When they say women's hips should be wider or as wide as the shoulders, does that mean where the armpits are or does that include the actual shoulders/deltoids?

From what I've read, there have been studies where men have been asked to choose between two waist/hip pictures of which is more attractive to them - one waist/hip is slender but the ratio between waist/hip is very small, while the other is of a heavier woman, but the waist/hip ratio is much larger, and the latter was the favoured.

Apparantly, it's not so much 'where' the hips should be (though I believe, the hips should be in the armpits, with the shoulders out if you want a more muscular/physique look) but that the hips and waist should have a nice, healthy difference between the two.

I'm not sure if I've even answered your question. It's possible I answered another question no one asked. I do that some times.

It will definitly vary from artist to artist on how wide to make the hips. Usually some people say to make them as wide as the shoulders or sometimes wider. But because we are dealing with muscle women here it becomes a problem. What I generally like to go by is the ribcage. This is a matter of my tastes, but I usually make the hips in the range of 1/4 to about 1/2 times wider than the ribcage. Hope you find that helpful.