14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no longer a secret that men and women have different perceptions as regards a woman’s body and what the standards of female beauty are. Coming to show that, indeed, most women would deem it necessary that they lost one pound more, researchers have found that men consider size-0 women (and especially celebrities) not in the least bit attractive, the BBC can confirm.
Most women, researchers have learned, think they could always stand to lose a few pounds more, which is why many have come to believe that size 0, the frail, stick-thin figure, is the one they should aspire to achieve. Men, on the contrary, not only deem size 0 as not at all attractive, but they would also choose the likes of a Scarlett Johansson over a Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham.
“In our study, people in the normal weight range were judged healthier and more attractive than under or overweight individuals. This sends a strong message to all the girls out there who believe you have to be underweight to be attractive. The people making judgments in our study were all between the ages of 18 and 26 and they did not rate underweight girls most attractive. They preferred normal weight girls.” Professor David Perrett, who supervised the study, says for the BBC.
Aside from being unattractive, underweight women were also rated as the least healthy by the participants in the study. Lead researcher Vinet Coetzee tells the BBC that, while this connection between looks and health is almost immediately made in one’s mind at first sight, science is not yet able to explain how it comes to occur. This is not to say that it doesn’t hold any water when put against cold, hard facts, though.
“Scientists have been trying to answer this question for decades, and have made many breakthroughs in our understanding of health and attractiveness, but until now they have tended to overlook the influence of weight. Even at this young age, their health was already suffering because they were overweight, and what is more, other people can spot this in their face.” Coetzee says of the findings of the study, which is published in the journal Perception.