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Study Finds the Perfect Ratio of Attractiveness

Posted by samzenpus on from the hey-there-big-arms dept.

Gksksla writes "Scientists in Australia and Hong Kong have conducted a comprehensive study to discover how different body measurements correspond with ratings of female attractiveness. The study, published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, found that across cultural divides young, tall and long armed women were considered the most attractive."

35 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Golden Ratio by C_Kode · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wasn't this already figured out by Ancient Greek mathematicians? :)

    1. Re:Golden Ratio by VolciMaster · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wasn't this already figured out by Ancient Greek mathematicians?

      Are you referring to that old "Angle of the dangle, mass of the meat something, something" calculation?

      I always thought it was "heat of the meat"...

      --
      antipaucity
  2. Forgot one by RealErmine · · Score: 4, Funny

    Young, tall, long armed and with huge... tracts of land.

    --
    Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
    1. Re:Forgot one by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Informative

      P.S. Here's a whole bunch of those THIN but still wide-hipped ladies:

      Warning: Naked europeans. Not recommended for prudes: http://www.domai.com/news/index.html

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  3. Pssshhh... by mister_playboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Long arms? Give me a hourglass shaped babe with plenty of T&A, thanks. :)

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
    1. Re:Pssshhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Any gal you marry will end up with plenty of A, no matter how much she starts with.

  4. The perfect study by Big+Smirk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nice job.

    Next up, a study on perfect female breast size.

    "No ma'am, I'm not oogling you, I'm conducting a study"

    --
    TODO: create/find/steal funny sig.
  5. bad survey. by JWSmythe · · Score: 2, Informative

    God, yet another insignificant study without enough information.

        96 models, and a sample set of 94 (plus some number in the Hong Kong group).

        At least it leads to their site, which appears that it may do a better job at getting a good sample group.

        It, of course, can't take into account moods, personal history, etc. Like, the most beautiful woman in the survey could look just like my exgirlfriend/exwife. It's very likely I'd immediately score her lower.

       

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    1. Re:bad survey. by JWSmythe · · Score: 2, Interesting

          It doesn't look like the same size provides an adequate room for edge cases to not skew the results.

          At one company, I did scored ratings. It seemed like a big complicated system, but it boiled down to be pretty simple. People were voting 1 to 5 on a set of pictures. There were thousands of sets handled by the system at any given point, and multiple millions of votes stored in our logs.

          In the first 10 results, we could have a tremendously skewed result. Say a 4.5
          In the first 100 results, we'd see them drift. maybe now 2.5
          In the first 10,000 results, it would be closer to a consistent number. 4.2, for the sake of this example.

          To encourage voting, and reduce complaints of "where's my score", we didn't publish any scores until there were at least 50 results. It made for the occasional complaint of "why did my score change so much", which we could address by providing their logs (timestamps and votes).

          So, 100 guys in Australia, and an unknown sample group in Hong Kong? Nope, not good enough, especially where they're trying to say it covers 50% of the world population.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    2. Re:bad survey. by insertwackynamehere · · Score: 3, Funny

      What the statue of liberty should have said

  6. Long arms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    How long have these arms to be?
    Long enough to hand me a beer over from the fridge?

  7. Re:Long arms? Uh, no by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I usually fuck her if she's cute, friendly, comfortable, and willing. Failing the willing part, we get flirty; failing the comfortable part, things get weird and we dismiss the idea. Failing the comfortable/willing parts both, we usually just wind up being friends. If she turns out to be a bitch, I just ignore her because no amount of unbelievable hotness is going to cover up a giant cunt. Sure I'm not into chubby chicks; but there's plenty of skinny, curvy, short, and somewhat long girls out there that catch my eye. There's no real pattern: I like her or I don't, and if she's got a smoking body but her aura says "LOL I AM ENTITLED TO EVERYTHING SO FUCK YOU ALL KNEEL BEFORE ME" I'm not going to notice her.

    --
    Support my political activism on Patreon.
  8. Did They Account for Individual Taste? by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Personally, I like short girls for some reason. I don't know why, but I've always had a thing for girls that are 5'4 or below. I think it's because the short ones are usually zesty packets of spunk and attitude. Nothing like short-woman syndrome to make a girl the right balance of crazy and fierce.

    --
    Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    1. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by rubycodez · · Score: 2, Informative

      short? the average height of women in the USA is 5'4".

    2. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 2, Interesting

      short? the average height of women in the USA is 5'4".

      You will have people talking about 'short' guys who are average or above average height. As a result, if you fall near average, you have to state your height as exaggerated in order to avoid being labeled 'short'.

      I think there is also a disconnect in referring to height in a numeric manner. It's interesting when you look at it from a statistical standpoint, I've seen people refer to guys who were 5'9" and 5'10" as short.

      You will hear people refer to women below 5'6" as being short, which doesn't make sense when looking at the statistical data.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    3. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by CAIMLAS · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think there is also a disconnect in referring to height in a numeric manner. It's interesting when you look at it from a statistical standpoint, I've seen people refer to guys who were 5'9" and 5'10" as short.

      In some parts of the country, that is short.

      I'm 6'2" - just barely. My brother is 6'3", maybe a little more. My boss is 6'2" and thick (280lb or so). My best friend is 6'5". My dad is 6'1" (or was before he started getting old). Other friends and acquaintances are anywhere from 5'11 up through 6'6" and various builds (most around the 6'1" height).

      My FIL is one of the "shorter" men I know - at 5'10".

      No, it doesn't have much to do with the group I hang with: out here, people really are taller and bigger than the average (don't ask why, I don't know). This is particularly true in many small towns (visit one, and I feel short. Oi!) in the area where people spent their days working with their hands.

      5'6" is short, as it's uncommon for women to be over 5'10" (the height for 'professional' modeling, I hear). Sure, that's a 4" window, but most seem to be near the lower end. There also seem to be more "tall" than "under 5'4", so someone at 5'4" is an exception. (My wife is 5'6" and is considered "short", being several inches shorter than most of her peers).

      When I go to (say) the coasts of the US (NE corridor or California) I'd find myself having a good head's view over the crowds - I am 'quite tall' there, whereas here, I'm relatively normal. (Hell, due to a slight build, I'd even be considered small.) I'm not "the tall guy", I'm "the skinny guy".

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    4. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by Spectre · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In some parts of the country, that is short.

      No, it doesn't have much to do with the group I hang with: out here, people really are taller and bigger than the average (don't ask why, I don't know).

      When I go to (say) the coasts of the US (NE corridor or California) I'd find myself having a good head's view over the crowds - I am 'quite tall' there, whereas here, I'm relatively normal. (Hell, due to a slight build, I'd even be considered small.) I'm not "the tall guy", I'm "the skinny guy".

      I'll second all of the above. The country was settled by people of different ethnicities area by area. California and New England are shorter than the people in the midwest.

      I don't know if this is because of the backgrounds of the people settling in different regions of the USA or if it is because in the midwest we grew up on hormone-laced beef, but it is a phenomenon that is at least correct from a biased viewpoint (mine).

      --
      "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
    5. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Perhaps, healthy eating keeps women (and men) more attractive and healthy as they get into their 30s, 40s and beyond. I might actually try out a few of their weird recipes, at least for an occasional meal.

      Well, considering most of the vitamins that keep skin and cells healthy come from fruits and vegetables, I could see that being the case. On the other hand, I would bet that most of those people have a pretty hard time building a significant amount of muscle, and many of them may be iron deficient. I know that one of my close friends eats almost a pound of meat a day, if not more. He certainly doesn't have the healthiest skin, but man, he packs on muscle like a madman when he works out.

      --
      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    6. Re:Did They Account for Individual Taste? by Rick17JJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am not sure about the raw vegans, but at least most vegetarians and ordinary vegans (not raw) include beans and and grains in their diet. Most types of beans are missing one amino acid, and most grains are missing a different amino acid. Both foods have complementary proteins and if eaten within a 24 hour (or so) time period, complete protein is absorbed. Beans are surprisingly high in protein. Then there are also soy beans, which have complete protein.

      One grain like cereal that vegans and vegetarians sometimes eat is quinoa, because it has more protein than most grains. Chia seeds also seem to be popular for similar reasons.

      I mostly just went around tasting their samples of food and even purchased my lunch and dinner at the event. I am not actually sure what was in most of what I was eating. For lunch, I had a faux tuna wrap "ninja" sandwich wrapped in a piece of dried seaweed and filled with veggies and tomatoes and faux tuna.

      For dinner I had an uncooked raw veggie burger made from pistachio nuts and other ingredients, along with a side dish of rice and a salad. I also had a piece of raw uncooked pizza made from who knows what. The pizza tasted very good even though it was cold and did not have any cheese in it.

      I also had a sample of some kind of uncooked cereal made from chia seeds and other ingredients. My understanding was that chia seeds are quite high in protein and the good omega-3 fatty acids (just like salmon and sardines).

      If possible, it would be interesting to compare raw vegans other healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, vegans (not raw), and vegetarians. If there are festivals for those events, it would be interesting to see how those people compare. As for myself, I suspect that the small amounts of extremely lean grass fed buffalo meat, when eaten in small portions like I do, would not have enough saturated fat to hurt me very much. The grass fed buffalo meat has not been fattened in a feedlot with corn, like most beef is. It is very very lean.

      Although I am not a vegan, I have managed to slowly loose 40 lbs and add muscle and aerobic capacity over the last 4 years through 1 hour per day of exercise and healthier eating. I have done that while still eating as much as I wanted. But, my weight loss has leveled off at a point where I am still somewhat somewhat overweight. I am 55 years old.

  9. SCIENCE! by Triv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why do I get the feeling this study was conceived purely as a way to get a bunch of nerds into a room with some hot chicks and to cover their leering as "scientific curiosity."

  10. Re:one of these days by rubycodez · · Score: 2, Informative

    no problem, travel to some place money is scarce. bring some money. you will be found attractive and have women.

  11. HEY! by Shikaku · · Score: 4, Funny

    Listen!

  12. That makes sense... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think tall, short-armed women or short, long-armed women would look kind of odd.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  13. Shocking by carrier+lost · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...found that across cultural divides young, tall and long armed women were considered the most attractive."

    Get out! Men don't like old, short, stubby-armed women?

    Sacre-bleu!

    --
    XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
  14. Dave.cpp by CODiNE · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually Dave has already figured out the optimal formula for calculating and ranking a woman's beauty.

    --
    Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
  15. I appreciate large derrieres... by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and it is impossible to be untruthful.

    1. Re:I appreciate large derrieres... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      None of us can refute that

    2. Re:I appreciate large derrieres... by Abstrackt · · Score: 3, Funny

      When a young woman enters with a small waist and supple buttocks

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    3. Re:I appreciate large derrieres... by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 3, Funny

      And proceeds to expose her hip and buttocks region in close proximity to your face, One's penis might become turgid, lending a certain urge to extract it.

    4. Re:I appreciate large derrieres... by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why, even men of european descent must loudly declare appreciation for women of these proportions!

      --
      blah blah blah
  16. And yet... by Starteck81 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And yet some people still find Snookie attractive. I know, it boggles my mind too.

    --
    "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
  17. Not surprising by Translation+Error · · Score: 4, Funny

    After all, who's going to tell armed women that they're unattractive.

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  18. Distrubing by TiggertheMad · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've always had a thing for girls that are 5'4 or below. I think it's because the short ones are usually zesty packets of spunk

    if...
    girls that are 5'4 or below == short ones
    and
    short ones == zesty packets of spunk
    That would mean that you just said:

    I've always had a thing for zesty packets of spunk.

    on Slashdot. /shudder

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
  19. Young!? by Strange+Ranger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Shocking!! They had to do a study to find out men prefer young looking women?!?

    There is a reason Steely Dan doesn't sing a song titled "Hey 39".

    There are also plenty of good biological and evolutionary reasons for this.

    --

    Operator, give me the number for 911!
  20. Pop culture. by MaWeiTao · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It seems to me the scope of this study was too limited. What they've defined as attractive seems dictated by celebrity culture. This means excessively thin women who then have to compensate by getting plastic surgery, especially in the US. My impression of many European, excluding England, and South American celebrities is that they're far healthier-looking than Americans.

    Hell, look at Japanese illustrations and, excluding some fetishes, the distilled attractive female is generally well-endowed. I don't mean necessarily having large breasts, but nice hips and a fairly curvaceous body. And from personal, admittedly anecdotal, evidence guys are more immediately turned on by a woman with more shape, even if she trends towards being heavy, than they would ever be by someone who's thin.

    Unfortunately, the ideal nowadays, for women, seems to be sickeningly thin. And it's generally quite bad in Asia. I'm convinced there's a serious anorexia problem being overlooked out there.

    The ideal figure must be aspirational. Looking at classical paintings women were always depicted as a bit heavyset. Generally, it was a considered a sign of wealth given that most didn't have the means to eat so well. Today, in the developed world who doesn't have access to plenty of food. Hell, people who are often considered poor manage to be overweight. So the goal now is to be thin. In some cases it's even been associated with wealth, the argument being that the poor don't have access to good food or have the luxury of being able to work out.