Dictionary Definition
voluptuous adj
1 having strong sexual appeal; "juicy barmaids";
"a red-hot mama"; "a voluptuous woman" [syn: juicy, luscious, red-hot]
2 (of a woman's body) having a large bosom and
pleasing curves; "Hollywood seems full of curvaceous blondes"; "a
curvy young woman in a tight dress" [syn: bosomy, busty, buxom, curvaceous, curvy, full-bosomed,
sonsie, sonsy, well-endowed]
3 furnishing gratification of the senses; "an
epicurean banquet"; "enjoyed a luxurious suite with a crystal
chandelier and thick oriental rugs"; "Lucullus spent the remainder
of his days in voluptuous magnificence"; "a chinchilla robe of
sybaritic lavishness" [syn: epicurean, luxurious, sybaritic, voluptuary]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Adjective
- suggestive of full, generous, pleasurable vision or sensation
- (of a woman) curvaceous, sexy
- (of a woman) full-figured
Translations
- Chinese: 体态丰满的, 感官享受的
- Finnish: hekumallinen
- French: sensuel, voluptueux
- Italian: voluttuoso
- Japanese: 官能的な, 肉感的な, 豊満な
- Portuguese: voluptuoso
Extensive Definition
Female body shape has a bearing on a wide range
of human activities, and there are and have been widely different
ideals of it in different
cultures over history. The female figure is usually narrower at the
waist than at the chest and hips, and
usually has one of four basic shapes — banana, pear, apple or
hourglass. The chest, waist and hips are called inflection points,
and the ratios of their circumferences define
these basic shapes. Body shape depends on skeletal structure and
the distribution of fat in the body.
Some of these body shapes normally occur only in
women, although some endocrine
conditions or deliberate use of female hormones, such as by
transsexuals, can
produce them in male bodies. As with most physical traits, there is
a wide range of normal female body shapes.
Shape
The female form is a combination of multiple attributes which cause many conflicting descriptions when taken as a whole.Three inflection points
seealso BWH The female body has three key physical points of inflection:- Chest, which is measured across the fullest part of the bust
- Waist, which is usually measured at the smallest circumference of the abdomen
- Hips, which is usually measured at the largest circumference of the hips and buttocks
The female body usually inflects inward towards
the waist around the middle of the abdomen. The waist is smaller
than the chest and hips, unless there is a high proportion of body
fat distributed around the waist. How much the chest or hips
inflect inward, towards the waist determines the structural
shape.
A woman's "dimensions" are often presented by the
circumference around these three inflection points. For example
"36-29-38" in Imperial
units, meaning a 36"
chest, 29" waist and 38" hips.
Four combinatorial structures
Independent of fat percentage, weight or width, most female bodies have one of four elementary geometries, ordered by their commonality in western society.A study of over 6,000 women carried out by
researchers at the
North Carolina State University around 2005 found that 46% were
Banana (rectangular), just over 20% Pear, just under 14% Apple, and
8% Hourglass.
The inflection points on the female form define a
woman's combinational structure. Any structure can occur in a range
of proportions.
Weight and fat distribution
Shape is affected by fat distribution due to sex hormone levels. The concentrations of estrogen influence where body fat is stored. Before puberty both males and females have similar WHR. Normal pre-menopausal female estrogen levels will cause the body to store fat in the buttocks, thighs, and hips. Hence, pre-menopausal females generally have fat distributed around their hip section but not around their waist. This causes their waist-hip ratio (waist measurement divided by hip measurement) to be lower than males. When women pass menopause, the estrogen produced by ovaries reduces, causing fat to redistribute from their buttocks, hips and thighs to their waist. Fat stored during subsequent weight gain is primarily concentrated in the abdomen.Body Mass Index, which considers only height and
total mass, is an approximate method for calculating whether an
adult is overweight, underweight, or of a healthy weight. Some
recent research indicates that the waist-hip ratio is a better
measure of obesity than body mass index, particularly for the
purpose of determining risk of heart attack. The ideal ratio for
women is about 0.7. The body
fat percentage is considered to be an even more accurate
measure of obesity. Of these three measurements, only the waist-hip
ratio uses dimensions that will vary depending upon the body
structure. Hence, it is possible for two women to have vastly
different body mass indices but the same waist-hip ratio, or to
have the same body mass index but vastly different waist-hip
ratios.
The ideal female body size and shape varies among
cultures; however, the preference for a small waist has remained
fairly constant throughout history. A low waist-hip ratio has often
been seen as a sign of good reproductive potential, but recent
research suggests that attractiveness is more correlated to
body
mass index than waist-hip ratio, contrary to previous
belief.
Societal impact
Many societies vary on their contrasts, criticisms and praise of the female form. Crowd leaders, such as celebrities, also impact the "desirable" female body shape.Social conditioning to obesity
As average body mass continues to increase in Western nations, people are becoming desensitized to obesity and view an increasingly larger amount of body fat as "normal" or "acceptable". People are especially likely to take cues on acceptable body size from their social circle, gaining weight concurrently with those around them. A study by RMIT School of Health Sciences showed that obese teenagers and their parents were highly likely to underestimate their weight, "highlight[ing] the concern that overweight and obesity are now so common that they have become 'normalised'". In contrast with the common perception that Western culture is obsessed with thinness, these findings would suggest that individuals are typically less concerned with maintaining a lean, healthy weight than medical science recommends.Many "curvy" American film stars from the early
and mid-20th century are cited as inspirations by overweight women
when, in reality, they were thin even by today's standards.
Marilyn
Monroe is said to have worn a size 16 dress. However, this
fails to consider the changes in
American garment sizing over the last century. Monroe was 5'5",
weighed 118 lbs and measured 36-24-34, which would make her
approximately a women's size 2 by modern
American sizing standards. Similar misconceptions about the
body sizes of classic sex icons may reinforce the idea that an
overweight physique is healthy and appropriate.
Feminism and body shape
Feminists criticise the excessive emphasis on body shape as part of women's self-image in Western society, and contend that an ample body shape is more typical of real women in the West than the ideal pushed by some parts of the Western media through depictions of extremely thin actresses and fashion models. However, in media made predominantly by and for heterosexual men, such as video games, comic books, sports entertainment, or pornography, a more buxom and curvaceous female ideal with large breasts, small waist and rounded hips is portrayed, one that is more in line with the sexual desires of men than those seen in the fashion or beauty industries.Anorexia and media depictions of women
Sociocultural studies highlight the role of cultural factors in the incidence of anorexia nervosa in women, such as the promotion of thinness as the ideal female form in Western industrialised nations, particularly through the media. A recent epidemiological study of 989,871 Swedish residents indicated that gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status were highly correlated with the chance of developing anorexia, and women with non-European parents were among the least likely to be diagnosed, while women in wealthy, ethnic Swedish families were most at risk.A classic study by Garner and Garfinkel
demonstrated that those in professions where there is a particular
social pressure to be thin (such as models and
dancers) were much more
likely to develop anorexia during their career, and further
research suggests that those with anorexia have much higher contact
with cultural sources that promote weight-loss.
Although anorexia nervosa is usually associated
with Western cultures, exposure to Western media is thought to have
led to an increase in cases in non-Western counties. But other
cultures may not display the same worries about becoming fat as
those with the condition in the West, but instead may present with
low appetite with the other common features.
seealso Anorexia
nervosa
See also
References
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Cyrenaic, abandoned, alluring, amorous, appealing, appetitive, attractive, beautiful, bent on pleasure,
bewitching, built, busty, buxom, captivating, carnal, charming, curvaceous, delicious, delightful, desirable, dissipated, dissolute, enchanting, engaging, enravishing, enthralling, enticing, entrancing, epicurean, erogenic, erogenous, erotic, erotogenic, excessive, exquisite, eye-filling,
fascinating,
fetching, fleshly, gamic, gorgeous, heart-robbing,
hedonistic, heterosexual, indulgent, intriguing, inviting, irresistible, libidinal, lovely, luscious, lush, luxurious, luxury-loving,
nuptial, oversexed, pleasure-bent,
pleasure-loving, pleasure-seeking, potent, prepossessing, procreative, ravishing, seductive, self-indulgent,
sensual, sensuous, sex, sexed, sexlike, sexual, sexy, shapely, straight, sybaritic, sybaritical, taking, tantalizing, tempting, thrilling, titillative, unchaste, undersexed, venereal, voluptuary, wanton, well-built,
well-proportioned, well-stacked, winning, winsome, witching