u/ContentPanic1549

I often hear that larger bodies were idealized in the past because they signaled wealth or access to food, and that beauty standards are mostly cultural.

But here’s what confuses me:

From an evolutionary/neurological perspective, humans rely on secondary sexual characteristics (like waist‑to‑hip ratio or shoulder‑to‑hip ratio) to visually process attraction. But excess abdominal fat can blur those traits, which should reduce visual attraction on a biological level.

So I’m wondering:

Were larger bodies in the past actually seen as visually attractive, or were they valued more for symbolic/social reasons (wealth, abundance, fertility) rather than the same visual cues we talk about today?