-lovers that the woman is too fat for them, and the curve-lovers will know that she’s got the cushioning they seek. So, yes, if asked to describe myself in a personal ad, I’ll say “curvy” or “a few extra pounds.” The men who are attracted to that understand that I have a figure they’ll find appealing (and those men often find my figure extremely appealing), while the men who like skinny chicks will keep browsing, knowing that to them I’m just “fat.” And **even sven** – outstanding point about our bodies changing as we mature. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/66 "2008-12-06T15:43:44Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > In the Fifties “curvy” had no baggage at all. It was a compliment and did not refer to being overweight. Yet a person of that same size today might be considered to be “overweight.” Skinny" and “thin” don’t seem to mean “underweight” as they did before Audrey Hepburn came along. > > It’s been fun watching other standards of beauty change also. For women, longer faces are more popular now. I see a touch more of Mediterranean looks about women’s faces than fifty or sixty years ago. I always thing it’s funny in Some Like It Hot when they oogled Marilyn Monroe and one of them (Jack Lemmon?) said “She’s like Jello on springs.” I don’t think you’d get a good reaction out of a woman nowadays if you said she looked like jello. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/67 "2008-12-06T15:52:17Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > [This should be everything you need to know](http://www.bizbag.com/Misc%20articles/Personal%20Ads%20Translated.htm) OMG, that link was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/68 "2008-12-06T16:43:57Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The discussion seems to boil down to “do you like women who are skinny ectomorphs, or do you like women who have some flesh on them?” If you like skinny women, you’ll describe a normally curvaceous woman (say a size 14) as fat – if you like flesh, you’ll describe a plump woman (say a size 20) as curvaceous. Personally, I’m attracted to people who like how they look. If you aren’t comfortable with your body, it’s hard for me to be. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/69 "2008-12-06T17:30:06Z")
I’m fine with my body, thanks for asking. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/70 "2008-12-06T17:43:12Z")
The only requirement for a “real woman” is a vagina. I will never be curvaceous, even if I gained a bunch of weight, because I’m genetically predisposed to an apple-shape. But I still look like a woman. At least I’d like to think I do! So don’t hate. Appreciate. While it is true that _sistas_ tend to have badunkadunks, this one doesn’t. A lot of us don’t, actually. And those that have often don’t want them. A coworker of mine has a huge one (it’s truly like a built-in shelf). She’s constantly hiding it behind long jackets and sweaters. I’ve never had to deal with that kind of self-consciousness, so I’m not envious at all. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/71 "2008-12-06T17:51:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’m fine with my body, thanks for asking. My apologies. I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t. That was a general ‘you’, not directed to anyone in particular. I probably should have said that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/72 "2008-12-06T17:54:07Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Joan, played by Christina Hendricks, from Mad Men is a textbook curvy. > Behold! [http://i35.tinypic.com/2lw7xfn.jpg](http://i35.tinypic.com/2lw7xfn.jpg) Hey, it’s YoSafBrig, from Firefly! Yowza. Yeah, perfectly awesome curvy body. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/73 "2008-12-06T18:00:40Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I would say that the girl on the right is a good example of “curvy.” > > [These girls](http://www.bigmoves.org/images/bigchill1.jpg) would probably be considered curvy. > > [This girl](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/07/11/PH2005071101127.jpg) and [this girl](http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/10/index_awards/image/dove_ad-1.jpg) (from the Dove ads) are curvy. I’d disagree with you. To me, “curvy” means curving both ways: convex and concave. There needs to be an “in” curve at the waist to go along with the “out” curves at hips and breasts. I would NOT call those girls curvy. > [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Here’s an [interesting photo](http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/05/majthreegirls_wideweb__470x393,0.jpg). The one on the right is curvy, the one on the left is skinny, and the one in the middle is a bit pale for my tastes. I would call the one in the middle and the one on the right both curvy. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/74 "2008-12-06T18:17:40Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Hon, you are plenty cute, but most (white) women cannot keep a figure like that past their late teens/very early twenties. Sometime before around 23 or so, the hips spread and things start to round out. Even if the weight stays the same, the distribution is quite different. > > The problem is that many women try to achieve the look they had when they were 18. Since this isn’t possible, they just end up starving themselves to the point that they look like birds. Thank you. I understand what you’re saying, but there’s still no need to characterize people who are smaller as emaciated or the like when in many, many (most?) cases it just isn’t true. For the record, I’m in my early 30s. I work out 7 days a week, 365 days a year for a little over an hour unless I happen to be sick. My mother, who is 58 years old, could easily pass for someone in her early 40s. Her mother was 83 when she died and looked like she was in her 60s. Although I hope to look as young as the women on her side of the family as I age, the majority of people in my family are overweight. In fact, by the time they were the age I am now, they were all overweight. I can’t just eat whatever I want and not exercise, I work at it. You’re right, at 18 I didn’t have to work at it. Most of us (men and women) aren’t in the same shape that we were then, that’s just biology. It doesn’t mean you have to starve yourself or be emaciated, and it’s absolutely ignorant when people assume you have to do that. I don’t mean you personally, but that was all I was trying to say with my original point. If someone is overweight I don’t assume that they sit around and eat bon bons all day while sucking down 2 liters of soda, yet on this board it seems acceptable to assume that a small women has to be absolutely starving herself and a rack of bones to be a size zero. No matter how much people might want to believe that to be true, it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/75 "2008-12-06T18:42:01Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > If someone is overweight I don’t assume that they sit around and eat bon bons all day while sucking down 2 liters of soda, yet on this board it seems acceptable to assume that a small women has to be absolutely starving herself and a rack of bones to be a size zero. No matter how much people might want to believe that to be true, it isn’t. It all boils down to jealousy and laziness. I do have a fortunate metabolism but I don’t have a big old pot belly like most men my age (mid-40’s) because I work out and don’t eat tons of shitty food. I am far from what anyone would call a fitness freak or a health food nut too. Moderation is the key. The middle aged people at my work who are in good shape all do some sort of exercise. The heavy ones eat donuts and huge breakfast burritos every morning and don’t do any exercise. People can complain about how the media biases our version of beauty all they want but we all know that keeping yourself up takes work and a little sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/76 "2008-12-06T18:44:37Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > If someone is overweight I don’t assume that they sit around and eat bon bons all day while sucking down 2 liters of soda, yet on this board it seems acceptable to assume that a small women has to be absolutely starving herself and a rack of bones to be a size zero. No matter how much people might want to believe that to be true, it isn’t. Nah, this board is special. Very few of the larger Dopers just eat too much and don’t exercise. Many people here claim to have an IQ in a wtf!-percentile for the same reason. I speak as a whippet-thin bronzed love-god\*. - Where has this beer belly came from? Yeah, beer y’know but WHY? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/77 "2008-12-06T18:49:30Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Thank you. I understand what you’re saying, but there’s still no need to characterize people who are smaller as emaciated or the like when in many, many (most?) cases it just isn’t true. I’m more irritated by the notion that a woman who is slender without va-va-voom curves has to be likened to a 12 year old boy. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/78 "2008-12-06T19:12:20Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > With all due respect, **nyctea scandiaca** , your post shows exactly the confusion in usage of the term. Some of those girls are not curvy. Overweight, yes, fat, yes, ugly, no, hell no, and curvy some of them they sure ain’t. Yes, there were some definite apples in there. The one with the Mohawk stands out. > [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Well dammit. They worked when I tried em. It’s because you didn’t delete the highlighted http in the link box when you were pasting in the links. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/79 "2008-12-06T19:14:13Z")
Did anybody actually say that size 0 women are all emaciated or look like twelve-year-old boys? What **Dread Pirate Jimbo** said was: > [@Dread Pirate Jimbo](#): > > I also think the emaciated Size 0 look that is currently the Hollywood standard for What Is Attractive is decidedly unattractive. He didn’t say “size 0 women are emaciated and unattractive” he said “emaciated size 0 women are unattractive”. There is a difference between those two statements. One can be skinny and healthy looking (as are you **Sleeps With Butterflies** ). This is sexy. However, there is a Hollywood trend (which I think is fading) that the starved look is the acme of sexiness, when in reality, especially when viewed in real life, it’s not attractive at all. Sickly just isn’t sexy. Obviously, YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909/80 "2008-12-06T19:51:01Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > This is sexy. However, there is a Hollywood trend (which I think is fading) that the starved look is the acme of sexiness, when in reality, especially when viewed in real life, it’s not attractive at all. Sickly just isn’t sexy. Obviously, YMMV. I would like to agree with this. “Heroin Chic” ain’t. Athletic and health is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-curvy-body-look-like/475909.md?page=5)