Reflections From a Murky Pond

The British ladies are busting out and throwing the world a set a curves.

It seems that a recent market study determined that the lovely ladies of England have the shapeliest breasts in the world, or at least of those on the far side of the Atlantic.

This was determined by a Bra Usage and Attitude Study performed by COIN, for lingerie manufacturer, Triumph International. While not truly global, the study did include China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK.

It’s certainly a titillating study and one that will garner a lot of well-deserved attention. It, however, has some interesting points for both the $30 billion per year global lingerie market and for societal views of body image.

Asylum UK distills the salient points:

Researchers have discovered that women in Britain have the most shapely bodies on the planet.

A recent global survey of breasts discovered the average British woman wears a size 34D bra — meaning she has bigger boobs and is more slender than most around the world.

Over in Germany and Italy women have a larger under-bra size of 38 inches and in France the average bra is 36B.

In Japan and China women are said to have the same 34 inch ribcage measurement as Brits, but this is again only paired with B cup boobs.

And while British women have an average of a 34D bra, the most common cup size is said to be a rather generous ‘DD’.

The Triumph international “Bra Usage and Attitude Study” also compared results to those from 50 years ago, finding that British woman’s chest and hips are now 4cm bigger.

If this continues it will mean that by 2060 the average UK bra size will be a gigantic F or G cup… how come they never mentioned that on Tomorrow’s World?

Obviously, despite the borders of the British Empire having contracted, it’s assets are still quite astounding and growing more so with the passing years. This and the finding of COIN’s study can be born out by empirical study of these delicious British lasses who all have DD cup sizes and whose underbreast measurements average to 34 inches:

Making Statistics Beautiful

Similarly, one can see from representative samples of women from China, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan that COIN’s study is certainly not too far off the mark.

Still, the British women, indisputably as fine as they are, shouldn’t gloat too much or become complacent. There are many, many roads to beauty and sexiness – and the study that Triumph International commissioned didn’t address the glories of women’s legs or butts.

I hope that Triumph doesn’t make the mistake of ignoring their “bottom line” by focusing their efforts exclusively on the bra. That’s the sort of marketing mistake that could hurt them in “the end.” 😉

~*~

While the pleasant and prurient aspects of the curvaceousness of British women and the size and shapeliness of their breasts is quite nice and a wonderful distraction, the COIN study on bra usage and attitude towards brassieres also presents some much more important data relating to manufacturing, marketing, and to women’s and societies’ body images as compared to objective reality.

Manufacturing & Marketing

This goes well beyond deciding how many of each size bra to manufacture and how many to expect to sell in size on a per country basis. The results of this study will enable Triumph International to take cultural mores and attitudes into account when deciding what bras to make for each market using some of the findings.

• In Japan, almost all bras are padded because it’s considered rude, even taboo, for a women to have her nipples show through her clothing
• In Japan, 35% of women wear a bra as a fashion statement but in China, 60% women do wear a bra as a fashion statement.
• In Britain, women wear a bra out of habit and social norm, however they don’t consider their underwear as the main factor to improve their physical appearance
• In France, the main reason for wearing a bra is to receive compliments on the women’s physical appearance
• In Italy, 69% of women wear a sexy bra when others can see it

The above is all critical information for Triumph International just as similar information would be critical to the ongoing success of any global or near global manufacturer of finished goods.

Then we have what is, to my mind, the truly important data uncovered and published by this study, that involving the facts of women’s bodies as compared with their body image, expectations of what is considered normal or beautiful.

• In Britain, the average woman of today is closer to being a size 16 (US 14) than a size 12 (US 10)
• The hourglass figure made famous by Hollywood beauties Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren is on its way out as modern women’s bodies are now becoming increasingly apple-shaped

• 51% of British people think the hourglass body shape is the most attractive, despite the fact that the majority of women’s bodies now do not have that shape, with apple figures (weight carried round the middle) ranking behind pear-shaped women (larger hips and thighs), rectangles (no curves) and even boyish figures.
• In Britain, the average woman’s chest and hips are now 4cm (1.6 in) bigger than ladies in the 1950s, and she’s now 5cm (2 in) taller at 167cm (5′ 6″ ish) in height, and her weight has risen from 62kg (136.7 lb) to 65kg (143.3 lb)
• In Britain, 77% of women feel having a beautiful bust is important
• In China, 99% of women feel having a beautiful bust to be the highest importance overall
• In Germany, 81% of women claim they are satisfied with their overall appearance
• In Britain, 75% of women claim they are satisfied with their overall appearance

So what does that all mean? To start with, it means that the fashion industry, the media, and the weight-loss industry have promulgated a body image ideal that is not even close to being representative of the female population and is diverging from reality further and further as time goes by.

Triumph doesn’t market in the US so we weren’t included in the study. Yet I would wager that far fewer than 75% of American women claim they are satisfied with their overall appearance.

That isn’t really news, but the extent of the difference between the created ideal and the reality of women’s sizes and shapes is noteworthy. In England, the average woman’s dress size is 16 (US 14) which is also reported by the SizeUSA study as being the average dress size of American women. This means that, since “plus sizes” start in the 14 – 16 range, the average woman in either Britain or America is being forced straight into the “fat clothes,” all the while being told by the media – and now the government – that she has to lose weight even though she’s actually the normative female – and possibly healthier than her scrawnier counterparts.

Worse, the clothing designers – mostly either queers or women of uncertain sexuality, as in sexual vs. asexual – design clothes to fit their stick figure models which then do not fit or hang right when worn by actual women. This just compounds the women’s negative body image to the detriment of everyone except the weight-loss industry who gladly sell anyone and everyone “self worth” for just $10 a day.

A Brief Rant

Face facts; real women have curves – delicious, voluptuous curves. They do not look like young boys with breast implants and they certainly do not look like prepubescent girls. I bluntly question the sexuality of any man who thinks otherwise because they must either be queer or a pedophile.

Skeletons Dipped In Wax

What in the name of all the Hells do those emaciated creatures have to do with either women or beauty except possibly as an example of that which is neither? Someone really needs to tell them that neither heroin nor cocaine is a food group and that dessert is not sticking your finger down your throat.

Perhaps though, with Triumph International’s study results getting global attention, some attitudes may start changing and some destructive fantasies may be finally purged from society. I’m not holding my breath though. 🙁

Tags: Asia | Babes | Breasts | China | England | Europe | Fashion | France | Germany | Italy | Japan | Lingerie | Society | Women

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 11:53 am and is filed under Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.