For centuries, three body parts - breasts, waist and thighs - are more often referred to as beautiful than other body parts.
Waist-hip ratio or Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is the ratio of the circumference of the waist to that of the hips. It is calculated by measuring the waist circumference (located just above the upper hip bone) and dividing by the hip circumference at its widest part (waist/hip). The ratio is applied both to women and men.
One such 'attractive' physical attribute of women that positively correlates in to an indicator of child bearing ability and healthiness is relative waist to hip ratio. Men are observed to 'biologically' prefer women with a striking hour glass figure (a small waist to hip ratio) since these physical features of a woman are what is considered the most salient indicators of her ability to procreate.I wonder how valid this mode of classification of women based on an attractive physical trait such as the relative contours of her waist and hip really is. The 'Barbie doll' contours of women's bodies that both men and biologists rank as significant attributes of fertility, youth and health could be dominant hegemonic categorization of beauty that is inextricably linked to applying a universal standard to the classification of female beauty which does not take into account of increased diversity and cultural variances.
