A bicycle saddle is like a good suit. It has to fit your body - or in this case your behind - like a 2nd skin. If it does, there's no need for any cushioning at all.
On a good saddle your weight is only supported by your sitting bones. This of course needs some training, which a lot of people don't have. That's why they prefer heavily cushioned seats (not saddles) that distribute their weight on everything their behind has to offer. This relieves untrained sitting bones, but the downside is, that it creates a lot of additional friction (which will irritate your skin) and that nerves and veins in the soft tissue get squeezed. You won't mind that on a 1km ride, but you will on a 100km ride.

The width of a saddle is another point. You'll want it to be at least as wide as your sitting bones plus some margin, but not much wider to reduce the aforementioned friction. If it's narrower it will cause a lot of pain because it applies pressure to your soft tissue and a shearing force on your sitting bones.
More well trained riders also tend to sit more aerodynamically, with their upper body lowered. If done properly, the pelvis will tilt forward while lowering the upper body and the contact point betwen the saddle and your sitting bones will move forward. The more forward this point is, the smaller is also the distance between your sitting bones. This is why trained (and thus aerodynamic) riders will prefer narrower saddles.

And then there's of course the difference between men and women. The sitting bones of both are shaped differently. Men have sitting bones with a more rounded lower edge, that on a bicycle saddle more or less works like a hinge, enabling men to assume pretty much any angle on a saddle.
Women's sitting bones on the other hand have a flat underside, which makes it more difficult for them to change angles.
This is why a woman looking for advice with a saddle should never turn to a man, but to an experienced woman instead.