Saturday, January 1, 2011

What makes a woman's body attractive?

 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. At least, that's what we like to think, given that our society is made up of people of all shapes, colours and sizes. After all, what's attractive to one person doesn't necessarily appeal to the next.

When it comes to the female form, however, scientists believe they've discovered exactly what most people - men and women - like. The results, however, may not be quite what you'd think.

Researchers, whose study has just been published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, scanned the bodies of 96 women aged between 20 and 49. So that the results would be free from racial or cultural bias, the scans were shown both to Chinese and Australian volunteers, each of whom had to rate each body scan's attractiveness on a scale of one to seven.

The results were pretty consistent between all the volunteers, whether they were male, female, Chinese or Australian.

Unsurprisingly, scans of the younger, taller and lighter women were rated as the most attractive. Women with narrow waists scored more highly too. But if you thought long legs or pert boobs would be right up there on the list of top attractions, you'd be wrong. Instead long arms - particularly on taller women - were given the thumbs up.

It's hardly good news for shorties with stubby arms who are the wrong side of 25. But can you ever define attractiveness on body parts alone? Isn't that oversimplifying matters in the extreme?

Tell us what you find attractive. 

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