If you ask a man, what is the first thing they pay attention to when it comes to a woman’s appearance, it’s likely that his answers will be somewhere around breasts, hips, or smile. In fact, the habit of thinking that big breasts have a priority is only a stereotype; it’s other parts of the female appearance that attract the opposite sex and this fact has been proven by many researchers. Additionally, this attractiveness doesn’t come from a simple surface perception but from deep biological processes.
Bright Side has studied this question thoroughly and chose the most frequent female traits that are mentioned in the answers of the masculine gender. Additionally, we have figured out exactly why it’s these features that attract them.
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According to research, men prefer women with long, thick, and shiny hair. Turns out, they subconsciously consider this an indicator of good health, vital energy, and even a sign of fertility.
Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa wrote about it in their book ’Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire.’ They say that one of the indicators of good health is physical attractiveness, while the other one is hair. Healthy women always have shiny hair while the hair of people in poor health is lackluster.
So it’s probably better to think twice before you decide to cut your hair short. But remember to just be yourself — if you feel better and more attractive with short hair, be brave enough to get a short hairdo and don’t rely on the opinion of the majority. There can always be exceptions to any rule.
Most of us know about pheromones — ’chemical signals’ emitted by our bodies. But few of us would guess that they are subconsciously used by people in order to determine the most genetically compatible partner.
Studies have shown that pheromones reveal a variety of information about a person, including the one that relates to the health of their immune system. Therefore, men are able to determine women with the best immune system with the help of their smell. It works conversely to — women can determine the level of testosterone in a man according to pheromones. All these skills are needed to reproduce healthy offspring in the future.
The symmetry of the face has a high importance in determining the attractiveness of women. It can even be calculated with the help of several tricks. Men pay attention to these criteria subconsciously because these facial features are a sign of good genes. Asymmetry, on the contrary, is associated with poor health, bad genes, and even abnormalities in the reproductive organs.
Even wild animals pay attention to symmetry. For example, female swallows prefer male swallows that have symmetric tails because it’s a sign of good genetics.
When trying to figure out the impact of a person’s smile on their attractiveness, scientists would change the condition and distance of teeth in photographs with the help of digital manipulations and then showed them to examinees: men were shown to women, and vice versa. As a result, it was figured out that the condition of women’s teeth plays a significant role for the representatives of the male gender. All because it gives an idea of its “residual reproductive value” regardless of age.
Fortunately, there are many methods to cure and whiten teeth but one shouldn’t use these excessively. Because the same research has also shown that naturally white teeth and a so-called Hollywood smile are perceived equally. Therefore, the main thing is to not let your teeth become yellow.
This is one of the physical attributes that you either have or not. But it’s interesting to know that men find long arms more attractive than long model-like legs.
In research held by scientists from the University of New South Wales, a group of men watched videos of 96 women between the ages of 20 and 49. After watching the video, they were asked to grade the women that they saw. The results have shown that women with long arms were graded as more attractive every time. The size of their hips and waist also proved to be important, along with their weight and age. At the same time the length of their legs, that many women think is important, didn’t affect the grade significantly.
Research has shown that men prefer thin female voices because they are perceived as younger and more womanish and show a high level of estrogen. Moreover, a high-pitched voice also assumes a smaller body size, while a low voice is usually more associated with masculinity, which means that women like men who have this kind of a voice. When hearing it, they subconsciously imagine a big and strong man.
Scientists outlined that the timbre and tone of the sounds also make a difference in the animal world. Deep growls usually indicate a large animal, while thin and lighter tones, similar to the sounds insects make, indicate a small size and, therefore, helplessness. Perhaps that’s another reason why men prefer thin voices.
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It’s not a secret that men like appetizing female shapes. However, a closer look at this question proves that everything is actually not that simple. In fact, appetizing shapes are those that appear due to a certain flexure in the waist and not those that appear due to excess weight.
Psychologist David Lewis from the Bilkent University conducted 2 experiments. The first group of men was tasked with assessing the attractiveness of women in photos whose shapes had been changed in the waist area with the help of digital technologies (different angles of flexure were shown). The men considered flexure that had a 45-degree angle to be the most attractive. In the second test, the scientist decided to find out whether the examinees prefer this option because it makes butts look more protruding or whether the beauty lies in the flexure itself. This test showed that it’s the flexure itself that attracts men and the size of butts, in this case, doesn’t matter at all.
In research done by Andrew Elliot and Daniela Niesta it was proven that a certain reaction of men to the color red can also be programmed biologically. This is evidenced by the fact that the same thing works in the animal world, where this color usually signals the readiness for mating.
In the preface to the study, Elliot and Niesta wrote, ’In many nonhuman primates, the color red enhances males’ attraction to females. In 5 experiments, the authors demonstrate a parallel effect in humans.’ The authors also found out that as a rule, men don’t even suspect that this color affects them. Also, the scientists were able to figure out that color red doesn’t affect a women’s perception of other women.
© s_bukley / Depositphotos © s_bukley / Depositphotos
One of the most popular physical attributes that men pay attention to are wide hips. According to scientists, men prefer the 7:10 ratio of the waist and hips because it is considered perfect for childbirth. If the ratio falls on the lower side this may indicate possible complications in the process of childbirth; while if the ratio falls on the larger side this could signal possible issues with fertility caused by excess weight.
Of course, men don’t necessarily understand or admit that they are searching for precisely this ratio. In fact, very few men actually understand that they subconsciously give preference to women who are able to produce healthy offspring since these are all subconscious processes. At the same time, we can’t refuse the role of instincts in this process since they have been scientifically proven.
Which of these outer signs that attract men surprised you? Please tell us about it in the comments!
Preview photo credit emrata / Instagram