your Bum Isn’t “Extra.” It’s Evidence.
Let’s get one thing straight: women did not spend thousands of years evolving just to be told their hips are “problem areas.”
If your algorithm has ever tried to convince you your butt needs to be smaller, tighter, and hidden under a long sweatshirt, we’d like to submit a formal complaint on behalf of biology.
There’s a reason hips and glutes have been aesthetically appreciated across cultures and centuries. It’s because your body is out here doing the most.
(Excuse us for the fact that the following studies are heteronormative. We didn’t conduct them.)
Multiple studies in evolutionary psychology suggest that men (on average, across many cultures) tend to rate women with a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) around ~0.7 as more attractive. Translation: wider hips and a fuller bum tends to score higher on the “wow” scale.
And before anyone gets defensive: this isn’t a moral ranking system. It’s not a mandate. It’s not a rule. It’s an observation from research that tries to understand why certain body ratios tend to be perceived as attractive on average.
What’s fascinating isn’t the preference - it’s the hypothesis behind it.
One prominent idea in the research is that lower WHR (curvier hips relative to waist) may signal better overall health and fertility, and specifically, that fat stored around the hips and thighs may correlate with higher levels of certain nutrients, like DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which are also indicative of long-term health.
DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that plays a huge role in brain development, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding. So the hypothesis goes like this:
Hips and thighs act like a nutrient reserve.
And one reason that shape might be subconsciously preferred is because it could have signaled a greater capacity to support healthy offspring development, particularly neurologically.
Which is basically science’s way of saying:
the booty may have been an evolutionary résumé.
Now for the plot twist:
There’s also a hypothesis that attractiveness standards aren’t fixed — they fluctuate based on environmental conditions.
Enter: the economic/environmental security hypothesis.
This theory suggests that in times or places where resources feel uncertain (food scarcity, instability, higher stress), people may prefer bodies that signal stored energy, resilience, and survival capacity - which can mean a stronger preference for curves.
In other words, society doesn’t just “randomly change beauty trends.”
It may shift based on what the nervous system interprets as safe.
Secure environment? People may idealize thinness, leanness, “fragility,” and aesthetics that signal leisure. Uncertain environment? People may idealize fullness, strength, and energy storage.
And honestly… this checks out. Because the standard has been ping-ponging for decades like a drunk metronome. One year it’s “thigh gap.” The next year it’s “booty gains.” Next year it’s “Pilates princess.” And somehow we’re supposed to pretend it’s all a personal preference and not cultural whiplash.
Before we declare the glutes the official headquarters of human health, let’s be clear:
Aesthetic preference ≠ proof of health.
WHR is correlated with some health outcomes, but it’s not destiny.
Fat distribution is influenced by genetics, hormones, stress, age, and pregnancy
Fertility signaling does not equal self worth.
So our takeaway isn’t “be curvy.”
Our takeaway is: your body makes sense.
What This Means at Uprise (Where We Worship Functional Glutes):
At Uprise, we teach the glutes and hips as more than just aesthetic muscles. They’re power muscles. They are:
your locomotion engine
your posture support
your pelvic stability system
your emotional storage unit
your “get up and LIVE” muscles
Your glutes aren’t here to fit into jeans. They’re here to carry you through life.
And when you build strength through your hips - when you reclaim power in that part of your body -everything shifts.
Final Thoughts From the Department of Booty Anthropology:
If you have a bigger bum and hips, congratulations:
you’re not “extra.”
you’re not “too much.”
you’re not “wide.”
You’re built like a woman who is designed to endure, adapt, and thrive.
And if you don’t? Congratulations: you’re also built perfectly for a human life. Because the point of movement isn’t to chase a ratio.
The point is to feel powerful in your body.
But if you ever catch yourself side-eyeing your own curves, just remember:
Your glutes are ancient. Your ancestors would be proud. And your leggings are simply doing their best.
See you in class. 🔥