A certain high school English teacher of my acquaintance (now retired) famously posited a definite inverse correlation between the intelligence of his female students, and the size of their breasts.
Well, science is suggesting that this might have been a false conclusion.
It was already known that men find curvy women more attractive and that they live longer. Now research suggests that women with an hourglass figure are brighter and have cleverer children, too.
The study found that women with large hips and small waists are more intelligent than those with either “apple-shaped” or linear bodies.
…
In the research, scientists at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California, Santa Barbara, used data from a study of 16,000 women and girls, which collected details of their body measurements and their scores in cognitive tests. They found that those women with a greater difference between the waist and hips scored significantly higher on the tests, as did their children.
Such women are not necessarily skinny. What is important is that their waist should be smaller than their hips, with the ideal ratio being between 0.6 and 0.7.
I realize that since this is primarily about waist:hip ratios, it doesn’t necessarily refute the Thomas Lemma–breast size is not explicitly mentioned. I don’t think it’s a terrible stretch from the blanket statements about “curvy women” versus “linear” or “apple-shaped” women to draw some conclusions about the top ratio as well, though.
I like the idea that part of the reason men might prefer the shape is that the women who have it are smarter, and have smarter children, though. Obviously it isn’t the whole story–social constructions being what they are–but it’s an interesting component to the bigger story.
In an unrelated note, did you know that Forties film star Hedy Lamarr was the inventor of frequency-hopped spread spectrum communication, which among other cool applications is used to form the basis of that WiFi connection you’re using?
