Figuring Out Attractiveness

The media is often blamed for putting pressure on females to be super slim – but are men really drawn to skinny women? Physical attraction is partly driven by fitness and the ability to produce healthy offspring – but while thin women are less likely to suffer from diseases like diabetes and heart conditions, fatter women have historically been better placed to withstand famine. Scientists used these fat verses thin factors to calculate optimum fitness and concluded that men should find women most attractive with a body mass index (BMI) of 24-24.8, the high side of normal weight. However, when men were shown images of female figures, like the examples pictured, a lower BMI of around 19 was preferred. This corresponds to the average BMI of 18–20-year-old women, the age of maximum fertility, demonstrating that the model of attractiveness must also take youthfulness into account.

Written by Mick Warwicker

Mick Warwicker

Writer

A freelance communications consultant and writer, Mick specialises in science and education. A science graduate and award-winning print and broadcast journalist, he was Head of Communications at Newcastle University from 2000–2011.

Website

• Image courtesy of Mark Faries
• Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK
• Copyright held by original author
• Research published in PeerJ, August 2015