> > What about all
> > those icons of very obese women that are supposed to be from the ice
> > ages?  Fantasy, or modelled after real life images?
>
> Ray thinks they are late paleolithic pornography.  I don't know
> what other theories are out there.

I heard a theory on this over on the PCOD (polycystic ovarian disease)
support list. PCOD women are usually insulin resistant and often
overweight. Another major symptom is amenorrhea (lack of menstrual
periods), or at least highly irregular periods, accompanied by lack of
ovulation. Often women find that when they eat low-carb and lose weight,
they begin to cycle again.

And, as Todd points out,
>Some have argued that insulin resistance is in fact an
>*adaptation* whereby fat is readily stored during the short
>seasons of carb abundance typical of an ice age.

So, the theory goes, in paleolithic times of plenty (periods of "carb
abundance"), PCOD women were fat and infertile.  In times of starvation,
the skinnier women died off. PCOD women lost weight and became fertile,
thereby reproducing and ensuring the population's survival. So then these
fat women became associated with fertility and survival in times of famine
and hardship (thus the icons). Sorry, I don't remember the name(s) of the
researcher(s)  who came up with this theory.

Cheyenne