SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT: A WOMAN’S BODY
Skeleton Starting around age two, a girl grows at the average rate of 5 centimetres (2 inches) per year. At around the age of ten, she experiences a growth spurt and begins to grow at a faster fate, gaining approximately 10 centimetres (4 inches) or more in a single year, but then slows down again until she reaches her final height, approximately one to three years after the onset of menstruation. While her bones are growing longer, not all grow at the same rate. Arm, leg and feet bones grow at a faster rate than, say, spinal bones, and the pelvic bones take on a characteristically wide shape.
A woman has a wider pelvis than a man, in older to accommodate a growing baby, and her thigh bones are set wider apart. The thighs have to slant quite steeply inwards for the knees to come near the centre of gravity, so most women have a degree of knock knees.
Body hair Sexual body hair usually appears around the eleventh or twelfth year, just after the breasts have begun to grow. Pubic hair is longer, coarser, darker in colour, and curlier than one’s normal childhood hair, which has been present on the body since birth. Pubic hair first appears on the vulva and gradually spreads over the mons and vaginal lips, forming an upside-down triangle. In some women, pubic hair grows up toward the navel and out onto the thighs.
Women differ in the amount of pubic hair that grows. Some have a lot; for others it is sparse. It can be any colour and does not have to match the head hair. As a woman ages, her pubic hair may go grey. Almost two years after the appearance of pubic hair, further hair starts growing in the armpits.
Muscles and fat Fat begins to be deposited on the breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks when a girl is about nine to ten. Later on, when she is about 15 to 17, more fat appears in the same areas. While her hips become rounded and swelling, the waist becomes curved and well-defined. Some women develop stretch marks – faint purplish or white lines – on their skin at this time. This happens when the skin is stretched too much during this period of rapid growth.
The genitals A man’s genitals lie on the surface of his body where they are easily seen and handled. A woman’s genitals, however, are relatively inaccessible, more numerous and fairly complex in design. Just as in other areas of human anatomy, the genitals of women are individual; they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colours and textures.
Breasts The breasts are a symbol of feminine identity, forming part of the body image. Initially designed to nourish an infant, they are often far more highly regarded by society as a principal source of eroticism, a symbol of femininity, a determinant of fashion and a measure of a woman’s beauty.
The breasts, or mammary glands, are modified sweat glands. Each woman’s breasts are unique in their size, shape and appearance, and this variation not only occurs between women but in the same woman at different times of her life, that is during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and lactation. One breast is very often larger than the other.
In the centre of the breast is a ring of skin called the areola; the nipple sits in its centre. The nipple and areola can range in colour from a light pink to a brownish-black.
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