The explanation is simple, there was seldom an abundance of food in the societies of the past, so being well fed and having reserves of body fat was synonymous with wealth and social status. That is why we see these images.
But the concept of beauty was born in ancient Greece, they had the ideal of the athletic and strong man, the women were not excessively thick but neither lean or anorexic, of course.
1st bold: My point exactly and that's what I've been taught.
2nd bold: *The* concept of beauty or *a* concept of beauty? If you could provide a source for that standard, I would enjoy reading that. I love reading about ancient cultures. I would tend to find it hard to believe that female beauty began at one point or there was any one culture that set the standard. It probably began in lockstep with ancient civilizations. Whether it was Incan, Mayan, Mesopotamian, Roman, Persian, Greek, Asian or perhaps even long before those eras, we just don't know. There are many theories but again to my original post in this thread, the notion of what is attractive or the concept of female beauty specifically, has changed down through the centuries.
You can begin to imagine a progression from the earliest times at 100% utilitarian/0% physical attractiveness (beauty). And beauty likely changed as the ratio changed from 100%/0% to 80/20 to 60/40 and so on until we reach our modern and now postmodern eras where it's almost 0%/100%. Men will desire a woman today if she's "hot" even if she has no skills, no talents, no intelligence, no creativity, no physical strength, infertile, and otherwise worthless (save for her physical appearance). I don't think it's a good thing. We live in a society that is hypersexualized and so completely oversexed that we overlook shortcomings that are necessary in lieu of her hotness level. This will eventually produce a 'dumbed downed' race of people that have no real skills, creativity, or intelligence.
The movie "Idiocracy" takes this dumbing down to an extreme level for the sake of comedy but really, we're already well on our way (in my opinion). For example, you may have to search hard for a person to have a philosophical or theoretical discussion of some abstract concept today. Or as another example, when I grew up, I played football and baseball but my English mother required that my brothers and I all knew a musical instrument. How many people (percentage or per capita) know how to read music and can play an instrument today? She demanded we be cultured. She would say, "It doesn't matter whether you become rich or poor, you can always have class." How many cultured women are out there? How many have class and proper etiquette. At one point, women were sent (forced) to a school called a 'finishing school' that taught them these very things. That would not fly today. Never.
“Dear Isabel, how strange it is to have a cultivated woman in the house again, and how intoxicating." - Legends Of The Fall
I would overlook many a deficiency in physical beauty in order to gain a classy woman and a woman of intelligence and creativity. There are women that have both. But I highly doubt those few beautiful, intelligent, creative, and cultured women today would find many of us desirable after the garbage and ignorance I've read in this thread. To anyone reading my last sentence and finding yourself offended, it likely pertains to you. My apologies in advance.
Back to the thread title, there's a large difference between a woman that inspires our boners vs a woman that inspires our minds. That's a whole other subject but the women I've looked for to have a sexy fling are much different than a woman I would be looking for as a wife. And women are the exact same way as to the men they choose. They may enjoy the occasional brute but eventually will likely settle on the most intelligent, successful, and creative male available to them. Thems the breaks.
I've wasted years of my life trying to get men and women to develop their intellect, talents, and creativity every bit as much as their physical appearance. I'm done with it. People aren't looking for evolved mates, just levels of physical beauty. The fat women described in this thread are, IMO, women that are crying out, in fact begging for a male to see the person they are inside. Society is trying to push men in that direction but it is a futile endeavor. We're just not buying it. We love those round asses and tits.
Okay, my thumbs went a little crazy here. I'm halfway through my 6th cup of coffee here.