Anthropometry is the study of human body measurement for use in anthropological classification and comparison. What fun! Let’s whip out those tape measures and calipers!
There is a lot of research out there, so prepare yourself if you’re going to explore this area. Unfortunately, I sat down in my kitchen to do the research and before I knew it, four hours had passed and I had made my way through a box of Mike and Ikes, two Twix bars, a jar of peanuts, and a leftover roast beef sandwich. Now my waist and neck are the same size and I can barely reach the keyboard, but I am prepared to pass on some information.
Our editor was the inquiring mind who asked this one, and unfortunately there is only one nonmedical mention that relates directly to the comparison between neck and waist size. Apparently in dressmakers’ guidelines from the turn of the century, a girl’s eligibility was said to be judged by the size of her waist-which should be “twice the circumference of her neck, which, in turn, should be twice the circumference of her wrist.”
The medical literature has many references to both waist circumference and neck circumference, but they do not address any direct correlation in size. According to the National Institutes of Health, a high waist circumference is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. A British study showed that over the past fifty women. Neck circumference has also been linked to increased heart disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea risk.
Before we leave the topic of body size behind, we have to mention one article from the November 1995 International Journal of Eating Disorders. In their article “Distorting Reality for Children: Body Size Proportions of Barbie and Ken Dolls,” K.D. Brownell and M. A. Napolitano used hip measurements as a constant, and calculated the changes necessary for a young, healthy adult woman and man to attain the same body proportions as Barbie and Ken. Among the changes necessary were for the female to increase 24 inches in height, 5 inches in the chest, and 3.2 inches in neck length, while decreasing 6 inches in the waist. Male Ken wannabes need to increase 20 inches in height, 11 inches in the chest, and 7.9 inches in neck circumference. If Barbie were a real female, she would be 7 feet 2 inches with a22-inch waist and a neck that could barely support her head. Ken would be 7 feet 8 inches with a 43-inch waist. A little unrealistic, no?
