Thursday, June 3, 2010

Danger...Curves Ahead

Research published in the past five years suggests that men find curvy women more attractive than thin women.  It appears that waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), the difference between waist and hip measurements, is not only a better indicator of health but an attribute found more attractive to men.
In a recent study, brain scans showed more activity when men viewed pictures of curvy women in comparison to those of normal weight women (based on body mass index-BMI).  Although men did find women with normal BMIs attractive, their evaluations were simple and purely visual.  When viewing women with curvier shapes, the desire and reward areas in the brain were most active.

2 comments:

  1. The research only supports the reality of what is going on in the minds of men. Society promotes the myth of beauty in the form of anorexia. However, at the end of the day, and behind closed doors, meen will lower their inhibitions for curves. It reminds me of an episode of The Game. Maleek had sincere feeling for the overweight reporter. Howeer, the expectation of society was that he should be seen socializing with "trophy" type women (traditional skin and bones, video vixon). The ad reality is that I am not sure what it will take to reveres the trend or for men to "come out of the closet" and abandon the myths about bu=eauty and embrace women with curves!

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  2. Exactly, the brain response to curves is based on a biological attraction to women who would make better mates for procreation. Having hips and some fat reserves on thighs signaled fertility=more attractive. The response to the normal BMI pictures was based on learned societal standards, therefore getting less brain response.

    It must be true that we only tap into about 10-20% of our brain's capability.......if only!

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