Why is thin generally considered more attractive then fat?

@Glassysky Is it? Expand?

@SemlohR Would you reproduce with a fat person of a thin one? Thin people are more healthy than fat ones, Fat people have much more illnesses and disabilites compared to thin people.
"fat" is not a issue, unless obesiety, but by nature people prefer thin people.

@SemlohR To an extent he is right - unhealthy people don't look very good regardless of whether they're under or overweight. But there is a strong cultural component too.

@Glassysky You haven't really answered the question there. Why do people naturally prefer thin people? Is it something that's built into humans to naturally go for a slim person, or is it something that is learned? If it was the case of it being natural, people wouldn't procreate with fat people.

@QuixoticSoul That's a very subjective claim so there is no right or wrong

@SemlohR i think it is a preference on the subconcious level for successful evolution, especially since in today's society, beign fat is associated with health issues. There are theories confirming this, but I would say its something natural, than societal.

@SemlohR Well yeah, of course it's subjective, and there are no shortage of exceptions - but most people find health and fitness attractive - and many classically attractive features are also indicators of health.

@Glassysky Yeah that's just the issue for me, in today's society it's assigned with health issues. But throughout history fat meant wealth, social stability and financial security. Could be a combination of the two i guess.

@SemlohR i htink its more on a level of bigger breast is better for the children once they are born and bigger hips is easier for the child getting out of the womb,
so a little extra isn't bad but fat would be bad.

and with men its if he is weak and frail he can't hunt or protect and with fat ones is also the same problem

@SemlohR Yes, however, being "fat meant wealth, social stability and financial security" also was a negative and villionous archetype.
But, prior to that, people producded with the healthy, however ater introduction of money, I guess wealth = health, even rhymes

@Glassysky We seem to have moved from fat to healthy without defining what fat means. If you mean healthy then absolutely I agree with you. I’m not talking about a 400lb person. But it seems odd to say that people like someone slim nowadays because it’s good for creating kids.

@SemlohR I personally prefer woman who is average, but nowadays, fat does mean obesity, due to cheap fast food.

@SemlohR I mean, you're right - we don't have definitions. And the "fat meant wealth, social stability, etc" times people also weren't "fat" by modern standards - and remember gluttony is a deadly sin when you think about social acceptance of fat people in the past.

Modern lifestyle blew all of this out of the water and reconfigured our metrics.


This dude is fat, sure. But in this day and age, nobody is going to put him in a circus because we see people like that every day.

As for cutoffs, I think that if your doctor says you should lose weight, you qualify. That's usually starts at a much lower number than most people realize, by the way.