Body Style --
Yours!
What you look like with clothes on
depends on what you look like without them?
Men are great at evaluating women's shapes. So why do we suck when it comes
to figuring out our own body type?
We can instantly peg a woman as a pear-shaped beauty built for cornering or a
wedge-shaped nymph built for speed, but don't know how we look to others?
I've tried to illustrate body shapes with these crazy little stick-figure
guys to help you decide which one fits your body style. Once we know our body
type we can work with clothes to emphasis our good points and down play the
areas we want to down play!
Classification by body type has been around for quite a while. Five
thousand years ago Sanskrit teachings of Ayurvedic medicine assigned three basic
body types:
Vata:
a thin body type belonging to a person who can be unpredictable and who
becomes vivacious and excitable under pressure.
Pitta:
a medium body type represents a person who can be intense, orderly, decisive
and tends to become angry and ubrupt under pressure.
Kapha:
a heavy set body embies a relaxed, calm, steady, easy going person who, when
stressed may balk and grow silent.
American psychologist William H. Sheldon (1899-1977) classified bodies
into three body types and linked personality traits to them:
Ectomorph: An ectomorph was a person with a tall, thin, fragile frame and
a large head. He tended to be intellectual, introverted, self-conscious and
often nervous.
Endomorph: With a rounded, soft, plump body, this person was thought to be
sociable, friendly, relaxed with a fondness for food and comfort.
Mesomorph: His athletic body type had a muscular, sturdy and thick-necked
frame. According to Sheldon, he tended to be active and noisy, risk-taking and
sometimes insensitive in his personal relationships.
For years, these descriptions were the conventional ways in which
bodies were classified.
Then came Roseanne and Hulk Hogan.
