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Women’s expectations of the opposite sex are at least as unrealistic as men’s
The Economist ^ | April 13, 2013 (Back to the future!) | The Economist

Posted on 04/12/2013 3:42:47 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

MEN have long wondered what exactly it is that women want. Some pore over men’s magazines, with their promises of “washboard abs”, for guidance. The more scientifically minded look for experimental data. The latest evidence comes from a group of researchers led by Brian Mautz, then of Australian National University. They gathered 105 heterosexual Australian women and showed them a series of digitally generated pictures of men in which three bodily characteristics were varied—height, shoulder-to-waist ratio and flaccid penis size. The women were asked to rate the men as sexual partners.

In an article just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr Mautz and his team describe their results. Happily for the insecure, although the women did indeed find a larger penis alluring, it was not the most important factor. That honour went to the combination of broad shoulders and a narrow waist, which accounted for around three-quarters of the variation in attractiveness all by itself. Height was also only a weak predictor of appeal. That is odd, says Dr Mautz, because other studies have linked height with all sorts of benefits, from higher salaries to longer lives. The bigger-is-better effect was also subject to diminishing returns: each extra centimetre, whether of height, shoulder width or penis size, was less significant than the previous one.

Nonetheless, even the tallest, broadest-shouldered and best-endowed digital hunks that the researchers generated fell short of perfection. “The optimum values appear to lie outside the tested range,” they note, adding that the “maxima are more than two standard deviations from the population mean for each trait.” That means that, for each trait, fewer than 2.5% of the men whom women encounter in the real world will be as generously proportioned as they might hope. Men with perfect scores in all three traits will be rarer than hen’s teeth.

The study is not perfect. There was no danger of the women mistaking the digital men for the real thing. Other factors—such as social status, for instance—may, in the real world, override the physical preferences that the researchers were measuring. And it is hard, when all the subjects come from a single country, to disentangle the effects of nurture from those of nature. It is commonly pointed out, for instance, that men’s apparent preference for slim women seems to be a relatively modern (and Western) construction. Erotica from the turn of the 19th century tend to feature much curvier women than their modern equivalent. Women’s preferences may be just as influenced by the culture in which they grow up.

On the other hand, it is a rule of thumb in biology that females (of any species) are much pickier than males. There are good evolutionary reasons why that is so. Even in humans, who share the burden of child-rearing more equally than many animals, having children requires far more of an investment of resources from a female than it does from a male—after all, it is the woman who must endure nine months of pregnancy and then breast-feed the baby. Women therefore face stronger incentives to spend their relatively limited reproductive resources on only the most attractive men, whose children will be most likely to breed in turn. Back to the sit-ups, boys.


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: attraction; men; reproduction; women
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1 posted on 04/12/2013 3:42:47 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
MEN have long wondered what exactly it is that women want.

Most women don't know either.

2 posted on 04/12/2013 3:47:20 AM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: Islander7
The Husband Store!

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch. ... You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.

The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!
3 posted on 04/12/2013 4:07:04 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Most of the undesirable male physical attributes can be overcome by carrying one of these.

4 posted on 04/12/2013 4:10:25 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va
Makes you wonder..


5 posted on 04/12/2013 4:17:53 AM PDT by maddog55 (America Rising.... Civil War II)
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To: maddog55

See post 4.


6 posted on 04/12/2013 4:23:30 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

             


Speaking of diminishing returns .. there comes a point at which staying single is preferable to running the risk of another decimation.

7 posted on 04/12/2013 4:24:25 AM PDT by tomkat (-liberty or death-)
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To: tomkat

Somethings wrong. All of those controls have markings. That’s not right at all.

Really, some of those knobs should be missing, and others have screws through them so that they’re not actually adjustable.


8 posted on 04/12/2013 4:38:49 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Rightwingextremist's first rule of life;
“Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy a awful lot of good looking women.”
9 posted on 04/12/2013 4:42:57 AM PDT by rightwingextremist1776
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To: maddog55; central_va

Dude must be loaded.


10 posted on 04/12/2013 4:43:05 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drag Me From Hell!)
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To: DuncanWaring

That’s a perfect description of what goes on in the woman’s mind.


11 posted on 04/12/2013 4:43:09 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Pi$$ed off yet?)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
re: The study is not perfect. There was no danger of the women mistaking the digital men for the real thing.

And here is the true difference between men and women. Women may like what they see with their eyes, but do not love with their eyes. Men, on the other hand, think that if they love what they see, then what they see is lovable. They then marry a hank of hair and a waistline, then head to FR to whine about the bad person the waistline turns out to be and how she takes his money and his children.

12 posted on 04/12/2013 4:48:34 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle

Excellent analysis.


13 posted on 04/12/2013 4:50:11 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Just what this family needs: more smugness.)
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To: Mamzelle

Ha ha—you about summed it up!


14 posted on 04/12/2013 4:54:46 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

All I’ve ever looked for is someone who will make me laugh, be my best friend and love animals.

everything else to me would be icing on the cake.


15 posted on 04/12/2013 4:54:49 AM PDT by Gefn ("Veni, Vidi, Volo in domum redire")
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To: Tax-chick
I have in my circle a married man who always brings his chippie along, a kind of good-natured gal, not too bright but with a nice, high-sitting rack and is twenty years younger than he. This guy is pushing seventy and has all these quarter-sized freckles all over his (age spots just happen to be something of a turn off for me) bald, scaly scalp.

He's always making remarks about the unattractiveness of women his age. Hence, I always notice how unattractive he is, how his old rear end sags down to the back of his knees...

But he won't get a divorce because he can't stand to part with the money he made while his wife raised his kids...

16 posted on 04/12/2013 4:55:31 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Islander7
MEN have long wondered what exactly it is that women want.

Most women don't know either.

A man on his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, 'because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish..'

The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.'

God replied, 'Your request is materialistic; think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help man kind.'

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, 'God, I wish that I, and all men, could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, why she snaps and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.

God replied: 'You want two lanes or four on that bridge?
17 posted on 04/12/2013 4:57:17 AM PDT by Peet (Come back with a warrant.)
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To: maddog55

She must think he gives good wallet.


18 posted on 04/12/2013 4:59:41 AM PDT by SecondAmendment (Restoring our Republic at 9.8357x10^8 FPS)
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To: Mamzelle

You are truly correct! I read a thread yesterday about buying Russian brides. Slim hotties in high heeled boots. Then some wondered why people they knew who did this... were left high and dry as soon as she got her green card. LOL!!


19 posted on 04/12/2013 5:01:09 AM PDT by momtothree
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To: DuncanWaring
The wife store.

Floor #1 A loving woman, girl-next-door type, your age.

Floor #2 One not so loving, not so faithful, but has a perfect 34C bra and a 24" waistline. Butt a little big, legs short with cankles. She's a little younger than you.

Floor #3 A woman of known immorality, been married before and divorced under unpleasant circumstances, but she has a 36D, a tiny waist and a perfectly rounded rear end.

Floor #4 Cheated on every man she ever knew, makes it obvious all she cares about is money and spending you into ruination, but has a face like Catherine Zeta and long, show girl legs and is in her twenties! She's too beautiful to be bad...she's...not guilty

Floor #5 Here are several women, all looking different from one another like different breeds of dog at Westminster. Asian teenagers, Big Blonde Viking types, etc. You can marry them all, they'll all hate you and be unfaithful and steal from you. But men will admire you and envy you your varied arm candy...

Men generally get the women they deserve...just like women get them men they deserve.

20 posted on 04/12/2013 5:09:41 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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