One of the main morphological differences between men and women
is the greater amount of fat that women carry; this softens the
outline of the muscles, more or less erases the osseous
indicators, and rounds out the surfaces while creating
characteristic folds and grooves. Fat in normal women represents
between 18% and 20% of body weight, whereas in men it represents
only 10% to 15%. The reason for this difference is that women at
some point in their lives may nourish a fetus and then a baby
from their own reserves, so women have to stock energy in the
form of fat in anticipation of future pregnancies (and must
stock even more energy during the last two trimesters of
pregnancy). For various reasons, different fat distributions
occur in women according to climate. In hot countries, the fat
is localized on the buttocks (black Africans), on the hips
(Mediterraneans), and around the navel (certain Asians). This
distribution avoids covering the woman with a hot coat of fat
that would be difficult to bear and ineffi