male/female proportion differences

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You keep hearing about how men have longer arms and torsos and women have longer legs...and how this complicates things for women buying bikes.

I saw a young couple the other day standing in line for coffee side by side. They were both the very same height, and both slim. His hands hung down about three inches below the level of her hands, and her crotch was about three inches higher than his. Too funny- it was a classic example!

[DebW]

It's sometimes funny when people don't realize that difference. I was taking a chainsaw class a couple years ago and the instructor was handing out kevlar chaps. He looked at me (I'm 5'6") and handed me the shortest size. I put them on and they were way too short. So I gave that pair to a man my height and got the longest ones they had, which fit perfectly. A tall woman might have been out of luck since all the chaps were sized for men.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Reminds me of the time last year when we went kayaking in Quebec. Now, I'm not a huge woman, I have a small waist and shapely hips. There was a changing loft in the shed, and we were all required to put on wet suits. I checked out all the wetsuits on the rack, all with tiny man-hips, and they all looked like NO WAY I was going to fit my pear shape into them! I explained my concern to Etienne (our guide) and he handed me a LARGE size and said with his French accent "This is extra-large, should be plenty BIG!"

Of course it was a MAN'S XLarge, and the hips were like so NOT shaped for me!
I had not choice but to try to shoe-horn myself into it. All this in a dark sweaty shed loft with a bunch of strangers waiting impatiently outside. My sweet husband helped me- he pulled and stuffed and tried to get me in- I was breaking out into black rubber sweat and almost in tears! Finally my husband (bless his heart) said "Just jump up and down and I'll pull up at the same time". So there I was jumping up and down while he yanked me up into the air by the suit. I was like on a bungee cord! Finally we got my hips and thighs wedged in -somehow. I was totally sweaty and exhausted and embarrassed. But we finally emerged from the shed ready to go. Peeling it off later wasn't such a problem, Thank God. All because they thought S, M, L, and XL was all anyone would need. Hips need not apply!