What is Physically Attractive: I Like Big Butts

Ok, now we are getting to the stuff that people actually care about. No more hormones or horseshoe crabs having sex. This post will be about men's and women's bodies and what exactly is attractive to the opposite sex.

Women's preference for tall men is no secret. Males that are over five foot eleven are the most popular, and get the most responses from personal ads. Heavier men also tend to be more attractive to women, according to John Manning and his colleagues at the University of Liverpool. "Perhaps symmetry is so difficult to assess you need something else, like body weight, to detect it," says Robin Baker, a biologist at the University of Manchester. (Baker is also the author of Sperm Wars.) Square jaws are also popular with women.

All of these features, height, weight and a long jaw bone, are influenced by testosterone. Men with the highest testosterone counts also tend to produce the most sperm. Only the healthiest males can afford to have so much testosterone. The hormone tends to weaken the immune system (which is why men that take steroids tend to have acne, as well as boys that are going through puberty). Men that go through life with relatively few acne outbreaks have stronger immune systems, despite the surge in testosterone. Only the strongest immune system could still prevent acne.

While men are dominated by testosterone, women are strongly influenced by estrogen. Estrogen is commonly found in fatty tissue. Overweight men have higher than normal estrogen, which decreases their sex drive, sperm count and overall happiness. It has a similar effect on women. It enlarges their hips and breasts. Many men's preference for large boobs is well known. The "why" is the mystery. (As a guy that likes breasts, its hard to explain. Its not that smaller breasted women are unattractive or unfeminine, its that the larger endowed women are extra feminine.)

A study of Polish women in 2007 found that women with large boobies and slim waists are the most fertile, as found by measuring their estroidal and progesterone. They also tend to be healthier, are easier to get pregnant and do so at younger ages. By choosing voluptuous women to have sex with, men are bettering thier chances of passing on their genes. On the same note, women battling anorexia often have trouble getting pregnant and carrying the pregnancy to term. One in five women in fertility clinics are effected by an eating disorder.

Like Anna Nicole Smith said before being named Playmate of the Year in 1993, "Who wants to hug a skeleton?"

Some of this information was taken from Psychology Today (Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature, written by Allan S. Miller) and from http://hss.fullerton.edu/sociology/orleans, symattrct.txt. at California State University. More info came from
http://www.fertilityfactor.com/infertility_female_infertility_eating_disorders.html