Wired has looked at the stats for every centerfold from December 1953 (Marilyn Monroe) to January 2009 (Dasha Astafieva), and then calculated each woman’s body-mass index, comparing them to the corresponding avergage BMI of American Women.
A clear trend emerged: While real American women have steadily eaten their way up the BMI slope — just like American men — Playmates have gone from a sylphlike 19.4 to an anime-ideal 17.6.
I’ve always thought it interesting to look at Playboy models through history as an indicator of American sexual ideals – with/out bush, big breasts, small breasts, hips, curves, slim figures etc… (actually, see below – breast cup size has not changed, though bust or circumference of the chest has!) But comparing it to the physical shape of the average American women had not crossed my mind.
Indeed, the stats portrayed in the Playboy survey are probably not that accurate (I doubt the “hobbies and interests” are particualrly accurate either) but it’s what the editors believe that readers want to hear. And that’s interesting in itself.
So, bottom (!) line is that whilst Playmate BMI has fallen from 19.4 in 1960 to 17.6 in 2008; for the average American woman, it has risen from 22.2 to 26.8.
