Do women have a wider range of gaits than men? I have a suspicion that they do....some lean noticeably forwards or back, some swing from side to side and some don’t, some walk so that their head stays at the same level relative to the ground, so that they almost seem to glide, whereas others do not.
I have 3 theories and I wonder which is the right one:
1. It is a function of their shoes. Some women wear flat shoes, others sandals, others boots. The variety of designs of women’s shoes is enormous, especially when heel design and height is taken into consideration. The design of one’s shoes is obviously going to influence how one walks and as men’s shoes are more consistent in design they tend to walk in a smaller variety of ways.
2. It is a function of their hips and buttocks, which vary greatly. Some are almost indistinguishable from men’s, others are very different from men’s (especially those women who are very curvy)
3. Men’s gait varies as much as women’s and I simply spend more time watching women than men, for reasons that should be obvious.
Which of my theories do you think is right?
― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 10 February 2005 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)