It’s the question on everyone’s lips: did cavemen like big butts? Just kidding, but the question of whether the attraction towards big butts is a result of evolution or cultural trends is an interesting one. Is our love of big butts the result of science or society?
Looking back through the centuries of female portrayals in art and literature, the obsession with the image of the voluptuously curvy lady is certainly not a recent one. For argument’s sake, let’s say that cavemen were around during the early days of the Stone Age – around 16,000 years ago. Were paleolithic men so different from the modern male?
Butts Throughout History
Historically, the female butt has been synonymous with sexuality. Women’s bodies produce more estrogen than men’s which causes a higher proportion of fat to be stored in this area.
Since the very beginning of human history, artistic representations of women often put emphasis on the butt. From the Ancient Greek statues of the goddess Venus, to Victorian pornography, the fixation on the butt as a sexy, feminine symbol is scattered across the history of generations.
Over the centuries, sexually desirable females are presented as curvy and with ample flesh in the booty department. These voluptuous ladies are seen in fine art paintings like Peter Paul Rubens’ The Three Graces, Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus and Lord Frederic Leighton’s Actaea, spanning over three centuries and all of which feature curvaceous women with juicy booties.
There aren’t many cave paintings depicting the naked female form, but the Venus of Willendorf, as it is known, is a figurine believed to have been created around 30,000 years ago, during the Old Stone Age. The figure is distinctive for its busty chest and curvaceous behind, considered by anthropologists and historians as a symbol of fertility and desirability, as well as a celebration of the female form.
You can see simply by looking at history that big butts are definitely not a recent obsession. If the surviving depictions of the ideal woman are to be used as evidence for an ongoing male preoccupation with – to quote Mika – curves in all the right places, then we safely assume that the average cavemen would have been attracted to a fuller booty as well.
Get the Perfect Butt This Summer
Whether your butt is big, small or any size in between, you are beautiful simply because you are a woman! For centuries, the female form has been celebrated, painted, sculpted and written about (mainly by men).
Embrace your natural beauty and discover a range of products designed to make your butt look and feel fantastic this summer with Massk®. Explore our collection of lotions and cleansers, formulated using natural ingredients to make your butt as beautiful as you are, while being gentle and nourishing to skin.