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Body attractiveness: Difference between revisions
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Regarding the more minor traits associated with male bodily attractiveness, it has been demonstrated that a narrow waist by itself is also considered an attractive trait in males. Interestingly, a lower waist to hip ratio is attractive in males (like it is in women), even when controlling for waist size. Thus, proportionately large hips in males are an undesirable trait.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340497679_Preferences_for_Sexually_Dimorphic_Body_Characteristics_Revealed_in_a_Large_Sample_of_Speed_Daters</ref> | Regarding the more minor traits associated with male bodily attractiveness, it has been demonstrated that a narrow waist by itself is also considered an attractive trait in males. Interestingly, a lower waist to hip ratio is attractive in males (like it is in women), even when controlling for waist size. Thus, proportionately large hips in males are an undesirable trait.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340497679_Preferences_for_Sexually_Dimorphic_Body_Characteristics_Revealed_in_a_Large_Sample_of_Speed_Daters</ref> | ||
===Body fat percentage=== | |||
There is a common perception that women are generally attracted to features that indicate leanness in men, such as defined abdominal muscles.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ekmo9f/women_of_reddit_do_you_find_6_pack_abs_attractive/</ref> In contrast to this, the official research on women's preferences shows that while women do prefer lean men, they typically prefer men in the middle of the healthy range of body fat percentage for men (around 14-17%).<ref>https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-is-body-composition</ref> A general rule of thumb among fitness enthusiasts is that 10% body fat is the level around which most men show clear, defined abdominal muscles without flexing or being in flattering lighting<ref>https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/a759234/what-body-fat-percentage-should-i-be-to-see-abs/</ref> 10% body fat is rather lean, representing the 3rd percentile for males aged 25-29 in the United States as measured by a DXA scan, and 9th percentile for the caliper method that relies on subcutaneous fat.<ref>https://dqydj.com/body-fat-percentage-comparison-calculator-by-age/</ref> | |||
In contrast to this belief, Brierly et al. (2016) found that Australian women manipulated male bodies to be at around 16% when they were prompted to create the most 'attractive' bodies.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303798036_The_Body_and_the_Beautiful_Health_Attractiveness_and_Body_Composition_in_Men%27s_and_Women%27s_Bodies#pfe</ref> | |||
Lei & Perrett replicated this in a sample of British women, finding that they preferred men with body fat percentages of 14.5% and 15% for long-term relationships, a difference that was non-significant. However, this study used less naturalistic 3D morphs than the first.<ref>https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjop.12451</ref> | |||
A survey conducted by the fitness site Bony to Beastly also found that women generally preferred men with a low but not extremely lean body fat % as the most attractive (around 13%).<ref>https://bonytobeastly.com/most-attractive-male-body-survey-results/#2-the-most-attractive-degree-of-leanness</ref> | |||
Also concerning women's preferences in regards to leanness in men, Wang et al. conducted an analysis of whether there was evidence of assortative preference in regards to the body fat percentage of an ideal partner in raters of both sexes. This sample was cross-cultural, and revealed heterogeneity in women's preferences for male body fat percentage, broken down by their race. This also found that most women of all races preferred leaner, but not super lean men, with 14% of women conforming to the rating pattern that evaluated very lean men (10% body fat). The female raters' BMI played little role in these evaluations, unlike what was discovered in prior research. Very few women preferred obese men.<ref>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.22092#oby22092-bib-0034</ref> | |||
An interesting sidenote here is that Asian women displayed the least heterogeneity with their attractiveness ratings, as the majority of them (82%) conformed to the rating pattern that evaluated men with a moderate (around 15%) but healthy level of body fat as the most attractive. | |||
Overall, the evidence suggests that women find men with body fat percentages in the middle of the healthy range to be most attractive, on average. A small, but still fairly large, minority of women prefer leaner men (close to the ideal of defined abs). A much smaller percentage of women claim not to care much about a man's level of body fat, and an even smaller subset appears to actively prefers obese men. | |||
==Relative contribution of face and body to attractiveness== | ==Relative contribution of face and body to attractiveness== | ||
In the [[incelosphere]] and elsewhere, there is an often furious debate that rages regarding how much bodily attractiveness contributes to overall physical attractiveness in men, especially compared to the contribution of facial attractiveness to holistic physical attractiveness ratings. | In the [[incelosphere]] and elsewhere, there is an often furious debate that rages regarding how much bodily attractiveness contributes to overall physical attractiveness in men, especially compared to the contribution of facial attractiveness to holistic physical attractiveness ratings. | ||