Depressing results after a study asked men across the world to identify the perfect female body
A study of different female body shapes found that men prefer bodies that emulate youth.
Men from 10 countries were asked to rank a series of body shapes from most to least attractive. The most popular body shape had a BMI of 19, which is close to underweight. Furthermore, a correlation between higher BMI and perceived lesser attractiveness was also observed, according to the Independent.
“Fitness in evolutionary terms comprises two things: survival and the ability to reproduce,” Professor John Speakman, who led the study, said. “What we wanted to investigate was the idea that when we look at someone and think they are physically attractive, are we actually making that assessment based on a hard-wired evolutionary understanding of their potential for future survival and reproductive ability?”
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The team assumed the preference for a body with a lover BMI was due to the fact that it suggested a woman aged 17 to 20. “Although most people will not be surprised that extreme thinness was perceived as the most attractive body type, since this prevails so heavily in media, culture and fashion, the important advance is that now we have an evolutionary understanding of why this is the case,” Dr Lobke Vaanholt, one of the study’s authors, explained.
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