A Woman’s Figure
The sex appeal of rounded female buttocks and plump breasts is both universal and unique to the human primate. ~ English psychologist Carole Jahme
The teats of female apes, and many other mammals, swell only to store milk. In contrast, the abiding plump bosom of women is an anomaly: no other primate has a permanent fulsome breast. Only human females develop a pronounced bust before menarche and retain it post-menopause. As such, breasts do not indicate fertility. Nor is a woman’s bosom indicative of lactation production: bigger breasts don’t necessarily make more milk.
It is the symmetry of the bosoms that suggest fitness, not size. Fluctuating breast asymmetry is higher in women with larger breasts, and in women without children.
Unlike men, women first store fat in their buttocks, not around the abdomen. Hence, the waist of a healthy fertile woman is slimmer than her hips. Other female primates do not deposit fat on the rump. Female gorillas are exemplary in keeping a skinny bum while putting on abdominal girth, as men do.
The inescapable conclusion is that the admired hourglass figure of a woman is a product of sexual selection: a biologically based beauty.
