As mentioned before in Perett's book, In Your Face: The New Science of Human Attraction, women show a stronger attraction toward men with a figure consistent with the ideal hunting physique: strong shoulders, narrow waists, and broad chests and shoulders.
Summary. Women tend to prefer men with fit, athletic bodies. These ideal male bodies are significantly leaner and stronger than average, but not as lean and strong as most men wish to be, and certainly not as muscular as most bodybuilders.
The stereotypically attractive female body shape is an hourglass figure, which includes wide hips, a narrow waist, and broad shoulders.
There's more of a spread across women's preferences in men. Contrary to popular opinion, women seem to much more concerned with the body below the neck than men are. Only 2% preferring the face above all else. Taking the lead is the chest at 24%, closely followed by hair at 22% and arms at 19%.
Women stated that their favorite part of the male physique was their chest at 24%. This was closely followed by hair 22% and arms at 19%. For the ab crowd, 13% prefer defined upper abs and 9% prefer the v-cut. Eyes, face, and legs came in at 3%, 2%, and 1%, respectively.
They found that women were most attracted to muscles that are harder to develop, primarily the abs and biceps. Interestingly, the muscles women found most attractive were, in this order: glutes, biceps, abs, pecs, shoulders, obliques, triceps, and quads.
Male-specific factors. Women, on average, tend to be more attracted to men who have a relatively narrow waist, a V-shaped torso, and broad shoulders. Women also tend to be more attracted to men who are taller than they are, and display a high degree of facial symmetry, as well as relatively masculine facial dimorphism.
A wide back is essential for a V-shaped torso, and women's attraction to it is ancestral. "When it was important that our mates protect us from woolly mammoths on the plains, we looked for a gene pool that could provide us with protection," says Pega Ren, Ed. D., a sexologist in British Columbia.
Researchers suggest, "women prefer muscles that are hard to build to be larger than muscles that are easier to build." Interestingly, men's ratings of size preferences were larger than women's. In other words, men thought bigger muscles were better, while women didn't have quite the same preferences.
"No one will be surprised by the idea that strong men are more attractive," Aaron Lukaszewski, an evolutionary psychologist at California State University at Fullerton and an author of the study, told The Washington Post. "It's no secret that women like strong, muscular guys."
Mesomorphs have a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong, which means they build muscle easily. The mesomorph body type responds the best to weight training.
In a (not-so-surprising) study conducted by Western Illinois University, women rated abs as the sexiest muscle on a man's body, ThePostGame.com reports.
Good news, guys! Over 75% of women prefer FLAB to abs: Sex therapist Tracey Cox explains why women DON'T want chiselled perfection in their bed.
In a HerCampus.com survey of over 100 college women across the country, a majority ranked arms as the biggest turn on. Women feel it's a sign that you take good care of your body and admitted they love to see a hint of a man's biceps through his t-shirt or sweater.
They found that faces account for more of the variation among ratings than do bodies; in other words, faces are more important. For women rating men, 52 per cent of the attractiveness score was made up by the face rating, while for bodies it was 24 per cent.
In a (not-so-surprising) study conducted by Western Illinois University, women rated abs as the sexiest muscle on a man's body, ThePostGame.com reports.
Overwhelmingly, women thought the strongest men were also the best-looking. They also had a preference for tall, lean guys. The reason, it seems, isn't purely physical. Researchers believe that these preferences are tied to survival.
Women like muscles; men are intimidated by them.
Researchers have found that a man's physical formidability is a better predictor than his attractiveness for how many partners he has had. In the study, researchers recorded short videos of 157 different men.
Girls like guys that show respect to them, their friends, and other people. Support her dreams and desires. Be willing to help her along the way to achieving her goals. It is important for girls to know that they have someone who is in their corner and will provide encouragement when they want to do something.
Women are attracted to men that have goals and are actively pursuing them. Masculine energy is directional energy. Like a boulder rolling down a hill, the single-focus energy that penetrates through resistance in pursuit of achieving an end result is very attractive to women. But drive isn't always enough on its own.
It says that women are most attracted to male faces that combine the best elements of both these extremes--the large eyes and medium-to-small nose of the baby's face with the strong jaw and wide cheekbones of the mature man's face.
Muscularity is sexy.
In a separate study, women reported that their short-term sexual partners were more muscular than their other partners. The researchers suggest women have fewer requirements for muscular men.
In a HerCampus.com survey of over 100 college women across the country, a majority ranked arms as the biggest turn on. Women feel it's a sign that you take good care of your body and admitted they love to see a hint of a man's biceps through his t-shirt or sweater.
Women are not alone in their preference for men with large shoulders. Guys regard this as an ideal body type as well, one study found. Men participating in the study cited shoulders as generally one of the most important body parts, and noted that muscular ones are crucial.