Physical attractiveness#Breasts

Generally, physical attractiveness can be viewed from a number of perspectives; with universal perceptions being common to all human cultures, cultural and social aspects, and individual subjective preferences. The perception of attractiveness can have a significant effect on how people are judged in terms of employment or social opportunities, friendship, sexual behaviour, and marriage.{{cite web | last = Lorenz | first = Kate | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2005 | url = http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/07/08/looks/ | title = Do Pretty People Earn More? | work = www.CNN.com }}

Some physical features are attractive in both men and women, particularly bodily{{cite news |first = Guy | last = Dammann | name-list-style = vanc |title= Rules of attraction |newspaper= The Guardian |quote= scientists from Brunel University have revealed that physical attraction is all down to bodily symmetry |date= August 20, 2008 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/aug/20/beauty |access-date= July 15, 2011 |location=London}} and facial symmetry,{{sfnp|Kershaw|2008}}{{cite news|last=Berri|first=David J.|date=September 16, 2008|title=Do Pretty-Boy Quarterbacks Make More Money?|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/sports/playmagazine/0914play-FBALL-QBS.html|access-date=July 15, 2011|quote=Research, though, has indicated that what we think of as facial attractiveness is really just facial symmetry|name-list-style=vanc}}{{cite news | first = Edward | last = Willett | name-list-style = vanc |title= A person's face can say a lot: Helen's face is said to have launched a thousand ships, while Medusa's could turn men to stone. And even today we talk about individuals with 'a face that can stop a clock.' |publisher= The Leader-Post (Regina) |quote= "people preferentially mate with, date, associate with, employ, and even vote for physically attractive individuals." ... Symmetry is one trait we find attractive (but only if the face is right-side up: your symmetric face will, alas, do nothing to help you attract a mate if you constantly stand on your head. |date= October 29, 2008 |url= http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=89cfe85e-664a-4abf-ba93-faed9fd7704b |access-date= July 15, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121110155050/http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=89cfe85e-664a-4abf-ba93-faed9fd7704b |archive-date= November 10, 2012 |df= mdy-all }} although one contrary report suggests that "absolute flawlessness" with perfect symmetry can be "disturbing".{{cite news | first = Oliver | last = Burkeman | name-list-style = vanc |author-link = Oliver Burkeman |title= This column will change your life: The beauty in imperfection |newspaper= The Guardian |quote= Absolute flawlessness, it's long been observed, is disturbing. It offers no point of connection, and may help explain the "uncanny valley" effect, where almost-lifelike robots trigger revulsion in humans. ... |date= April 24, 2010 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/24/change-your-life-beauty-imperfection |access-date= December 27, 2012 |location=London}} Symmetry may be evolutionarily beneficial as a sign of health because asymmetry "signals past illness or injury".{{cite news | vauthors = McKeen S |title= A beauty fix plumps up psyche and overall health |newspaper= The Edmonton Journal |quote= Evolution taught us to lust after symmetry – a nicely balanced body and face – because asymmetry signals past illness or injury. We therefore define beauty quite elegantly, right down to the most ideal ratio of hips to breasts and upper lip to lower lip. Singh says one study showed that people were able to gauge beauty at a subliminal level, when shown pictures for a mere one-hundredth of a second. Another study showed babies prefer pretty faces. |date= February 10, 2006 |url= http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=80528414-59df-4167-b5fb-fca13919d345&sponsor= |access-date= July 15, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121110155117/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=80528414-59df-4167-b5fb-fca13919d345&sponsor= |archive-date= November 10, 2012 |df= mdy-all }} One study suggested people were able to "gauge beauty at a subliminal level" by seeing only a glimpse of a picture for one-hundredth of a second. Other important factors include youthfulness, skin clarity and smoothness of skin; and "vivid colour" in the eyes and hair.{{sfnp|Kershaw|2008}} However, there are numerous differences based on gender.

A 1921 study of the reports of college students regarding those traits argued that static traits, such as beauty or ugliness of features, hold a position subordinate to groups of physical elements like expressive behaviour, affectionate disposition, grace of manner, aristocratic bearing, social accomplishments and personal habits.{{cite journal| vauthors = Perrin FA | title = Physical Attractiveness and Repulsiveness | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-experimental-psychology_1921-06_4_3/page/203 | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology | volume = 4 | issue = 3 |date=June 1921 | pages = 203–17 | doi = 10.1037/h0071949}}{{deadlink|date=March 2024}}

Grammer and colleagues have identified eight "pillars" of beauty: youthfulness, symmetry, averageness, sex-hormone markers, body odor, motion, skin complexion, and hair texture.{{cite journal | vauthors = Grammer K, Sainani KL | title = Q&A: Karl Grammer. Innate attractions | journal = Nature | volume = 526 | issue = 7572 | page = S11 | date = October 2015 | pmid = 26444367 | doi = 10.1038/526S11a | doi-access = free }} Traditionally in Samoa, body fat was acceptable or attractive.{{cite book |last=Brewis |first=Alexandra A. |date=2011 |title=Obesity: Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives.|location=New Brunswick, London|publisher=Rutgers University Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LjnEzbh3PA4C&pg=PA132 132]}}

An Italian study published in 2008 analyzed the positions of the 50 soft-tissue landmarks of the faces of 324 white Northern Italian adolescent boys and girls to compare the features of a group of 93 "beautiful" individuals selected by a commercial casting agency with those of a reference group with normal dentofacial dimensions and proportions. The research found that, in comparison with the reference group, the attractive adolescents tended to have the following characteristics:

• the ratio between the volume of the forehead and that of the total face was larger;
• the nasal volume was smaller;
• the distance between outer canthi was larger;
• total facial height and depth were reduced.

Some tendencies differed by age and sex:

• the facial volume was smaller in older attractive boys than in their peers, but bigger in attractive girls;
• the faces of older attractive adolescents were less rounded (bigger ratio between facial area and volume), but the reverse was true for girls of any age;
• attractive older boys had smaller angles of facial convexity with more acute profiles, while in girls the reverse pattern was found;
• the nasolabial angle was reduced in girls, but in older boys the effect was reversed;
• older attractive boys tended to have more prominent chins.

The study concluded that attractive adolescents had more neotenous and juvenile features, but older attractive boys also showed tendencies towards sexual dimorphism.{{cite journal |last1=Sforza |first1=Chiarella |last2=Laino |first2=Alberto |last3=D'Alessio |first3=Raoul |last4=Grandi |first4=Gaia |last5=Tartaglia |first5=Gianluca Martino |last6=Ferrario |first6=Virgilio Ferruccio |title=Soft-Tissue Facial Characteristics of Attractive and Normal Adolescent Boys and Girls |journal=The Angle Orthodontist |date=September 2008 |volume=78 |issue=5 |pages=799–807 |doi=10.2319/091207-431.1 |pmid=18298221 |doi-access=free }}

Contrary to common misconception, one study finds that non-severe facial scarring increases male attractiveness for short-term relationships.{{cite journal |last1=Burriss |first1=Robert P. |last2=Rowland |first2=Hannah M. |last3=Little |first3=Anthony C. |title=Facial scarring enhances men's attractiveness for short-term relationships |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=January 2009 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=213–217 |doi=10.1016/j.paid.2008.09.029 }}

Symmetrical faces and bodies may be signs of good inheritance to women of child-bearing age seeking to create healthy offspring. Studies suggest women are less attracted to men with asymmetrical faces,{{cite news |last1=Charles |first1=Feng |title=Looking Good: The Psychology and Biology of Beauty |url=https://www.jyi.org/2005-september/2005/9/7/looking-good-the-psychology-and-biology-of-beauty |work=Journal of Young Investigators |date=7 September 2005 }} and symmetrical faces correlate with long-term mental performance{{cite journal|last1=Penke|first1=Lars|last2=Bates|first2=Timothy C.|last3=Gow|first3=Alan J.|last4=Pattie|first4=Alison|last5=Starr|first5=John M.|last6=Jones|first6=Benedict C.|last7=Perrett|first7=David I.|last8=Deary|first8=Ian J.|date=November 2009|title=Symmetric faces are a sign of successful cognitive aging|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2009-11_30_6/page/429|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=30|issue=6|pages=429–37|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.001|bibcode=2009EHumB..30..429P |name-list-style=vanc}}

• {{cite news |date=9 August 2009 |title=Face shape clue to mental decline |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8192193.stm}} and are an indication that a man has experienced "fewer genetic and environmental disturbances such as diseases, toxins, malnutrition or genetic mutations" while growing. Since achieving symmetry is a difficult task during human growth, requiring billions of cell reproductions while maintaining a parallel structure, achieving symmetry is a visible signal of genetic health.

Studies have also suggested that women at peak fertility were more likely to fantasize about men with greater facial symmetry,{{cite news|last=Radford|first=Tim|date=August 17, 2005|title=How women dream of symmetrical men|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/aug/17/genderissues.research|access-date=January 19, 2010|quote=The research once again confirms a hypothesis that beauty is not merely in the eye of the beholder: it is an indicator of genetic fitness. From a choice of computer-generated faces, volunteers routinely choose the most symmetrical as the most attractive. Physical symmetry is interpreted as a sign of good inheritance. And therefore, the theory goes, women in a position to conceive would be more attracted to someone more likely to engender the healthiest offspring.|name-list-style=vanc}} and other studies have found that male symmetry was the only factor that could significantly predict the likelihood of a woman experiencing orgasm during sex. Women with partners possessing greater symmetry reported significantly more copulatory female orgasms than were reported by women with partners possessing low symmetry, even with many potential confounding variables controlled.{{cite journal |last1=Thornhill |first1=Randy |last2=Gangestad |first2=Steven W. |last3=Comer |first3=Randall |title=Human female orgasm and mate fluctuating asymmetry |journal=Animal Behaviour |date=1995 |volume=50 |issue=6 |pages=1601–1615 |doi=10.1016/0003-3472(95)80014-X }} This finding has been found to hold across different cultures. It has been argued that masculine facial dimorphism (in men) and symmetry in faces are signals advertising genetic quality in potential mates.{{cite journal|vauthors=Little AC, Jones BC, Waitt C, Tiddeman BP, Feinberg DR, Perrett DI, Apicella CL, Marlowe FW|date=May 2008|editor1-last=Reimchen|editor1-first=Thomas|title=Symmetry is related to sexual dimorphism in faces: data across culture and species|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=3|issue=5|pages=e2106|bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2106L|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002106|pmc=2329856|pmid=18461131|doi-access=free}} Low facial and body fluctuating asymmetry may indicate good health and intelligence, which are desirable features.{{cite journal |last1=Zebrowitz |first1=Leslie A. |last2=Rhodes |first2=Gillian |title=Sensitivity to 'Bad Genes' and the Anomalous Face Overgeneralization Effect: Cue Validity, Cue Utilization, and Accuracy in Judging Intelligence and Health |journal=Journal of Nonverbal Behavior |date=2004 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=167–185 |doi=10.1023/B:JONB.0000039648.30935.1b }} Studies have found that women who perceive themselves as being more physically attractive are more likely to favour men with a higher degree of facial symmetry than are women who perceive themselves as being less physically attractive. It has been found that symmetrical females and males have a tendency to begin to have sexual intercourse at an earlier age, to have more sexual partners, and to have more one-night stands. They are also more likely to engage in infidelity.{{cite book|last=Etcoff|first=Nancy|url=https://archive.org/details/survivalofpretti00nanc|title=Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/survivalofpretti00nanc/page/50 50]–53, 185–87|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=9780385479424|url-access=registration|name-list-style=vanc}} A study of quarterbacks in the American National Football League found a positive correlation between facial symmetry and salaries.

{{Main|Body odor}}

Double-blind studies found that women prefer the scent of men who are rated as facially attractive.{{cite journal |last1=Haselton |first1=Martie G. |last2=Gangestad |first2=Steven W. |title=Conditional expression of women's desires and men's mate guarding across the ovulatory cycle |journal=Hormones and Behavior |date=April 2006 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=509–518 |doi=10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.10.006 |pmid=16403409 }} For example, both males and females were more attracted to the natural scent of individuals who had been rated by consensus as facially attractive.{{cite journal|vauthors=Rikowski A, Grammer K|date=May 1999|title=Human body odour, symmetry and attractiveness|journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume=266|issue=1422|pages=869–74|doi=10.1098/rspb.1999.0717|pmc=1689917|pmid=10380676}} Additionally, it has also been shown that women have a preference for the scent of men with more symmetrical faces, and that women's preference for the scent of more symmetrical men is strongest during the most fertile period of their menstrual cycle.{{cite journal|vauthors=Gangestad SW, Thornhill R|date=May 1998|title=Menstrual cycle variation in women's preferences for the scent of symmetrical men|journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume=265|issue=1399|pages=927–33|doi=10.1098/rspb.1998.0380|pmc=1689051|pmid=9633114}} Within the set of normally cycling women, individual women's preference for the scent of men with high facial symmetry correlated with their probability of conception. Men's body odor is also affected by their diet, with women expressing preferences for male body odor associated with increased dietary fruit, vegetable and protein content, and reduced carbohydrate content.{{cite journal|vauthors=Zuniga A, Stevenson RJ, Mahmut MK, Stephen ID|date=January 2017|title=Diet quality and the attractiveness of male body odor|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=38|issue=1|pages=136–43|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.08.002|bibcode=2017EHumB..38..136Z }}

{{See also|Heterozygote advantage|Major histocompatibility complex and sexual selection}}

Studies have explored the genetic basis behind such issues as facial symmetry and body scent and how they influence physical attraction. In one study in which women wore men's T-shirts, researchers found that women were more attracted to the bodily scents in shirts of men who had a different type of gene section within the DNA called major histocompatibility complex (MHC).{{cite news|date=April 13, 2009|title=The laws of sexual attraction|publisher=CNN|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-13/living/o.laws.of.sex.attraction_1_attraction-mhc-testosterone-levels?_s=PM:LIVING|url-status=dead|access-date=July 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309015913/http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-13/living/o.laws.of.sex.attraction_1_attraction-mhc-testosterone-levels?_s=PM%3ALIVING|archive-date=March 9, 2012|quote=... when women are ovulating, they produce copulins, a scent that attracts men....}} MHC is a large gene area within the DNA of vertebrates which encodes proteins dealing with the immune system{{cite news|date=July 25, 2011|title=Google Science Fair semi-finalist: I can taste your DNA|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/may/11/2|access-date=July 25, 2011|quote=the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is a large gene family found in most vertebrates....}} and which influences individual bodily odors.{{cite magazine|last=Khan|first=Razib|date=August 16, 2008|title=Taking the pill might make your brother hawt?|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2008/08/taking-the-pill-might-make-your-brother-hawt/|magazine=Discover Magazine|access-date=July 25, 2011|quote=Previous studies in animals and humans show that genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) influence individual odours and that females often prefer odour of MHC-dissimilar males, perhaps to increase offspring heterozygosity or reduce inbreeding. Women using oral hormonal contraceptives have been reported to have the opposite preference, raising the possibility that oral contraceptives alter female preference towards MHC similarity, with possible fertility costs.|name-list-style=vanc|archive-date=October 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021160928/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2008/08/taking-the-pill-might-make-your-brother-hawt/|url-status=dead}} One hypothesis is that humans are naturally attracted by the sense of smell and taste to others with dissimilar MHC sections, perhaps to avoid subsequent inbreeding while increasing the genetic diversity of offspring. Furthermore, there are studies showing that women's natural attraction for men with dissimilar immune profiles can be distorted with use of birth control pills. Other research findings involving the genetic foundations of attraction suggest that MHC heterozygosity positively correlates with male facial attractiveness. Women judge the faces of men who are heterozygous at all three MHC loci to be more attractive than the faces of men who are homozygous at one or more of these loci. Additionally, a second experiment with genotyped women raters, found these preferences were independent of the degree of MHC similarity between the men and the female rater. With MHC heterozygosity independently seen as a genetic advantage, the results suggest that facial attractiveness in men may be a measure of genetic quality.{{cite journal|vauthors=Roberts SC, Little AC, Gosling LM, Perrett DI, Carter V, Jones BC, Penton-Voak I, Petrie M|date=May 2005|title=MHC-heterozygosity and human facial attractiveness|journal=Evol Hum Behav|volume=26|issue=3|pages=213–26|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.09.002|bibcode=2005EHumB..26..213R }}{{cite journal|vauthors=Penn DJ, Damjanovich K, Potts WK|date=August 2002|title=MHC heterozygosity confers a selective advantage against multiple-strain infections|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=99|issue=17|pages=11260–64|bibcode=2002PNAS...9911260P|doi=10.1073/pnas.162006499|pmc=123244|pmid=12177415|doi-access=free}} General genetic heterozygosity has been demonstrated to be related to attractiveness in that people with mixed genetic backgrounds (i.e., mixed race people) as seen as more attractive than people with a more similar genetic parents. (i.e., single race people).{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Michael B |title=Why are Mixed-Race People Perceived as more Attractive? |journal=Perception |date=January 2010 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=136–138 |doi=10.1068/p6626 |pmid=20301855 }} However, some studies have not found that mixed race individuals are rated as more attractive, and one found that only certain mixes were rated as more attractive; this study argued that equating race with genetics was incorrect and argued for social influences as the cause.{{cite web|title=The Biracial Advantage|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201905/the-biracial-advantage|website=Psychology Today}}

{{See also|Age disparity in sexual relationships}}

A 2010 study by American dating site OkCupid on 200,000 of its male and female users found that heterosexual women—except those during their early to mid-twenties—are open to relationships with both somewhat older and somewhat younger men; they have a larger potential dating pool than men until age 26. At age 20, women, in a "dramatic change", begin sending private messages to significantly older men. At age 29, they become "even more open to older men". Male desirability to women peaks in the late 20s and does not fall below the average for all men until 36. Other research indicates that women, irrespective of their own age, are attracted to men who are the same age or older.{{cite journal|last1=Antfolk|first1=Jan|last2=Salo|first2=Benny|last3=Alanko|first3=Katarina|last4=Bergen|first4=Emilia|last5=Corander|first5=Jukka|last6=Sandnabba|first6=N Kenneth|last7=Santtila|first7=Pekka|date=2015|title=Women's and men's sexual preferences and activities with respect to the partner's age: evidence for female choice|journal=Evolution & Human Behavior|volume=36|issue=1|pages=73–79|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.09.003|bibcode=2015EHumB..36...73A |name-list-style=vanc}}

For the Romans especially, "beardlessness" and "smooth young bodies" were considered beautiful to both men and women.{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Craig A. |title=Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-802891-8 }}{{pn|date=March 2025}} For Greek and Roman men, the most desirable traits of boys were their "youth" and "hairlessness". Pubescent boys were considered a socially appropriate object of male desire, while post-pubescent boys were considered to be "ἔξωροι" or "past the prime". This was largely in the context of pederasty (adult male interest in adolescent boys). Today, men and women's attitudes towards male beauty have changed. For example, body hair on men may even be preferred (see below).

A 1984 study said that gay men tend to prefer gay men of the same age as ideal partners, but there was a statistically significant effect (p < 0.05) of masculinity-femininity. The study said that more feminine men tended to prefer relatively older men than themselves and more masculine men tended to prefer relatively younger men than themselves.{{cite journal |last1=Boyden |first1=Tom |last2=Carroll |first2=John S. |last3=Maier |first3=Richard A. |title=Similarity and attraction in homosexual males: The effects of age and masculinity-femininity |journal=Sex Roles |date=June 1984 |volume=10 |issue=11–12 |pages=939–948 |doi=10.1007/BF00288516 }}

Cross-cultural data shows that the reproductive success of women is tied to their youth and physical attractiveness,{{cite book |last1=Hechter |first1=Michael |last2=Opp |first2=Karl-Dieter |title=Social Norms |date=2001 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |isbn=978-1-61044-280-0 |page=300 }} such as the pre-industrial Sami where the most reproductively successful women were 15 years younger than their man.{{cite magazine|date=December 5, 2007|title=What is the Best Age Difference for Husband and Wife?|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-best-age-difference-for-husband-and-wife|magazine=Scientific American|vauthors=Biello D}} One study covering 37 cultures showed that, on average, a woman was 2.5 years younger than her male partner, with the age difference in Nigeria and Zambia being at the far extreme of 6.5 to 7.5 years. As men age, they tend to seek a mate who is younger.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=51–54}}

25% of online dating website eHarmony's male customers over the age of 50 request to only be matched with women younger than 40.{{r|Reitman-2004}} The 2010 OkCupid study found that female desirability to its male users peaks at age 21, and falls below the average for all women at 31. After age 26, men have a larger potential dating pool than women on the site; and by age 48, their pool is almost twice as large. The median 31-year-old male user searches for women aged 22-to-35, while the median 42-year-old male searches for women 27-to-45. The age skew is even greater with messages to other users; the median 30-year-old male messages teenage girls as often as women his own age, while mostly ignoring women a few years older than him. Excluding the 10% most and 10% least beautiful women, women's attractiveness does not change between 18 and 40. If extremes are included, however, "there's no doubt that younger [women] are more physically attractive – indeed in many ways beauty and youth are inextricable. That's why most of the models you see in magazines are teenagers".{{cite web|last=Rudder|first=Christian|date=February 16, 2010|title=The Case For An Older Woman|url=http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-case-for-an-older-woman/|access-date=April 28, 2012|work=OkTrends Dating Research from OkCupid|name-list-style=vanc}}

Pheromones (detected by female hormone markers) reflect female fertility and the reproductive value mean.{{cite journal |last1=Thornhill |first1=Randy |last2=Gangestad |first2=Steven W. |title=Facial attractiveness |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |date=December 1999 |volume=3 |issue=12 |pages=452–460 |doi=10.1016/s1364-6613(99)01403-5 |pmid=10562724 }} As females age, the estrogen-to-androgen production ratio changes and results in female faces to appear more masculine (thus appearing less "attractive"). In a small (n=148) study performed in the United States, using male college students at one university, the mean age expressed as ideal for a wife was found to be 16.87 years old, while 17.76 was the mean ideal age for a brief sexual encounter. However, the study sets up a framework where "taboos against sex with young girls" are purposely diminished, and biased their sample by removing any participant over the age of 30, with a mean participant age of 19.83.{{cite journal|vauthors=Young JA, Critelli JW, Keith KW|year=2005|title=Male age preferences for short-term and long-term mating|journal=Sexualities, Evolution & Gender|volume=7|issue=2|pages=83–93|doi=10.1080/14616660500035090}} In a study of penile tumescence, men were found most aroused by pictures of young adult females.{{cite journal |last1=Quinsey |first1=Vernon L. |title=The Etiology of Anomalous Sexual Preferences in Men |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |date=June 2003 |volume=989 |issue=1 |pages=105–117 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb07297.x |pmid=12839890 |bibcode=2003NYASA.989..105Q }}

Signals of fertility in women are often also seen as signals of youth. The evolutionary perspective proposes the idea that when it comes to sexual reproduction, the minimal parental investment required by men gives them the ability and desire to simply reproduce 'as much as possible.'{{cite web|title=Attraction and Relationships – The Journey from Initial Attachments to Romantic Love: Rozenberg Quarterly|url=http://rozenbergquarterly.com/attraction-and-relationships-the-journey-from-initial-attachments-to-romantic-love/|access-date=March 3, 2016|website=rozenbergquarterly.com}} It therefore makes sense that men are attracted to the features in women which signal youthfulness, and thus fertility. Their chances of reproductive success are much higher than they would be should they pair with someone older—and therefore less fertile.

This may explain why combating age declines in attractiveness occurs from a younger age in women than in men. For example, the removal of one's body hair is considered a very feminine thing to do.{{cite journal|vauthors=Barber N|year=1995|title=The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology|journal=Ethology and Sociobiology|volume=16|issue=5|pages=395–424|doi=10.1016/0162-3095(95)00068-2}} This can be explained by the fact that aging results in raised levels of testosterone and thus, body hair growth. Shaving reverts one's appearance to a more youthful stage and although this may not be an honest signal, men will interpret this as a reflection of increased fertile value. Research supports this, showing hairlessness is considered sexually attractive by men.{{cite journal|vauthors=Van den Berghe PL, Frost P|year=1986|title=Skin color preference, sexual dimorphism and sexual selection: a case of gene-culture co-evolution?|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=9|pages=87–118|doi=10.1080/01419870.1986.9993516}}

{{Main|Body proportions#Leg to body ratio}}

{{multiple image

| align = right

| image1 = LongShortLegsManExperiment.png

| width1 = 150

| alt1 = Two drawings of a man

| image2 = LongShortLegsWomanExperiment.png

| width2 = 150

| alt2 = Two drawings of a woman

| footer = These drawings of two male and two female figures is a remake of the drawing of the extremes of leg-to-body ratio (LBR), as used in the experiment by Swami et al. (2006) to find out what LBR is considered the most attractive for British men and women. The male figure with the lowest LBR and shortest legs at left had the highest average attractiveness ratings whereas the male figure with the highest LBR and longest legs at right had the lowest ratings from. The female figure with the lowest LBR and shortest legs at left had the lowest average attractiveness ratings whereas the figure with the highest LBR and longest legs at right had the highest average attractiveness ratings.{{sfnp|Swami et al.|2006}}

}}

"Leg-to-body ratio" is seen as an indicator of physical attractiveness but there appears to be no single accepted definition of leg-length: the 'perineum-to-floor' measure{{efn|The "sitting body ratio" (SBR) is also quoted, where the trunk is measured with subject sitting on a flat table, and the leg-length determined by subtraction from standing height. This is almost the same as the perineum-to-floor distance but without the need to touch an intimate area.}} is the most frequently used, but arguably the distance from the ankle bone to the outer hip bone is more rigorous.{{cite journal|author1=Thomas M. M. Versluys|author2=Robert A. Foley|author3=William J. Skylark|date=May 16, 2018|title=The influence of leg-to-body ratio, arm-to-body ratio and intra-limb ratio on male human attractiveness|url= |journal=Royal Society Open Science|publisher=The Royal Society Publishing|volume=5|issue=5|page=171790|bibcode=2018RSOS....571790V|doi=10.1098/rsos.171790|pmc=5990728|pmid=29892373}} With the latter metric, the most attractive male leg-to-body ratio (judged by American women) is 1:1. A Japanese study using the former metric found the same result for male attractiveness, but women with longer legs than the rest of their body were judged to be more attractive.{{cite journal|author=Kiire, S|year=2016|title=Effect of Leg-to-Body Ratio on Body Shape Attractiveness |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume=45|issue=4|pages=901–10|doi=10.1007/s10508-015-0635-9|pmid=26474977 }} Excessive deviations from the mean were seen as indicative of disease. A study using Polish participants found that legs 5% longer than the average for both sexes was considered most attractive.{{cite journal|vauthors=Sorokowskia P, Pawlowskib B|date=March 2008|title=Adaptive preferences for leg length in a potential partner|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2008-03_29_2/page/86|journal=Evol Hum Behav|volume=29|issue=2|pages=86–91|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.09.002|bibcode=2008EHumB..29...86S }} The study concluded this preference might stem from the influence of long-legged runway models.{{cite journal|vauthors=Sorokowski P|year=2010|title=Attractiveness of Legs Length in Poland and Great Britain|url=http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JHE/JHE-31-0-000-10-Web/JHE-31-3-000-10-Abst-PDF/JHE-31-3-145-10-1996-Sorokowski-P/JHE-31-3-145-10-1996-Sorokowski-P-Tt.pdf|journal=J Hum Ecol|volume=31|issue=3|pages=148}} Another study using British and American participants found "mid-ranging" leg-to-body ratios to be most ideal.{{cite journal|vauthors=Frederick DA, Hadji-Michael M, Furnham A, Swami V|date=January 2010|title=The influence of leg-to-body ratio (LBR) on judgments of female physical attractiveness: assessments of computer-generated images varying in LBR|journal=Body Image|volume=7|issue=1|pages=51–55|doi=10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.09.001|pmid=19822462}}

A study by Swami et al. of British male and female undergraduates showed a preference for men with legs as long as the rest of their body and women with 40% longer legs than the rest of their body.{{sfnp|Swami et al.|2006}} The researcher concluded that this preference might be influenced by American culture, in which long-legged women are portrayed as more attractive.{{sfnp|Swami et al.|2006}}

Marco Bertamini criticized the Swami et al. study for using a picture of the same person with digitally altered leg lengths which he felt would make the modified image appear unrealistic.{{sfnp|Bertamini|Bennett|2009|p=235}} Bertamini also criticized the Swami study for only changing the leg length while keeping the arm length constant.{{sfnp|Bertamini|Bennett|2009|p=235}} After accounting for these concerns in his own study, Bertamini, using stick figures, also found a preference for women with proportionately longer legs than men.{{sfnp|Bertamini|Bennett|2009|p=235}} When Bertamini investigated the issue of possible sexual dimorphism of leg length, he found two sources that indicated that men usually have slightly proportionately longer legs than women or that differences in leg length proportion may not exist between men and women.{{sfnp|Bertamini|Bennett|2009|pp=245, 246}} Following this review of existing literature on the subject, he conducted his own calculations using data from 1774 men and 2208 women. Using this data, he similarly found that men usually have slightly proportionately longer legs than women or that differences in leg length proportion may not exist between men and women. These findings made him rule out the possibility that a preference for women with proportionately longer legs than men is due to proportionately longer legs being a secondary sex characteristic of women.{{sfnp|Bertamini|Bennett|2009|pp=245, 246}}

A 2006 study of 25,594 heterosexual men found that "men who perceived themselves as having a large penis were more satisfied with their own appearance".{{cite journal|vauthors=Drummond MJ, Filiault SM|year=2007|title=The long and the short of it: Gay men's perceptions of penis size.|journal=Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review|volume=3|issue=2|pages=121–29}}

A 2014 study criticized previous studies based on the fact that they relied on images and used terms such as "small", "medium", and "large" when asking for female preference. The new study used 3D models of penises from sizes of {{convert|4|in|cm}} long and {{convert|2.5|in|cm}} in circumference to {{convert|8.5|in|cm}} long and {{convert|7|in|cm}} in circumference and let the women "view and handle" them. It was found that women overestimated the actual size of the penises they experimented with when asked in a follow-up survey. The study concluded that "women on average preferred the {{convert|6.5|in|cm|adj=on}} penis in length both for long-term and for one-time partners. Penises with larger girth were preferred for one-time partners."{{cite web|last1=Rettner|first1=Rachel|title=For One Night Stands, Girth Matters|url=http://www.livescience.com/46141-penis-size-girth.html|access-date=December 15, 2014|website=LiveScience|date=June 5, 2014|name-list-style=vanc}}

Evidence from various cultures suggests that heterosexual men tend to find the sight of women's genitalia to be sexually arousing.Sanderson, S.K. (2001). The Evolution of Human Sociality: A Darwinian Conflict Perspective US: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. p. 179. {{ISBN|0-8476-9534-4}} (alk. paper)

{{See also|Human skin color#Social status and racism}}

File:Fernand Le Quesne - Les deux perles.jpg (The two pearls, 1889). This painting was intended to "contrast a Caucasian with an African beauty". In the painting, the black woman represents the beauty of a black pearl and the white woman represents the beauty of a white pearl.{{cite book|title=The Magazine of Art.|vauthors=Spielmann MH|publisher=Cassell and Company Limited|year=1889|location=London, Paris, New York, Melbourne}}]]

Manual labourers who spent extended periods of time outside developed a darker skin tone due to exposure to the sun. As a consequence, an association between dark skin and the lower classes developed. Light skin became an aesthetic ideal because it symbolized wealth. "Over time society attached various meanings to these coloured differences. Including assumptions about a person's race, socioeconomic class, intelligence, and physical attractiveness."{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Trina|title=Shades of Brown: The Law of Skin Color.|publisher=Duke Law School|year=2000}}

Some research has suggested that redder and yellower skin tones,{{cite journal|vauthors=Stephen ID, Law Smith MJ, Stirrat MR, Perrett DI|date=December 2009|title=Facial Skin Coloration Affects Perceived Health of Human Faces|journal=International Journal of Primatology|volume=30|issue=6|pages=845–57|doi=10.1007/s10764-009-9380-z|pmc=2780675|pmid=19946602}} reflecting higher levels of oxygenated blood,{{cite journal|vauthors=Stephen ID, Coetzee V, Law Smith M, Perrett DI|year=2009|title=Skin blood perfusion and oxygenation colour affect perceived human health|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=4|issue=4|pages=e5083|bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.5083S|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0005083|pmc=2659803|pmid=19337378|doi-access=free}} carotenoid and to a lesser extent melanin pigment, and net dietary intakes of fruit and vegetables,{{cite journal|vauthors=Stephen I, Coetzee V, Perrett DI|year=2011|title=Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2011-05_32_3/page/216|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=32|issue=3|pages=216–27|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.09.003|bibcode=2011EHumB..32..216S }} appear healthier, and therefore more attractive.{{cite journal|vauthors=Tybur JM, Gangestad SW|date=December 2011|title=Mate preferences and infectious disease: theoretical considerations and evidence in humans|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences|volume=366|issue=1583|pages=3375–88|doi=10.1098/rstb.2011.0136|pmc=3189358|pmid=22042915}} However, there is little direct evidence that skin colour is actually related to health or immune system strength.{{harvnb|Tybur|Gangestad|2011|ps=: "Indeed, at the current time, little direct evidence addresses whether skin tone or colour reflects current infection levels or infectability. More research is clearly needed."}}

A historical preference for lighter-skinned women has been documented across many cultures.{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Van den Berghe PL, Frost P|date=September 13, 2010|title=Skin color preference, sexual dimorphism and sexual selection: A case of gene culture co-evolution?|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=9|pages=87–113|doi=10.1080/01419870.1986.9993516|quote=an overwhelming cross-cultural preference for lighter skin}} However, the accuracy of this research has been questioned by other authors.{{cite thesis |last=Polovick |first=Madeline |date=2017 |title="Orange Is the New Black": The Skin-Tanning Phenomenon and Its Influence on Perceptions of Race, Class, and Gender |url=https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/7844/ |publisher= Senior Independent Study Theses |docket= |oclc= |access-date=31 January 2023}} Experimental studies show that white Western men are more attracted to tanned women, rather than pale women, and that women themselves believe that they are more attractive with tan skin.{{sfnp|Polovick|2017|p=14|ps=: "The researchers discovered that their findings did not support Van den Berghe and Frost’s hypothesis that men were more attracted to lighter-skinned women, especially as linked to a sign of fertility, because their data showed a preference for women with darker skin (measured by color parameters that indicated a skin value based on blue and green in comparison to red components)."}}{{sfnp|Polovick|2017|p=12-13|ps=: "They chose to use tanned women as their research model because women have higher rates of tanning than men (Robinson et al. 1997b), and therefore are more likely to utilize tanned skin as an attractive trait. Their hypothesis was that both women and men would find a tanned female to

be more physically and interpersonally attractive, healthier, taller, and thinner than a less tanned female. Only the men’s responses were statistically significant, demonstrating an overall preference for the dark-tanned female over then medium-tanned. Banerjee, Campo, and Greene

found that their results contradict previous research that has shown a preference for medium tanned skin over dark-tanned skin (Broadstock et al. 1992). They also found that the men viewed the darker-tanned women as thinner" ... "They reason that women might tan more often than men because they believe men that find them more attractive that way; which, these perceptions of women by men were proven most likely accurate with their study."}}{{cite book |last1=Hurkman |first1=Alexis Van |title=The Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema |date=15 November 2010 |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=978-0-321-71974-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1gMQaX65aucC&pg=SA7-PA30-IA5 30-IA5]}} "Smith, Cornelissen and Tovee found that, contrary to previous cross-cultural studies on the topic, the observers showed a marked

preference for the darker-complexioned, tanned volunteers." A 2010 study found a preference for lighter-skinned (but not lightest) women in New Zealand and California.{{cite journal|vauthors=Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Bishop PJ, Parish A|date=June 2010|title=Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: a New Zealand-U.S. comparative study|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_2010-06_39_3/page/798|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume=39|issue=3|page=804|doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9441-y|pmid=19139985|quote=In the current study, men rated images with lighter skin tones as most attractive, especially so in the Californian sample. In New Zealand, men rated the female images of average skin color as most attractive, followed by the image which was lightened by 10 units of brightness and 15 units of contrast. }} However, other research has found that African-American males and females consider medium complexion as more attractive than lighter or darker skin, while white and Hispanic women seek to tan their skin in order to increase their attractiveness to the opposite sex.{{cite book |last1=Bulmer |first1=Martin |last2=Solomos |first2=John |title=Race, Migration and Identity |date=2 October 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-51969-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gxE4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT229 229]}} "For example, in a recent study examining Latina female college students who identified as white, pale skin was viewed as unattractive compared to tanned skin (Stephens and Fernandez, 2012). Furthermore, having the ideal, tan skin colour was associated with being more desirable in peer and dating contexts; more sexually appealing to men ... For example, in a study of African American male and female college students, Coard, Breland and Raskin found that participants preferred a medium skin tone over a lighter or darker skin tone." There is a direct correlation between being tan and self-perceived attractiveness, especially among young women.{{cite book |last1=Verma |first1=N. M. P. |last2=Srivastava

|first2=Alpana |title=The Routledge Handbook of Exclusion, Inequality and Stigma in India |date=20 August 2020 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-09669-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jGIPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA293 293]}} "A few studies have found that tanned skin is regarded as both more attractive and healthier than pale or very dark skin, and there is a direct correlation between the degree of tanning and perceived attractiveness, especially among young women."

According to research from China, since the 2010s, tan skin has emerged as the new beauty ideal for women in China, and Chinese women themselves believe their tan skin is more attractive and healthier than pale skin.{{cite book |last1=Lim |first1=Tai Wei |title=Women Hold Up Half The Sky: The Political-economic And Socioeconomic Narratives Of Women In China |date=22 February 2021 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-12-2620-5 |pages=47–48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2MhEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |language=en}} Similar findings from Japan have found that the ideal female skin colour is tan, with no spots or roughness. There is a widespread perception in Japan that White women's skin is less beautiful than Japanese women's, as White women are stereotyped as being too pale and roughly textured.{{cite book |last1=Mire |first1=Amina |title=Wellness in Whiteness: Biomedicalization and the Promotion of Whiteness and Youth among Women |date=4 September 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-23412-2 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TKtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |language=en |quote=My informants, mainly women insisted that Japanese skin was superior to Caucasian skin. Although many of my informants had little personal contact with Westerners, they all made more or less identical negative comments about Caucasian women's skin, saying, for example, that it was rough, aged quickly and had too many spots [...] with color resembling 'shabu-shabu'...}}

The relationship between attractiveness and skin colour may also intersect with ethnicity and prior experience.{{cite journal|vauthors=Kleisner K, Kočnar T, Tureček P, Stella D, Akoko RM, Třebický V, Havlíček J|year=2017|title=African and European perception of African female attractiveness|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=38|issue=6|pages=744–55|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.07.002|bibcode=2017EHumB..38..744K }} Skin colour preferences may shift over time, as in Western culture, where tanned skin used to be associated with the sun-exposed manual labour of the lower-class, but since the mid-20th century it has generally been considered more attractive and healthier than before, with sun tanning becoming fashionable.{{cite book |last1=Singer |first1=Merrill |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=64xpa-rhHLgCpg=PA151 151] |title=Killer Commodities: Public Health and the Corporate Production of Harm |last2=Beyer |first2=Hans |date= 2008|publisher=AltaMira Press |isbn=978-0-7591-0979-7 |quote=Harris investigated the history of the parasol... everywhere ordinary people were forbidden to protect themselves with such devices "pallid skin became a marker of upper-class status". At the beginning of the 20th century, in the United States, lighter-skinned people avoided the sun... Tanned skin was considered lower class.|author-link=Merrill Singer|name-list-style=vanc}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Geller AC, Colditz G, Oliveria S, Emmons K, Jorgensen C, Aweh GN, Frazier AL|date=June 2002|title=Use of sunscreen, sunburning rates, and tanning bed use among more than 10 000 US children and adolescents|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_pediatrics_2002-06_109_6/page/1009|journal=Pediatrics|volume=109|issue=6|pages=1009–14|doi=10.1542/peds.109.6.1009|pmid=12042536}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Broadstock M, Borland R, Gason R|date=January 1992|title=Effects of Suntan on Judgements of Healthiness and Attractiveness by Adolescents|journal=J Appl Soc Psychol|volume=22|issue=2|pages=157–72|doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.1992.tb01527.x}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Leary MR, Jones JL|date=September 1993|title=The Social Psychology of Tanning and Sunscreen Use: Self-Presentational Motives as a Predictor of Health Risk|journal=J Appl Soc Psychol|volume=23|issue=17|pages=1390–1406|doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01039.x}}{{cite web|title=Tan is 'In': Study Finds Light Brown More Attractive than Pale or Dark Skin|url=http://www.physorg.com/news78679968.html|access-date=June 14, 2015|work=physorg.com}} In the African state of Mali, skin bleaching is common as it is thought to improve one's social standing and attractiveness to the opposite sex, although there has also been vocal opposition to this notion from pop culture icons.{{cite news|date=April 18, 2000 |title=The Heavy Cost of Light Skin |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/718359.stm|access-date=August 9, 2010}}

Skin radiance or glowing skin may influence perception of beauty and physical attractiveness.{{cite journal|vauthors=Fink B, Grammer K, Thornhill R|date=March 2001|title=Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness in relation to skin texture and color|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-comparative-psychology_2001-03_115_1/page/92|journal=Journal of Comparative Psychology|volume=115|issue=1|pages=92–99|doi=10.1037/0735-7036.115.1.92|pmid=11334223}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Fink B, Matts PJ|date=April 2008|title=The effects of skin colour distribution and topography cues on the perception of female facial age and health|journal=Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology|volume=22|issue=4|pages=493–98|doi=10.1111/j.1468-3083.2007.02512.x|pmid=18081752 |doi-access=free}}

Hands have been found to be physically attractive.{{cite journal |last1=Kościński |first1=Krzysztof |title=Determinants of Hand Attractiveness—A Study Involving Digitally Manipulated Stimuli |journal=Perception |date=June 2011 |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=682–694 |doi=10.1068/p6960 |pmid=21936297 }} The type of hands that are physically attractive are those with longer index and ring fingers.{{Cite journal|last1=Saino|first1=Nicola|last2=Romano|first2=Maria|last3=Innocenti|first3=Paolo|date=July 2006|title=Length of Index and Ring Fingers Differentially Influence Sexual Attractiveness of Men's and Women's Hands|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|volume=60| issue = 3|pages=447–54|doi=10.1007/s00265-006-0185-1|jstor=25063833|bibcode=2006BEcoS..60..447S }} Men have a smaller index-to-ring-finger ratio than women. The gender differences in the ratio between the index and ring fingers are said to be influenced by exposure to testosterone within the womb.{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=J. T. |last2=Scutt |first2=D. |last3=Wilson |first3=J. |last4=Lewis-Jones |first4=D. I. |title=The ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length: a predictor of sperm numbers and concentrations of testosterone, luteinizing hormone and oestrogen |journal=Human Reproduction |date=November 1998 |volume=13 |issue=11 |pages=3000–3004 |doi=10.1093/humrep/13.11.3000 |pmid=9853845 |doi-access=free }} In a study where participants were shown computer-based images of hands, male participants found feminine hands with a smaller index finger less attractive. Whereas females found masculine hands with a longer ring finger more attractive. The study suggests that finger length has an effect on physical attraction because it gives indication of the desirable sex-hormone dependent traits which one may possess. Another study found that averageness, healthiness of the skin, how fat the hands appear to be, and the grooming of the hands, all affect the attractiveness of hands.{{cite journal |last1=Kościński |first1=Krzysztof |title=Hand attractiveness—its determinants and associations with facial attractiveness |journal=Behavioral Ecology |date=March 2012 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=334–342 |doi=10.1093/beheco/arr190 |doi-access=free |hdl=10.1093/beheco/arr190 |hdl-access=free }} What is meant by averageness is the degree to which the hands look like an average of the hands in the population. Average-looking hands give an indication of an individual's health (because there are no abnormalities).

The healthier-looking the skin on the hands, the more attractive they appear. Reasons given for this say skin health may reflect an individual's overall health. Healthy skin can show that someone is free from illness because some illnesses have a bad effect on the look of skin. These features are found attractive because they show that the person has good genes and is therefore a suitable mate to reproduce with. Skin health may also give an indication of socioeconomic status, as rough hands may indicate a low-paying, laborious job. Low socioeconomic status might show that someone does not have resources to provide for the offspring, and is therefore less attractive. The more fat the hands appear, the less attractive they are. This is because of the co-morbidity associated with obesity. If someone is overweight, they may have another disease, which means they may not be able to produce healthy offspring. The attractiveness of the hands also gives an indication of other features of the individual; people with more attractive hands have been found to be taller and slimmer. In most of these hand attractiveness studies, only white, European hands were used, and the participants were 18–26 years old. So, the attractiveness of non-white hands and of different age groups was not tested. Also, the people who rated the hand attractiveness were white Europeans, so their ratings may not represent how individuals of other skin colours and cultures would rate the hands.

Females' sexual attraction towards males may be determined by the height of the man.Pierce, C.A. 1996{{full|date=March 2025}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}Cunningham, M.R. 1990{{full|date=March 2025}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}Pawlowski B, Dunbar RI, Lipowicz A 2000.{{full|date=March 2025}}{{pn|date=March 2025}} For example, the dating site eHarmony only matches women with men taller than themselves, because of complaints from women matched with shorter men.{{cite news|last=Reitman|first=Valerie|date=April 26, 2004|title=We clicked|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-26-he-edating26-story.html|access-date=April 3, 2012|name-list-style=vanc}}

Other studies have shown that heterosexual women often prefer men taller than they are, rather than a man with above average height. While women usually desire men to be at least the same height as themselves or taller, several other factors also determine male attractiveness, and the "taller male" norm is not universal.{{sfnp|Sear|Marlowe|2009}} For example, taller women are more likely to relax the "taller male" norm than shorter women.{{cite journal|vauthors=Courtiol A, Raymond M, Godelle B, Ferdy JB|date=August 2010|title=Mate choice and human stature: homogamy as a unified framework for understanding mating preferences|journal=Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution|volume=64|issue=8|pages=2189–203|doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.00985.x|pmid=20199563|doi-access=free }} Furthermore, professor Adam Eyre-Walker, from the University of Sussex, has stated that there is, as yet, no evidence that these preferences are evolutionary preferences, as opposed to merely cultural preferences.{{cite news |date= August 14, 2002 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2190461.stm |title=Tall men 'top husband stakes' |work=BBC News |access-date= October 15, 2009}} Still, the cultural perceived attractiveness preferences for taller men are powerful and confirmed by multiple studies. One study of speed-daters by Stulp found that "women were most likely to choose [men] 25 cm taller than themselves, whereas men were most likely to choose women only 7 cm shorter than themselves".{{cite journal |last1=Stulp |first1=Gert |last2=Buunk |first2=Abraham P. |last3=Kurzban |first3=Robert |last4=Verhulst |first4=Simon |title=The height of choosiness: mutual mate choice for stature results in suboptimal pair formation for both sexes |journal=Animal Behaviour |date=July 2013 |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=37–46 |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.03.038 }}

Additionally, women seem more receptive to an erect posture than men, though both prefer it as an element within beauty.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=38–40}} According to one study (Yee N., 2002), gay men who identify as "only tops" tend to prefer shorter men, while gay men who identify as "only bottoms" tend to prefer taller men.Yee, N. (2002). Beyond Tops and Bottoms Correlations between Sex-Role Preference and Physical Preferences for Partners among Gay Men

In romances in Middle English literature, all of the "ideal" male heroes are tall, and the vast majority of the "valiant" male heroes are tall too.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|pp=105, 107}}

Most men tend to be taller than their female partners. In Western societies, it has been found that most men prefer women shorter than themselves.{{sfnp|Sear|2006}} Nevertheless, height is a more important factor for a woman when choosing a man than it is for a man choosing a woman.{{cite book|last=Berger|first=John|title=Ways of Seeing|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books|year=1973|pages=44–64}} Western men tend to view women taller than themselves as less attractive,{{sfnp|Sear|2006}} and many people view heterosexual couples where the woman is taller to be less ideal.{{sfnp|Sear|2006}} Women who are 0.7 to 1.7 standard deviations below the mean female height have been reported to be the most reproductively successful, since fewer tall women get married compared to shorter women.{{sfnp|Sear|2006}} However, in other ethnic groups, such as the Hadza people from Tanzania, a study has found that height is irrelevant in choosing a mate.{{sfnp|Sear|Marlowe|2009}} Another study found the same preference in rural Gambia.{{sfnp|Sear|2006}}

In Middle English literature, "tallness" is a characteristic of ideally beautiful women.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=101}} The British Fashion Model Agents Association (BFMA) says that female models should be at least {{convert|5|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on|2}} tall.{{cite web |title= Do I have what it takes to be a model? |publisher= British Fashion Model Agents Association |url=https://bfma.fashion/what-it-takes/}}

File:VenusdArles2.JPG pose with her weight borne predominantly on one leg. As shown here, this posture accentuates the curvature of her figure.]]

Standing in a contrapposto posture (with bodyweight predominantly supported by one leg which is either straight, or very slightly bent, and with the other leg slightly bent) has been found to be more attractive looking than standing in a more plain, upright posture. This was found to be the case for both men and women. This posture may lower a person's observable waist-hip ratio and make their hips look wider and their waists thinner. For women especially, this can accentuate the curvature of their figure on one side of their body and make them seem more attractive. Such poses have been used in historical sculpture to emphasize an ideal of physical beauty.{{cite journal |first1=Farid |last1=Pazhoohi |first2=Antonio F. |last2=Macedo, J |first3=ames F. |last3=Doyle |first4=Joana |last4=Arantes |title=Waist‑to‑Hip Ratio as Supernormal Stimuli: Effect of Contrapposto Pose and Viewing Angle |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |date=2020 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=837–847 |doi=10.1007/s10508-019-01486-z |pmid=31214904 }}{{cite journal|vauthors=Jacobs O, Pazhoohi F, Kingstone A|date=2023|title=Contrapposto posture captures visual attention: An online gaze tracking experiment|journal=Visual Cognition|volume=31|issue=2 |pages=160–167|doi=10.1080/13506285.2023.2213904 }} It has also been demonstrated that the contrapposto posture in women elicits more neural activity in brain areas linked to perception and attractiveness assessments than a standing position.{{cite journal|vauthors=Pazhoohi F, Arantes J, Kingstone A, Pinal D|date=2020|title=Contrapposto pose increases attractiveness ratings and modulates observers' brain activity |journal=Biological Psychology|volume=151 |pages=107842|doi=10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107842 |pmid=31958547 |hdl=1822/90973 |hdl-access=free }}

The way an individual moves can influence attractiveness and indicate health and age.{{sfnp|Sugiyama|2015}} A study reflecting the views of 700 individuals and that involved animated representations of people walking, found that the physical attractiveness of women increased by about 50 percent when they walked with a hip sway. Similarly, the perceived attractiveness of males doubled when they moved with a swagger in their shoulders.{{cite journal | vauthors = Johnson KL, Tassinary LG | title = Compatibility of basic social perceptions determines perceived attractiveness | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 104 | issue = 12 | pages = 5246–51 | date = March 2007 | pmid = 17360395 | pmc = 1829294 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0608181104 | bibcode = 2007PNAS..104.5246J | doi-access = free }}

• {{cite press release |date=May 24, 2007 |title=Clues To Mysteries Of Physical Attractiveness Revealed |website=ScienceDaily |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523105948.htm}}

{{further|Masculine beauty ideal}}

Women, on average, tend to be more attracted to men who have a relatively narrow waist, a V-shaped torso, wide chest and broad shoulders. Women also tend to be more attracted to men who are taller and larger than they are, and display a high degree of facial symmetry, as well as relatively masculine facial dimorphism.{{sfnp|Glassenberg|Feinberg|Jones|Little|2010}}{{sfnp|Perrett et al.|1998}} There is evidence that women tend to be less interested in a partner's physical attractiveness than men.{{cite journal |last1=Buss |first1=David M. |last2=Barnes |first2=Michael |title=Preferences in human mate selection |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=March 1986 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=559–570 |id={{ProQuest|614287711}} |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.50.3.559 }}{{cite journal |last1=Frederick |first1=David A. |last2=Haselton |first2=Martie G. |title=Why Is Muscularity Sexy? Tests of the Fitness Indicator Hypothesis |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |date=August 2007 |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=1167–1183 |doi=10.1177/0146167207303022 |pmid=17578932 }}{{cite journal |last1=Bailey |first1=J. Michael |last2=Gaulin |first2=Steven |last3=Agyei |first3=Yvonne |last4=Gladue |first4=Brian A. |title=Effects of gender and sexual orientation on evolutionarily relevant aspects of human mating psychology |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=1994 |volume=66 |issue=6 |pages=1081–1093 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.66.6.1081 |pmid=8046578 }}

{{Main|Sexual dimorphism}}

The degree of differences between male and female anatomical traits is called sexual dimorphism. Female respondents in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle were significantly more likely to choose a masculine face than those in menses and luteal phases,{{cite journal |vauthors=Penton-Voak IS, Perrett DI |title=Female preference for male faces changes cyclically: Further evidence |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2000-01_21_1/page/39 |journal=Evol Hum Behav |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=39–48 |date=January 2000 |doi=10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00033-1 |bibcode=2000EHumB..21...39P }} (or in those taking hormonal contraception).{{sfnp|Glassenberg|Feinberg|Jones|Little|2010}}{{sfnp|Perrett et al.|1998}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Rhodes G | title = The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty | journal = Annual Review of Psychology | volume = 57 | issue = 1 | pages = 199–226 | year = 2006 | pmid = 16318594 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208 }}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/376321.stm |title=Women's choice of men goes in cycles |work=BBC News |access-date=November 4, 2016 |date=June 24, 1999}} This distinction supports the sexy son hypothesis, which posits that it is evolutionarily advantageous for women to select potential fathers who are more genetically attractive,{{cite book |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |name-list-style=vanc |title=The selfish gene |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-286092-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/selfishgene00dawkrich }} rather than the best caregivers.{{cite journal | vauthors = Kruger DJ, Fisher M, Jobling I | title = Proper and dark heroes as DADS and CADS: Alternative mating strategies in British Romantic literature | journal = Human Nature | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | pages = 305–17 | date = September 2003 | pmid = 26190212 | doi = 10.1007/s12110-003-1008-y }} However, women's likeliness to exert effort to view male faces does not seem to depend on their masculinity, but to a general increase with women's testosterone levels.{{cite journal | vauthors = Wang H, Hahn AC, Fisher CI, DeBruine LM, Jones BC | title = Women's hormone levels modulate the motivational salience of facial attractiveness and sexual dimorphism | journal = Psychoneuroendocrinology | volume = 50 | pages = 246–51 | date = December 2014 | pmid = 25244638 | doi = 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.08.022 | url = https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/98472/1/98472.pdf }}

It is suggested that the masculinity of facial features is a reliable indication of good health, or, alternatively, that masculine-looking males are more likely to achieve high status.{{cite journal | vauthors = Fink B, Neave N, Seydel H | title = Male facial appearance signals physical strength to women | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 82–87 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17160983 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.20583 }} However, the correlation between attractive facial features and health has been questioned.{{cite journal | vauthors = Rhodes G, Chan J, Zebrowitz LA, Simmons LW | title = Does sexual dimorphism in human faces signal health? | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 270 | issue = Suppl 1 | pages = S93–95 | date = August 2003 | pmid = 12952647 | pmc = 1698019 | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0023 }} Sociocultural factors, such as self-perceived attractiveness, status in a relationship and degree of gender-conformity, have been reported to play a role in female preferences for male faces.{{cite journal | vauthors = Cellerino A | title = Psychobiology of facial attractiveness | journal = Journal of Endocrinological Investigation | volume = 26 | issue = 3 Suppl | pages = 45–48 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12834020 }} Studies have found that women who perceive themselves as physically attractive are more likely to choose men with masculine facial dimorphism, than are women who perceive themselves as physically unattractive.{{cite journal | vauthors = Little AC, Burt DM, Penton-Voak IS, Perrett DI | title = Self-perceived attractiveness influences human female preferences for sexual dimorphism and symmetry in male faces | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 268 | issue = 1462 | pages = 39–44 | date = January 2001 | pmid = 12123296 | pmc = 1087598 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2000.1327 }} In men, facial masculinity significantly correlates with facial symmetry – it has been suggested that both are signals of developmental stability and genetic health.{{cite journal |vauthors=Gangestad SW, Thornhill R |title=Facial masculinity and fluctuating asymmetry |journal=Evol Hum Behav |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=231–41 |date=July 2003 |doi=10.1016/S1090-5138(03)00017-5|bibcode=2003EHumB..24..231G }} One study called into question the importance of facial masculinity in physical attractiveness in men, arguing that when perceived health, which is factored into facial masculinity, is discounted it makes little difference in physical attractiveness.{{cite journal | vauthors = Scott IM, Pound N, Stephen ID, Clark AP, Penton-Voak IS | title = Does masculinity matter? The contribution of masculine face shape to male attractiveness in humans | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 5 | issue = 10 | pages = e13585 | date = October 2010 | pmid = 21048972 | pmc = 2965103 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0013585 | bibcode = 2010PLoSO...513585S | doi-access = free }} In a cross-country study involving 4,794 women in their early twenties, a difference was found in women's average "masculinity preference" between countries.{{cite journal | vauthors = DeBruine LM, Jones BC, Crawford JR, Welling LL, Little AC | title = The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: cross-cultural variation in women's preferences for masculinized male faces | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 277 | issue = 1692 | pages = 2405–10 | date = August 2010 | pmid = 20236978 | pmc = 2894896 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2009.2184 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Wen |first1=Yi Feng |last2=Wong |first2=Hai Ming |last3=Lin |first3=Ruitao |last4=Yin |first4=Guosheng |last5=McGrath |first5=Colman |date=2015-08-06 |title=Inter-Ethnic/Racial Facial Variations: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Photogrammetric Studies |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=e0134525 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0134525 |pmc=4527668 |pmid=26247212|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1034525W |doi-access=free }}

A study found that the same genetic factors cause facial masculinity in both males and females such that a male with a more masculine face would likely have a sister with a more masculine face due to the siblings having shared genes. The study also found that, although female faces that were more feminine were judged to be more attractive, there was no association between male facial masculinity and male facial attractiveness for female judges. With these findings, the study reasoned that if a woman were to reproduce with a man with a more masculine face, then her daughters would also inherit a more masculine face, making the daughters less attractive. The study concluded that there must be other factors that advantage the genetics for masculine male faces to offset their reproductive disadvantage in terms of "health", "fertility" and "facial attractiveness" when the same genetics are present in females. The study reasoned that the "selective advantage" for masculine male faces must "have (or had)" been due to some factor that is not directly tied to female perceptions of male facial attractiveness.{{cite journal | vauthors = Lee AJ, Mitchem DG, Wright MJ, Martin NG, Keller MC, Zietsch BP | title = Genetic factors that increase male facial masculinity decrease facial attractiveness of female relatives | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | pages = 476–84 | date = February 2014 | pmid = 24379153 | pmc = 4205959 | doi = 10.1177/0956797613510724 }}

In a study of 447 gay men in China, researchers said that tops preferred feminized male faces, bottoms preferred masculinized male faces and versatiles had no preference for either feminized or masculinized male faces.{{cite journal | vauthors = Zheng L, Hart TA, Zheng Y | title = Attraction to male facial masculinity in gay men in China: relationship to intercourse preference positions and sociosexual behavior | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 42 | issue = 7 | pages = 1223–32 | date = October 2013 | pmid = 23440561 | doi = 10.1007/s10508-012-0057-x }}

In pre-modern Chinese literature, the ideal man in caizi jiaren romances was said to have "rosy lips, sparkling white teeth" and a "jasper-like face" ({{zh|c=唇紅齒白、面若冠玉}}).{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004264915 |title=Men and Masculinities in Contemporary China |date=2014 |last1=Song |first1=Geng |last2=Hird |first2=Derek |isbn=978-90-04-26491-5 |page=92 }}{{cite book | vauthors = Song G | year = 2004 | title = The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture | publisher = Hong Kong University Press | page = 126 | isbn = 978-962-209-620-2 }}

In Middle English literature, a beautiful man should have a long, broad and strong face.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=75}}

The physique of a slim waist, broad shoulders and muscular chest are often found to be attractive to both females and males.{{cite journal | vauthors = Horvath T | title = Physical attractiveness: the influence of selected torso parameters | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_1981-02_10_1/page/21 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | pages = 21–24 | date = February 1981 | pmid = 7212994 | doi = 10.1007/BF01542671 }} Further research has shown that, when choosing a mate, the traits females look for indicate higher social status, such as dominance, resources, and protection.{{cite journal | vauthors = Braun MF, Bryan A | title = Female waist-to-hip and male waist-to-shoulder ratios as determinants of romantic partner desirability | date = 2006 | journal = Journal of Social and Personal Relationships | volume = 23 | issue = 5 | pages = 805–19 | doi = 10.1177/0265407506068264 }} An indicator of health in males (a contributing factor to physical attractiveness) is the android fat distribution pattern which is categorized as more fat distributed on the upper body and abdomen, commonly referred to as the "V shape." When asked to rate other men, both heterosexual and homosexual men found low waist-to-chest ratios (WCR) to be more attractive on other men, with the gay men showing a preference for lower WCR (more V-shaped) than the straight men.{{cite journal |vauthors=Swami V, Tovée MJ |title=The Muscular Male: A Comparison of the Physical Attractiveness Preferences of Gay and Heterosexual Men |journal=International Journal of Men's Health |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=59–71 |year=2008 |doi=10.3149/jmh.0701.59 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 }}

Other researchers found waist-to-chest ratio the largest determinant of male attractiveness, with body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio not as significant.{{cite journal | vauthors = Fan J, Dai W, Liu F, Wu J | title = Visual perception of male body attractiveness | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 272 | issue = 1560 | pages = 219–26 | date = February 2005 | pmid = 15705545 | pmc = 1634963 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2922 }}

Women focus primarily on the ratio waist to chest or more specifically waist to shoulder. This is analogous to the waist to hip ratio (WHR) that men prefer. Some studies have shown that attractive bodily traits in the eyes of a heterosexual woman would include a tall, athletic physique, with wide shoulders, and a slim waist area.{{cite book |last1=Buss |first1=David |title=Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind |date=2 October 2015 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-317-34573-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=us1WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT168 168]}} Research has additionally shown that college males had a better satisfaction with their body than college females. The research also found that when a college female's waist to hip ratio went up, their body image satisfaction decreased.{{cite journal | vauthors = Catikkas F | title = Physical correlates of college students' body image satisfaction levels. | year = 2011 | journal = Social Behavior and Personality | volume = 39 | issue = 4 | pages = 497–502 | doi = 10.2224/sbp.2011.39.4.497 }}

Some research has shown that body weight may have a stronger effect than WHR when it comes to perceiving attractiveness of the opposite sex. It was found that waist to hip ratio played a smaller role in body preference than body weight in regards to both sexes.{{cite journal |last1=Furnham |first1=Adrian |last2=Tan |first2=Tina |last3=McManus |first3=Chris |title=Waist-to-hip ratio and preferences for body shape: A replication and extension |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=April 1997 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=539–549 |doi=10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00241-3 }}

Psychologists Viren Swami and Martin J. Tovee compared female preference for male attractiveness cross culturally, between Britain and Malaysia. They found that females placed more importance on WCR (and therefore body shape) in urban areas of Britain and Malaysia, while females in rural areas placed more importance on BMI (therefore weight and body size). Both WCR and BMI are indicative of male status and ability to provide for offspring, as noted by evolutionary theory.{{cite journal | vauthors = Swami V, Tovee MJ |title=Male physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: A cross-cultural study |journal=Body Image |date=December 2005 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=383–93 |doi=10.1016/j.bodyim.2005.08.001 |pmid=18089203 }}

Females have been found to desire males that are normal weight and have the average WHR for a male. Females view these males as attractive and healthy. Males who had the average WHR but were overweight or underweight are not perceived as attractive to females. This suggests that WHR is not a major factor in male attractiveness, but a combination of body weight and a typical male WHR seem to be the most attractive. Research has shown that men who have a higher waist to hip ratio and a higher salary are perceived as more attractive to women.{{cite journal | vauthors = Singh D | title = Female judgment of male attractiveness and desirability for relationships: Role of waist-to-hip ratio and financial status. | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1995-12_69_6/page/1089 | year = 1995 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 69 | issue = 6 | pages = 1089–1101 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.69.6.1089 | pmid = 8531056 }}

A 1982 study found that an abdomen that protrudes was the "least attractive" trait for men.{{cite book | vauthors = Dececco J, Wright L | year = 2013 | title = The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture | location = New York| publisher = Routledge | page = [https://archive.org/details/bearbook00lesk/page/120 120] | isbn = 978-1-56023-890-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/bearbook00lesk/page/120 }}

In Middle English literature, a beautiful man should have a flat abdomen.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=116}}

File:Arnold_Schwarzenegger_1974.jpg, one of the most notable figures in bodybuilding, 1974]]

{{See also|Bodybuilding}}

Men's bodies portrayed in magazines marketed to men are more muscular than the men's bodies portrayed in magazines marketed to women. From this, some have concluded that men perceive a more muscular male body to be ideal, as distinct from a woman's ideal male, which is less muscular than what men perceive to be ideal. This is due to the within-gender prestige granted by increased muscularity and within-gender competition for increased muscularity.{{cite journal | first1 = David A. | last1 = Frederick | first2 = Daniel M.T. | last2 = Fessler | first3 = Martie G. | last3 = Haselton | name-list-style = vanc | title = Do representations of male muscularity differ in men's and women's magazines? | journal = Body Image | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | date = March 2005 | pages = 81–86 | doi = 10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.12.002 | pmid = 18089177 | arxiv = astro-ph/0309307 }} Men perceive the attractiveness of their own musculature by how closely their bodies resemble the "muscle man." This "muscle man" ideal is characterized by large muscular arms, especially biceps, a large muscular chest that tapers to their waist and broad shoulders.{{cite book | vauthors = Johnston JR | year = 2001 | title = The American body in context: An anthology | publisher = Scholarly Resources, Inc. | location = US }} Among Australian university students, the male body composition found to be most attractive (12.16 kg fat, 63.27 kg muscle) was in line with the composition that was perceived as healthiest, and was well within the healthy range.{{cite journal | vauthors = Brierley ME, Brooks KR, Mond J, Stevenson RJ, Stephen ID | title = The Body and the Beautiful: Health, Attractiveness and Body Composition in Men's and Women's Bodies | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 11 | issue = 6 | pages = e0156722 | date = June 3, 2016 | pmid = 27257677 | pmc = 4892674 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0156722 | bibcode = 2016PLoSO..1156722B | doi-access = free }}

In a study of stated profile preferences on Match.com, a greater percentage of gay men than lesbians selected their ideal partner's body type as "Athletic and Toned" as opposed to the other two options of "Average" or "Overweight".{{cite journal | vauthors = Latinsky A | date = 2012 | title = Public presentation of gendered bodies: A look at gay and lesbian online dating profiles. | journal = Sociation Today | volume = 10 | issue = 2 | url = http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v102/dating.htm }}

In pre-modern Chinese literature, such as in Romance of the Western Chamber, a type of masculinity called "scholar masculinity" is depicted wherein the "ideal male lover" is "weak, vulnerable, feminine, and pedantic".

In Middle English literature, a beautiful man typically has thick, broad shoulders, a square and muscular chest, a muscular back, strong sides that taper to a small waist, large hands and arms and legs with huge muscles.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|pp=112, 115, 118, 123}}

Studies based in the United States, New Zealand, and China have shown that women rate men with no trunk (chest and abdominal) hair as most attractive, and that attractiveness ratings decline as hairiness increases.{{cite journal | vauthors = Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Bishop PJ, Parish A | title = Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: a New Zealand-U.S. comparative study | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_2010-06_39_3/page/798 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 39 | issue = 3 | pages = 798–806 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 19139985 | doi = 10.1007/s10508-008-9441-y }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Li B, Anderson MJ | title = Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 88–95 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17160976 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.20584 | doi-access = free }} Another study, however, found that moderate amounts of trunk hair on men was most attractive, to the sample of British and Sri Lankan women. Further, a degree of hirsuteness (hairiness) and a waist-to-shoulder ratio of 0.6 is often preferred when combined with a muscular physique.{{cite journal | vauthors = Dixson AF, Halliwell G, East R, Wignarajah P, Anderson MJ | title = Masculine somatotype and hirsuteness as determinants of sexual attractiveness to women | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_2003-02_32_1/page/29 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 32 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–39 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12597270 | doi = 10.1023/A:1021889228469 }}

In a study using Finnish women, women with hairy fathers were more likely to prefer hairy men, suggesting that preference for hairy men is the result of either genetics or imprinting.{{cite journal |vauthors=Rantala MJ, Pölkki M, Rantala LM |title=Preference for human male body hair changes across the menstrual cycle and menopause |journal=Behavioral Ecology |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=419–23 |year=2010 |doi=10.1093/beheco/arp206 |doi-access=free }} Among gay men, another study reported gay males who identify as "only tops" prefer less hairy men, while gay males who identify as "only bottoms" prefer more hairy men.

One study shows that men with facial hair covering the cheeks, upper lip, and lower jaw were perceived as more physically attractive than men with patchy facial hair.{{cite journal |last1=Dixson |first1=Barnaby J. W. |last2=Rantala |first2=Markus J. |title=The Role of Facial and Body Hair Distribution in Women's Judgments of Men's Sexual Attractiveness |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |date=May 2016 |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=877–889 |doi=10.1007/s10508-015-0588-z |pmid=26292838 }} In this study, men's facial hair was split into four categories, each differing in the thickness and coverage: very light, light, medium, and heavy. Light facial hair was rated as the most attractive, followed by medium, heavy, and the least attractive was 'very light'. This study suggests that some facial hair is better than none because it shows masculine development, as beard growth requires the conversion of testosterone. An earlier study found that women from Western and Oceanic cultures are more attracted to clean-shaven faces than beards. However, they also rated full-bearded men as having higher status than clean-shaven men.{{cite journal |last1=Dixson |first1=Barnaby J. |last2=Vasey |first2=Paul L. |title=Beards augment perceptions of men's age, social status, and aggressiveness, but not attractiveness |journal=Behavioral Ecology |date=May 2012 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=481–490 |doi=10.1093/beheco/arr214 |doi-access=free |hdl=10.1093/beheco/arr214 |hdl-access=free }}

More angular male jawlines tend to be selected as ideal in Western countries, while the ideal female jawline is rounder and softer.{{Cite journal|last1=Holton|first1=N E|last2=Bonner|first2=L L|last3=Scott|first3=J E|last4=Marshall|first4=S D|last5=Franciscus|first5=R G|last6=Southard|first6=T E|date=June 2015|title=The ontogeny of the chin: an analysis of allometric and biomechanical scaling|journal=Journal of Anatomy|volume=226|issue=6|pages=549–559|doi=10.1111/joa.12307 |pmc=4450959|pmid=25865897}}{{cite journal |last1=Mommaerts |first1=Maurice Y. |title=The ideal male jaw angle – An Internet survey |journal=Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery |date=April 2016 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=381–391 |doi=10.1016/j.jcms.2015.12.012 |pmid=26888465 }}{{cite journal | last1=Mommaerts | first1=Maurice Y. | last2=Cleymaet | first2=Robbert | title=The ideal shape of the female jaw angle: An online survey | journal=Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery | volume=51 | issue=10 | date=2023 | doi=10.1016/j.jcms.2023.08.009 | pages=597–602| doi-access=free | pmid=37813771 }}

Most research shows that attractive bigonial width and Ramus measurements have similarities, but the jutting square chin is a prominently European-heritage trait{{snd}} which means it should not be held as a universal indicator of attractiveness.{{cite journal |title=Inter-Ethnic/Racial Facial Variations: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Photogrammetric Studies |year=2015 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0134525|pmid=26247212 |doi-access=free |last1=Wen |first1=Y. F. |last2=Wong |first2=H. M. |last3=Lin |first3=R. |last4=Yin |first4=G. |last5=McGrath |first5=C. |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=e0134525 |pmc=4527668 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1034525W }}{{cite journal |last1=Rhee |first1=S. C. |title=Differences between Caucasian and Asian attractive faces |journal=Skin Research and Technology |date=February 2018 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=73–79 |doi=10.1111/srt.12392 |pmid=28722243 }} Men with low submental fat were viewed to have "better jawlines" and a more "youthful look".{{Cite journal|last1=Naini|first1=Farhad B.|last2=Cobourne|first2=Martyn T.|last3=McDonald|first3=Fraser|last4=Wertheim|first4=David|date=December 2016|title=Submental-Cervical Angle: Perceived Attractiveness and Threshold Values of Desire for Surgery|journal=Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery|volume=15|issue=4|pages=469–477|doi=10.1007/s12663-015-0872-4 |pmc=5083688|pmid=27833339}}

{{further|Feminine beauty ideal}}

Research indicates that heterosexual men tend to be attracted to young{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=51–54}} and beautiful women{{cite journal | vauthors = Browne KR |title=Sex, Power, and Dominance: The Evolutionary Psychology of Sexual Harassment |journal=Managerial and Decision Economics |volume=27 |pages=145–58 |year=2006 |doi=10.1002/mde.1289 |issue=2–3 }} with bodily symmetry.{{cite news

| first = Ian | last = Tattersall | name-list-style = vanc

|title= Whatever Turns You On: A psychologist looks at sexual attraction and what it means for humankind. Geoffrey Miller

|newspaper= The New York Times: Book Review

|quote= it turns out that symmetry of bodily structure is a fitness indicator, and symmetry is more easily detectable among large breasts than small ones.

|date= June 11, 2000

|url= https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/06/11/reviews/000611.11tattert.html

|access-date= July 15, 2011

}} Rather than decreasing it, modernity has only increased the emphasis men place on women's looks.{{cite book | vauthors = Jackson LB | year = 1992 | title = Physical appearance and gender: sociobiological and sociocultural perspectives. | url = https://archive.org/details/physicalappearan0000jack | url-access = registration | publisher = State University of New York Press }} Evolutionary psychologists attribute such attraction to an evaluation of the fertility potential in a prospective mate.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=51–54}}

{{See also|Cuteness|Averageness}}

File:Jessica Alba Face Proportions.png study found that the facial proportions of Jessica Alba were close to the average of all female profiles.]]

File:Namie Amuro MAA (cropped).JPG inspired the small-face fad in Japan which caused Japanese women to buy beauty products such as masks and creams to try to obtain a small face like hers.{{cite book | vauthors = Miller L | year = 2006 | title = Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics. | location = Berkeley, California | publisher = University of California Press | page = [https://archive.org/details/beautyupexplorin00mill_0/page/28 28] | isbn = 978-0-520-24508-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/beautyupexplorin00mill_0 | url-access = registration }}]]

File:18891109 Arsenic complexion wafers - Helena Independent.png complexion wafers decried blotches, moles, pimples, freckles, and "all female irregularities".{{cite news |title=A Woman's Face is Her Fortune (advertisement) |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/helena-independent-nov-09-1889-p-9/ |newspaper=The Helena Independent |date=November 9, 2000 |page=7 }} Arsenic was known to be poisonous during the Victorian era.{{cite magazine |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Arsenic Pills and Lead Foundation: The History of Toxic Makeup |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |magazine=National Geographic |date=2016-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105180856/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |archive-date=November 5, 2018 |url-status=dead }}]]

Research has attempted to determine which facial features communicate attractiveness. Facial symmetry has been shown to be considered attractive in women,{{cite book |last1=Berscheid |first1=Ellen |last2=Reis |first2=Harry T |chapter=Attraction and close relationships |pages=193–281 |editor1-last=Gilbert |editor1-first=Daniel Todd |editor2-last=Fiske |editor2-first=Susan T |editor3-last=Lindzey |editor3-first=Gardner |title=The Handbook of Social Psychology |date=1998 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-19-521376-8 }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Fink B, Penton-Voak IS |title=Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Attractiveness |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=154–58 |year=2002 |doi=10.1111/1467-8721.00190 }} and men have been found to prefer full lips,{{cite book |first=Louann |last=Brizendine |title=The female brain |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dGfQ2TMB1lIC&pg=PA63 63] |year=2006|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7679-2010-0}} high forehead, broad face, small chin, small nose, short and narrow jaw, high cheekbones,{{cite news| url=http://nymag.com/news/features/48948/index1.html | work=NY Mag | title=About-Face | date=August 11, 2008 | access-date=July 30, 2012 | first1=Jonathan | last1=Van Meter | name-list-style = vanc }} clear and smooth skin, and wide-set eyes.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=51–54}} The shape of the face in terms of "how everything hangs together" is an important determinant of beauty.{{sfnp|Jayson|2011}} Women with thick, dark limbal rings in their eyes have also been found to be more attractive. The explanation given is that because the ring tends to fade with age and medical problems, a prominent limbal ring gives an honest indicator of youth.{{cite web|url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-sex-and-babies/201104/how-big-is-your-limbal-ring|title=How Big Is Your Limbal Ring?|work=Psychology Today|access-date=June 14, 2015}}

In Persian literature, beautiful women are said to have noses like hazelnuts.{{sfnp|Milani|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/veilswordsemergi0000mila/page/187 187]}} In Arabian society in the Middle Ages, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have straight and fine noses.{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }}In Jewish Rabbinic literature, the rabbis considered a delicate nose to be the ideal type of nose for women.Brayer, M.M. (1986). The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature: A psychological perspective. Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., {{ISBN|0-88125-071-6}}, p. 214. In Japan, during the Edo period, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have tall noses which were straight and not "too tall".{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=6}}

In a cross-cultural study, more neotenized (i.e., youthful looking) female faces were found to be most attractive to men while less neotenized female faces were found to be less attractive to men, regardless of the females' actual age.{{cite journal | vauthors = Jones D, Brace CL, Jankowiak W, Laland KN, Musselman LE, Langlois JH, Roggman LA, Pérusse D, Schweder B, Symons D | title = Sexual selection, physical attractiveness, and facial neoteny: cross-cultural evidence and implications | journal = Current Anthropology | date = December 1995 | volume = 36 | issue = 5 | pages = 723–48 | doi = 10.1086/204427 }} In a study of Italian women who have won beauty competitions, it was found that their faces had more "babyish" (pedomorphic) traits than those of the "normal" women used as a reference.{{cite journal | vauthors = Sforza C, Laino A, D'Alessio R, Grandi G, Binelli M, Ferrario VF | title = Soft-tissue facial characteristics of attractive Italian women as compared to normal women | journal = The Angle Orthodontist | volume = 79 | issue = 1 | pages = 17–23 | date = January 2009 | pmid = 19123721 | doi = 10.2319/122707-605.1 | doi-access = free }}

In a cross-cultural study, Marcinkowska et al. said that 18-to-45-year-old heterosexual men in all 28 countries surveyed preferred photographs of 18-to-24-year-old white women whose faces were feminized using facial image editing software over faces of 18-to-24-year-old white women that were masculinized using that software, but there were differences in preferences for femininity across countries. The higher the National Health Index (based on eight national health statistics taken from the World Health Organization Statistical Information Service using data from 2002 to 2006) of a country, the more were the feminized faces preferred over the masculinized faces. Among the countries surveyed, Japan had the highest femininity preference and Nepal had the lowest femininity preference.{{cite journal | vauthors = Marcinkowska UM, Kozlov MV, Cai H, Contreras-Garduño J, Dixson BJ, Oana GA, Kaminski G, Li NP, Lyons MT, Onyishi IE, Prasai K, Pazhoohi F, Prokop P, Rosales Cardozo SL, Sydney N, Yong JC, Rantala MJ | display-authors = 6 | title = Cross-cultural variation in men's preference for sexual dimorphism in women's faces | journal = Biology Letters | volume = 10 | issue = 4 | pages = 20130850 | date = April 2014 | pmid = 24789138 | pmc = 4013689 | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0850 }}

Michael R. Cunningham of the Department of Psychology at the University of Louisville found, using a panel of East Asian, Hispanic and White judges, that the female faces tended to be judged as more attractive if they had a mixture of youthful and sexually mature features.{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995|p=267|ps=: "Asian, Hispanic, and White participants were similar in giving higher ratings to targets with the neonate features of large eyes, greater distance between the eyes, and a smaller nose area (see Table 2). Women with the maturity qualities of higher cheek-bones and narrower faces and low levels of the male maturity cues of large chins and thick eyebrows were judged more positively."}} Using a panel of African Americans and Whites as judges, Cunningham found more neotenous faces were perceived as having both higher "femininity" and "sociability".{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995}} The authors found no evidence of ethnocentric bias in the Asian or White samples, as Asians and Whites did not differ significantly in preference for neonate cues, and positive ratings of White women did not increase with exposure to Western media.{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995|p=271|ps= "The four-item measure of exposure to Western culture was not reliably associated with giving higher ratings to Whites (r = . 19, n s). The relation of rating Whites to frequency of viewing Western television, for example, was quite low(r=.01)."}}

Rather than finding evidence for purely "neonate" faces being most appealing, Cunningham found faces with "sexually-mature" features at the "periphery" of the face combined with "neonate" features in the "centre of the face" most appealing in women.{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995}} Upon analyzing the results of his study, Cunningham concluded that preference for "neonate features may display the least cross-cultural variability" in terms of "attractiveness ratings"{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995}} and, in another study, Cunningham concluded that there exists a large agreement on the characteristics of an attractive face.{{cite journal | vauthors = Cunningham MR |title=Measuring the Physical in Physical Attractiveness: Quasi-Experiments on the Sociobiology of Female Facial Beauty | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1986-05_50_5/page/925 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=925–35 |date=May 1986 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.50.5.925 |quote= Research with Western subjects disclosed significant consistency in evaluating attractiveness (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986; Iliife, 1960). The females judged to be most attractive may have such similar facial features that they were hard to distinguish one from another (Light, Hollander, & Kayra-Stuart, 1981). Cross-cultural investigations on the judgment of facial attractiveness tended to highlight societal differences, but rough agreements in facial aesthetic preferences were shown by Asian-American and white females (Wagatsuma & Kleinke, 1979), Chinese, Indian, and English females judging Greek males (Thakerar & Iwawaki, 1979), South African and American males and females (Morse, Gruzen, & Reis, 1976), and blacks and whites judging males and females from both races (Cross & Cross, 1971).}}

In computer face averaging tests, women with averaged faces have been shown to be considered more attractive.{{cite news | first = Clare | last = Murphy | name-list-style = vanc |title= In the eye of the beholder? |work= BBC News |quote= Art historians, anthropologists and human psychologists in general agree that it is the symmetry of a face, its perfect proportion, or indeed its averageness – where no feature stands out – that has consistently down the ages been deemed attractive. ... |date= December 4, 2003

|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3291271.stm |access-date= July 15, 2011}}{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=54–55}} This is possibly due to average features being more familiar and, therefore, more comfortable.

According to Chinese scholar Liu Jieyu (2008), there is more pressure on women than men to be physically attractive. Whereas there are various criteria that women might be expected to meet, a man might only need to be tall to be considered attractive.{{cite book | last = Liu | first = Jieyu | year = 2008 | chapter = Sexualized Labour? 'White-collar Beauties' in Provincial China. | veditors = Jackson S, Liu J, Woo J | title = East Asian Sexualities: Modernity, Gender and New Sexual Cultures. | location = London | publisher = Zed Books | pages = 85–103 | isbn = 978-0-374-52715-0 }}

On average, symmetrical features are one ideal, while unusual, stand-out features are another.{{cite journal |last1=Hönekopp |first1=Johannes |last2=Bartholomé |first2=Tobias |last3=Jansen |first3=Gregor |title=Facial attractiveness, symmetry, and physical fitness in young women |journal=Human Nature |date=June 2004 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=147–167 |doi=10.1007/s12110-004-1018-4 |pmid=26190411 }} A study performed by the University of Toronto found that the most attractive facial dimensions were those found in the average female face. However, that particular University of Toronto study looked only at white women.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8421076.stm |work=BBC News |title=Perfect face dimensions measured |date=December 18, 2009 |access-date=May 22, 2010}}

A 2011 study, by Wilkins, Chan and Kaiser found correlations between perceived femininity and attractiveness; that is, women's faces which were seen as more feminine were judged by both men and women to be more attractive.{{cite journal | vauthors = Wilkins CL, Chan JF, Kaiser CR | title = Racial stereotypes and interracial attraction: phenotypic prototypicality and perceived attractiveness of Asians | journal = Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology | volume = 17 | issue = 4 | pages = 427–31 | date = October 2011 | pmid = 21988581 | doi = 10.1037/a0024733 | quote = see bottom-left of p. 43 }} The study also found that East Asian women's faces were more "prototypically" feminine than White women's, a finding that was replicated by several follow-up studies which found that this explains the higher attractiveness ratings of East Asian women compared to White women.

A component of the female beauty ideal in Persian literature is for women to have faces like a full moon.{{sfnp|Milani|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/veilswordsemergi0000mila/page/187 187]}}{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Wilkes J |publisher=John Wilkes |year=1823 |entry= |title=Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Science and Literature |volume=19 |page=173}}{{cite book | vauthors = Howard N | year = 1830 | title = On Persian Poetry | publisher = Plymouth | page = 30 }}

Similarly, in Arabian society in the Middle Ages, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have round faces which were like a "full moon".{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }}

In Japan, during the Edo period, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have oval-shaped faces.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=6}}

In Jewish Rabbinic literature, the rabbis considered full lips to be the ideal type of lips for women.

Historically, in Chinese and Japanese literature, the feminine ideal was said to include small lips.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012}} Women would paint their lips thinner and narrower to align with this ideal.{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9780203996348 |title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-203-99634-8 |editor-last1=Buckley |editor-first1=Sandra }}{{pn|date=March 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Bonds |first1=Alexandra B. |title=Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture |date=2008 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2956-8 }}{{pn|date=March 2025}}

A study that used Chinese, Malay and Indian judges said that Chinese women and Chinese men with retrusive mandibles (where the mouth is flat and in-line with the rest of the face) were judged to be the most attractive and Chinese men and Chinese women with a protruding mandible (where the jaw projects outward) were judged to be the least attractive.{{cite journal | vauthors = Soh J, Chew MT, Wong HB | title = An Asian community's perspective on facial profile attractiveness | journal = Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology | volume = 35 | issue = 1 | pages = 18–24 | date = February 2007 | pmid = 17244134 | doi = 10.1111/j.1600-0528.2007.00304.x }}

Classical Persian literature, paintings and miniatures portrayed traits such as long black curly hair, a small mouth, long arched eyebrows, large almond-shaped eyes, a small nose, and beauty spots as being beautiful for women.{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/cosmetics_beauty.php|title=Culture of Iran: Cosmetics, Styles & Beauty Concepts in Iran|website=www.iranchamber.com|access-date=March 28, 2016}}

A study that investigated whether or not an eyelid crease makes Chinese-descent women more attractive using photo-manipulated photographs of young Chinese-descent women's eyes found that the "medium upper eyelid crease" was considered most attractive by all three groups of both sexes: white people, Chinese and Taiwanese nationals together as a group, and Taiwanese and Chinese Americans together as a group. Similarly, all three groups of both genders found the absence of an eye crease to be least attractive on Chinese women.{{cite journal | vauthors = Hwang HS, Spiegel JH | title = The effect of "single" vs "double" eyelids on the perceived attractiveness of Chinese women | journal = Aesthetic Surgery Journal | volume = 34 | issue = 3 | pages = 374–82 | date = March 2014 | pmid = 24604790 | doi = 10.1177/1090820X14523020 | doi-access = free }}

In the late sixteenth century, Japanese people considered epicanthic folds to be beautiful.Gill, R.D. (2004). Topsy-turvy 1585: A translation and explication of Luis Frois S.J.'s Tratado (treatise) listing 611 ways Europeans & Japanese are contrary. Paraverse Press. pp. 57–58. {{ISBN|0-9742618-1-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-9742618-1-2}}

A study that used Russian, American, Brazilian, Aché, and Hiwi raters, found that the only strong distinguisher between men and women's faces was wider eyes relative to facial height for women, and this trait consistently predicted attractiveness ratings for women.{{cite journal | vauthors = Elia IE | title = A foxy view of human beauty: implications of the farm fox experiment for understanding the origins of structural and experiential aspects of facial attractiveness | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_quarterly-review-of-biology_2013-09_88_3/page/163 | journal = The Quarterly Review of Biology | volume = 88 | issue = 3 | pages = 163–83 | date = September 2013 | pmid = 24053070 | doi = 10.1086/671486 }}

In Arabian society in the Middle Ages, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have dark black eyes which are large and long and in the shape of almonds. Furthermore, the eyes should be lustrous, and they should have long eyelashes.{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }}

A source written in 1823, said that a component of the Persian female beauty ideal was for women to have large eyes which are black in colour. In Persian literature, beautiful women are said to have eyes that are shaped like almonds.{{sfnp|Milani|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/veilswordsemergi0000mila/page/187 187]}}

In Chinese, the phrase "lucent irises, lustrous teeth" ({{zh|c=明 眸 皓 齒}}) is used to describe a beautiful woman with "clear eyes" and "well-aligned, white teeth",{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=15}} and the phrase "moth-feeler eyebrows" ({{zh|c=蛾眉}}) is used to denote a beautiful woman by describing her eyebrows as being thin and arched like moth antennae.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=15}} In the Chinese text The Grotto of the Immortals ({{zh|c=遊 仙 窟}}) written during the Tang dynasty period, narrow eyes were the preferred type of eyes for women, and, in the Chinese text Jeweled Chamber Secrets ({{zh|c=玉 房 秘 訣}}) from the Six Dynasties period, the ideal woman was described as having small eyes.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=19}}

The 1813 Japanese text Customs, Manners, and Fashions of the Capital ({{langx|ja|都 風 俗 化 粧 伝}}) indicates that large eyes were not considered attractive in women.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=18}}

{{See also|Breast fetishism}}

Research has shown that most heterosexual men enjoy the sight of female breasts, with a preference for firm breasts{{cite journal |last1=Pazhoohi |first1=Farid |last2=Garza |first2=Ray |last3=Kingstone |first3=Alan |title=Effects of Breast Size, Intermammary Cleft Distance (Cleavage) and Ptosis on Perceived Attractiveness, Health, Fertility and Age: Do Life History, Self-Perceived Mate Value and Sexism Attitude Play a Role? |journal=Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology |date=March 2020 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=75–92 |doi=10.1007/s40750-020-00129-1 }}{{sfnp|Buss|2005|page = [https://archive.org/details/handbookevolutio00buss/page/n352 325]}} A study of British undergraduates found men preferred small breasts on women.{{cite journal |vauthors=Furnham A, Swami V |title=Perception of female buttocks and breast size in profile |journal=Soc Behav Pers |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |year=2007 |doi= 10.2224/sbp.2007.35.1.1 }} Smaller breasts were widely associated with youthfulness.{{sfnp|Sugiyama|2015}} Cross-culturally, another study found "high variability" regarding the ideal breast size.

The pigmentation of nipples and breasts appears to be the most important quality of breast attractiveness. Men rated women with dark nipples and dark areola as significantly more attractive than those with light-coloured nipples or areola.{{cite journal |last1=Dixson |first1=Barnaby J. |last2=Grimshaw |first2=Gina M. |last3=Linklater |first3=Wayne L. |last4=Dixson |first4=Alan F. |title=Eye Tracking of Men's Preferences for Female Breast Size and Areola Pigmentation |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |date=February 2011 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=51–58 |doi=10.1007/s10508-010-9601-8 |pmid=20169468 }} Breasts of medium cup size were found to be the most attractive, however it was noted that men focused primarily on the colouration of nipples and areola rather than breast size.

A study by Groyecka et al., in which they examined Poles and Yali of New Guinea, demonstrated that men's judgements of breast appearance are affected by the occurrence of breast ptosis (i.e., sagginess, droopiness).{{cite journal | vauthors = Groyecka A, Żelaźniewicz A, Misiak M, Karwowski M, Sorokowski P | title = Breast shape (ptosis) as a marker of a woman's breast attractiveness and age: Evidence from Poland and Papua | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 29 | issue = 4 | date = July 2017 | pages = e22981 | pmid = 28211217 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.22981 }} Greater breast ptosis (more sagging breasts) is perceived as less attractive and attributed to a woman of older age. These findings are consistent with previous research that link breast attractiveness with female youthfulness. Unlike breast size, breast ptosis seems to be a universal marker of female breast attractiveness.

A study showed that men prefer symmetrical breasts.{{cite book| first = Joann Ellison | last = Rodgers | name-list-style = vanc |title=Sex: A Natural History |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=eJutAwmKCPEC&pg=PA102 102] |year=2003 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-8050-7281-5}} Breast symmetry may be particularly sensitive to developmental disturbances and the symmetry differences for breasts are large compared to other body parts. Women who have more symmetrical breasts tend to have more children.{{cite journal | last1 = Wade | first1 = T. J. | title = The Relationships between Symmetry and Attractiveness and Mating Relevant Decisions and Behavior: A Review | doi = 10.3390/sym2021081 | journal = Symmetry | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | pages = 1081–1098 | year = 2010 | bibcode = 2010Symm....2.1081W | doi-access = free }}

Historical literature often includes specific features of individuals or a gender that are considered desirable. These have often become a matter of convention, and should be interpreted with caution. In Arabian society in the Middle Ages, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to have small breasts.{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }} In Persian literature, beautiful women are said to have breasts like pomegranates or lemons.{{sfnp|Milani|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/veilswordsemergi0000mila/page/187 187]}} In the Chinese text Jeweled Chamber Secrets ({{zh|c=玉 房 秘 訣}}) from the Six Dynasties period, the ideal woman was described as having firm breasts.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=19}} In Sanskrit literature, beautiful women are often said to have breasts so large that they cause the women to bend a little bit from their weight.{{cite book |author1=Los Angeles County Museum of Art |title=Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection |date=1986 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-87587-129-5 |page=32 }} In Middle English literature, beautiful women should have small breasts that are round like an apple or a pear.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=113}}

{{Main|Cultural history of the buttocks}}

File:BlackWomanButtSizeAttractionExperimentDiagram.png

Biological anthropologist Helen E. Fisher of the centre for Human Evolution Studies in the Department of Anthropology of Rutgers University said that, "perhaps, the fleshy, rounded buttocks... attracted males during rear-entry intercourse."{{cite book | vauthors = Fisher HE | year = 1982 | title = The Sex Contract: The Evolution of Human Behavior. | url = https://archive.org/details/sexcontract00hele | url-access = registration | location = New York | publisher = William Morrow & Company, Inc. | isbn = 978-0-688-00640-2 }} In a recent study, using 3D models and eye-tracking technology Fisher's claim was tested and it was shown that the slight thrusting out of a woman's back influences how attractive others perceive her to be and captures the gaze of both men and women.{{cite press release |last1=Hawkins |first1=Elizabeth |title=Why arched backs are attractive |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-english-research-news/why-arched-backs-are-attractive/15163220 |publisher=Springer |date=25 October 2017 }}{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s40806-017-0123-7 |title=Arching the Back (Lumbar Curvature) as a Female Sexual Proceptivity Signal: an Eye-Tracking Study |year=2017 | vauthors = Pazhoohi F, Doyle JF, Macedo AF, Arantes J |journal= Evolutionary Psychological Science |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=1–8 }} Bobbi S. Low et al. of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, said the female "buttocks evolved in the context of females competing for the attention and parental commitment of powerful resource-controlling males" as an "honest display of fat reserves" that could not be confused with another type of tissue, although T. M. Caro, professor in the centre for Population Biology and the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, at University of California, Davis, rejected that as being a necessary conclusion, stating that female fatty deposits on the hips improve "individual fitness of the female", regardless of sexual selection.{{cite journal | vauthors = Caro TM, Sellen DW | author-link1 = Tim Caro | year = 1990 | title = The Reproductive Advantages of Fat in Women. | journal = Ethology and Sociobiology | volume = 11 | issue = 5 | pages = 1–66 | doi = 10.1016/0162-3095(90)90005-Q | hdl = 2027.42/28785 | hdl-access = free }}

In a 1995 study, black men were more likely than white men to use the words "big" or "large" to describe their conception of an attractive woman's posterior.{{cite journal | vauthors = Hebl MR, Heatherton TF | year = 1997 | title = The Stigma of Obesity in Women: The Difference is Black and White | journal = Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin | volume = 24 | issue = 4 | pages = 418 | doi = 10.1177/0146167298244008 }} In a 2009 experiment to research what South African, British white and British African men considered to be the most attractive size of posterior and breasts for white and black women. This image shown here only shows the two extreme variations of size on black female figures used in the experiment. The left-hand figure received the highest average attractiveness rating from South African men while a figure with an intermediate size received the highest ratings from both white and black British men. The right-hand figure did not receive the highest average attractiveness rating from any group.{{cite journal | vauthors = Swami V, Jones J, Einon D, Furnham A | title = Men's preferences for women's profile waist-to-hip ratio, breast size, and ethnic group in Britain and South Africa | journal = British Journal of Psychology | volume = 100 | issue = Pt 2 | pages = 313–25 | date = May 2009 | pmid = 18625082 | doi = 10.1348/000712608x329525 }}

Body Mass Index (BMI) is an important determinant to the perception of beauty.{{cite journal | vauthors = Tovée MJ, Reinhardt S, Emery JL, Cornelissen PL | title = Optimum body-mass index and maximum sexual attractiveness | journal = Lancet | volume = 352 | issue = 9127 | pages = 548 | date = August 1998 | pmid = 9716069 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)79257-6 }} Even though the Western ideal is for a thin woman, some cultures prefer plumper women,{{sfnp|Cunningham|Roberts|Barbee|Druen|1995}}{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=55,56}} which has been argued to support that attraction for a particular BMI merely is a cultural artifact.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=55,56}} The attraction for a proportionate body also influences an appeal for erect posture.Furnham, Adrian, Gianna Caroline Fischer, Lauren Tanner, Melanie Dias, and Alastair McClelland 1998.{{title?}} One cross-cultural survey comparing body-mass preferences among 300 of the most thoroughly studied cultures in the world showed that 81% of cultures preferred a female body size that in English would be described as "plump".{{cite journal | last1 = Brown | first1 = Peter J. | first2 = Jennifer | last2 = Sweeney | name-list-style = vanc | year = 2009 | title = The Anthropology of Overweight, Obesity and the Body | journal = AnthroNotes | volume = 30 | issue = 1}}

Availability of food influences which female body size is attractive which may have evolutionary reasons. Societies with food scarcities prefer larger female body size than societies that have plenty of food. In Western society, males who are hungry prefer a larger female body size than they do when not hungry.{{cite journal | vauthors = Nettle D | title = Ecological influences on human behavioural diversity: a review of recent findings | journal = Trends in Ecology & Evolution | volume = 24 | issue = 11 | pages = 618–24 | date = November 2009 | pmid = 19683831 | doi = 10.1016/j.tree.2009.05.013 | bibcode = 2009TEcoE..24..618N }}

BMI has been criticised for conflating fat and muscle, and more recent studies have concentrated on body composition. Among Australian university students, the most attractive body composition for women (10.31 kg fat, 42.45 kg muscle) was found to be lower in fat than both the most healthy appearing composition, and below the healthy range.

In the United States, women overestimate men's preferences for thinness in a mate. In one study, American women were asked to choose what their ideal build was and what they thought the build most attractive to men was. Women chose slimmer than average figures for both choices. When American men were independently asked to choose the female build most attractive to them, the men chose figures of average build. This indicates that women may be misled as to how thin men prefer women to be.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=55,56}} Some researchers believe women themselves may play a role in enforcing the thinness ideal, however they assert that this does not mean that the ideal does not ultimately trace its origins to patriarchical norms (the "male gaze").{{cite book | last1=Germov | first1=John | last2=Williams | first2=Lauren | title=Weighty Issues: Fatness and Thinness As Social Problems | publisher=Transaction Publishers | series=Social Problems and Social Issues | date=1999| isbn=978-1-4128-4126-9 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IHn-D7Q8KwMC&pg=PA125 125-127] }} Popenoe writes that societies with abundant food sources often value thin women, while those with food scarcity value women with fat bodies. In the West, women with thin bodies became the ideal in the 19th century, as the fat body became associated with criminality and backwardness.{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=L. | title=Deviance: Social Constructions and Blurred Boundaries | publisher=University of California Press | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-520-29237-6 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GawwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA390 390] }} Some implicated the fashion industry for the promulgation of the notion of thinness as attractive.{{cite news|last=Hellmich|first= Nanci| name-list-style = vanc |title=Do thin models warp girls' body image?|quote=The widespread concern that model thinness has progressed from willowy to wasted has reached a threshold as evidenced by the recent actions of fashion show organizers.|work=USA Today|date=September 26, 2006|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-25-thin-models_x.htm|access-date = November 6, 2009}}{{cite news | first = John | last = Tierney | name-list-style = vanc |title=The Waif From Ipanema |quote=women's aesthetic judgments are so influenced by other women. Men prefer the wider hips, and most likely {{sic|could}} care less about high heels and handbags. Yet for many women all these things are essential to marking their beauty status with other women |work=The New York Times |date=January 18, 2007 |url=http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/the-waif-from-ipanema/ |access-date=November 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070121134752/http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/the-waif-from-ipanema/ |archive-date=January 21, 2007}} (unpublished OpEd)

East Asians have historically preferred women whose bodies had small features. For example, during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history, women in Chinese harems wanted to have a thin body in order to be attractive for the Chinese emperor. Later, during the Tang dynasty, a less thin body type was seen as most attractive for Chinese women.{{cite journal | vauthors = Witcomb GL, Arcelus J, Chen J | title = Can cognitive dissonance methods developed in the West for combatting the 'thin ideal' help slow the rapidly increasing prevalence of eating disorders in non-Western cultures? | journal = Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry | volume = 25 | issue = 6 | pages = 332–40 | date = December 2013 | pmid = 24991176 | pmc = 4054580 | doi = 10.3969/j.issn.1002-0829.2013.06.002 }} In Arabian society in the Middle Ages, a component of the female beauty ideal was for women to be slender like a "cane" or a "twig".{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }} In the Chinese text Jeweled Chamber Secrets ({{zh|c=玉 房 秘 訣}}) from the Six Dynasties period, the ideal woman was described as not being "large-boned".{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=19}}

In the Victorian era, women who adhered to Victorian ideals were expected to limit their food consumption to attain the ideal slim figure. In Middle English literature, "slender" women are considered beautiful.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=102}}

According to research on females, women consider a full body with good distribution to be highly important to be considered attractive by men.{{Cite journal|last1=Kilpela|first1=Lisa Smith|last2=Becker|first2=Carolyn Black|last3=Wesley|first3=Nicole|last4=Stewart|first4=Tiffany|date=2015-07-01|title=Body Image in Adult Women: Moving Beyond the Younger Years|journal=Advances in Eating Disorders (Abingdon, England )|volume=3|issue=2|pages=144–164|doi=10.1080/21662630.2015.1012728 |pmc=4452130|pmid=26052476}}

{{Main|Waist–hip ratio}}

A WHR of 0.7 for women has been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and ovarian cancers.{{cite press release |title=The Rules of Attraction in the Game of Love| last=Bjorn|first=Carey| name-list-style = vanc |date=February 13, 2006 |website=Live Science |url=https://www.livescience.com/7023-rules-attraction-game-love.html |access-date=January 9, 2006}} Women with high WHR (0.80 or higher) have significantly lower pregnancy rates than women with lower WHRs (0.70–0.79), independent of their BMIs.{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Devendra |title=Female mate value at a glance: relationship of waist-to-hip ratio to health, fecundity and attractiveness |journal=Neuro Endocrinology Letters |date=December 2002 |volume=23 |issue=Suppl 4 |pages=81–91 |pmid=12496738 |url=https://www.nel.edu/userfiles/articlesnew/NEL231002R08.pdf }}{{sfnp|Buss|2003|p=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionofdesir00buss/page/56 56]}} Female waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) has been proposed by evolutionary psychologists to be an important component of human male mate choice, because this trait is thought to provide a reliable cue to a woman's reproductive value.{{cite journal |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |date=July 1999 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=219–228 |title=How Universal Are Preferences for Female Waist-to-Hip Ratios? Evidence from the Hadza of Tanzania |last1=Wetsmana |first1=Adam | first2 = Frank | last2 = Marloweb | name-list-style = vanc | doi = 10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00007-0|bibcode=1999EHumB..20..219W }}

Both men and women judge women with smaller waist-to-hip ratios more attractive.{{cite journal|title = Correlates of physical beauty in men and women |url = https://archive.org/details/sim_social-behavior-and-personality_1979_7_2/page/145 | last = Horvath | first = Theodore | name-list-style = vanc |date = 1979|journal = Social Behavior and Personality|volume = 7 |issue = 2 |pages = 145–151 |doi = 10.2224/sbp.1979.7.2.145}} Ethnic groups vary with regard to their ideal waist-to-hip ratio for women,{{cite journal | vauthors = Fisher ML, Voracek M | title = The shape of beauty: determinants of female physical attractiveness | journal = Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology | volume = 5 | issue = 2 | pages = 190–4 | date = June 2006 | pmid = 17173598 | doi = 10.1111/j.1473-2165.2006.00249.x }} ranging from 0.6 in China,{{cite journal | vauthors = Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Li B, Anderson MJ | title = Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 88–95 | date = January 2007 | pmid = 17160976 | doi = 10.1002/ajhb.20584 | doi-access = free }} to 0.8 or 0.9 in parts of South America and Africa,{{cite journal |last1=Marlowe |first1=Frank |last2=Wetsman |first2=Adam |title=Preferred waist-to-hip ratio and ecology |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=February 2001 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=481–489 |doi=10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00039-8 }}{{cite journal |last1=Marlowe |first1=Frank |last2=Apicella |first2=Coren |last3=Reed |first3=Dorian |title=Men's preferences for women's profile waist-to-hip ratio in two societies |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |date=November 2005 |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=458–468 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.005 |bibcode=2005EHumB..26..458M }}{{cite journal|vauthors=Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Morgan B, Anderson MJ|date=June 2007|title=Human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in Bakossiland, Cameroon|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume=36|issue=3|pages=369–75|doi=10.1007/s10508-006-9093-8|pmid=17136587 }} and divergent preferences based on ethnicity, rather than nationality, have also been noted.{{cite journal | vauthors = Freedman RE, Carter MM, Sbrocco T, Gray JJ | title = Do men hold African-American and Caucasian women to different standards of beauty? | journal = Eating Behaviors | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = 319–33 | date = August 2007 | pmid = 17606230 | pmc = 3033406 | doi = 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.11.008 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Freedman RE, Carter MM, Sbrocco T, Gray JJ | title = Ethnic differences in preferences for female weight and waist-to-hip ratio: a comparison of African-American and White American college and community samples | journal = Eating Behaviors | volume = 5 | issue = 3 | pages = 191–8 | date = July 2004 | pmid = 15135331 | doi = 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2004.01.002 | url = https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Ethnic_differences_in_preferences_for_female_weight_and_waist-to-hip_ratio_A_comparison_of_African_American_and_White_American_college_and_community_samples/23879001 }} A study found the Machiguenga people, an isolated indigenous South American ethnic group, prefer women with high WHR (0.9).{{cite journal | vauthors = Sorokowski P, Kościński K, Sorokowska A, Huanca T | title = Preference for women's body mass and waist-to-hip ratio in Tsimane' men of the Bolivian Amazon: biological and cultural determinants | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 9 | issue = 8 | pages = e105468 | year = 2014 | pmid = 25148034 | pmc = 4141791 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0105468 | bibcode = 2014PLoSO...9j5468S | doi-access = free }} The preference for heavier women, has been interpreted to belong to societies where there is no risk of obesity.{{cite journal |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=February 2001 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=481–89 |title=Preferred waist-to-hip ratio and ecology |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_personality-and-individual-differences_2001-02_30_3/page/481 |last1=Marlowe |first1=Frank | first2 = Adam | last2 = Wetsmanb | name-list-style = vanc | doi=10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00039-8 }}

In Chinese, the phrase "willow waist" ({{zh|c=柳 腰}}) is used to denote a beautiful woman by describing her waist as being slender like a willow branch.{{sfnp|Kyo|2012|p=15}}

In the Victorian era, a small waist was considered the main trait of a beautiful woman.{{cite book | vauthors = Silver AK | year = 2004 | title = Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body | location = UK | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = 38, 48 | isbn = 978-0-511-03051-2 }} The term "wasp waist" describes an extreme fashion silhouette, produced by a style of corset and girdle.

According to some studies, most men prefer women with small feet,{{cite journal | vauthors = Barber N |title=The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology |journal=Ethology and Sociobiology |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=395–424 |date=September 1995 |doi=10.1016/0162-3095(95)00068-2 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Voracek M, Fisher ML, Rupp B, Lucas D, Fessler DM | title = Sex differences in relative foot length and perceived attractiveness of female feet: relationships among anthropometry, physique, and preference ratings | journal = Perceptual and Motor Skills | volume = 104 | issue = 3 Pt 2 | pages = 1123–38 | date = June 2007 | pmid = 17879647 | doi = 10.2466/pms.104.3c.1123-1138 }} such as in ancient China where foot binding was practiced.{{cite journal | vauthors = Berman JE | year = 1993 | title = Female Genital Mutilation, Yes, but Don't Condone It. | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/30/opinion/l-understand-female-genital-mutilation-yes-but-don-t-condone-it-015393.html | journal = The New York Times }}

In Jewish Rabbinic literature, the rabbis considered small feet to be the ideal type of feet for women.

Men have been found to prefer long-haired women.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=51–54}}{{sfnp|Buss|2005|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=esDW3xTKoLIC&pg=PA309 309]}} {{cite journal | vauthors = Bereczkei T, Meskó N | title = Hair length, facial attractiveness, personality attribution; A multiple fitness model of hairdressing | journal = Review of Psychology | volume = 13 | issue = 1 | pages = 35–42 }} An evolutionary psychology explanation for this is that malnutrition and deficiencies in minerals and vitamins causes loss of hair or hair changes. Hair therefore indicates health and nutrition during the last 2–3 years. Lustrous hair is also often a cross-cultural preference.{{sfnp|Sugiyama|2015}}

A component of the female beauty ideal in Persian literature is for women to have black hair,{{sfnp|Milani|1992|p=215}} which was also preferred in Arabian society in the Middle Ages.{{sfnp|Lane|1883 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028628141/page/n233 214{{ndash}}216] }} In Middle English literature, curly hair is a necessary component of a beautiful woman.{{sfnp|Curry|1916|p=31}}

There are some subtle changes in women's perceived attractiveness across the menstrual cycle. During their most fertile phase, we can observe some changes in women's behaviour and physiology. A study conducted by G. Miller (2007) examined the amount of tip earnings by lap dancers across the menstrual cycle. He found that dancers received nearly US$15 more when they were near ovulation than during the rest of the month. This suggests that women either are more attractive during ovulation phase, or they experience a significant change in their behaviour.{{sfnp|Miller|Tybur|Jordan|2007}} Some other studies have found that there are subtle differences in women's faces when in their fertile phase. Bobst and Lobmaier (2012) created 20 prototyped photographs, some of a female during ovulation and some during the luteal phase. Men were asked to choose the more attractive, the more caring and the more flirtatious faces. They found a significant preference for the follicular phase (ovulation). This suggests that subtle shape differences in faces occurring during the female's ovulation phase are sufficient to attract men more.{{cite journal | vauthors = Bobst C, Lobmaier JS | title = Men's preference for the ovulating female is triggered by subtle face shape differences | journal = Hormones and Behavior | volume = 62 | issue = 4 | pages = 413–17 | date = September 2012 | pmid = 22846725 | doi = 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.07.008 }} This idea is supported by another study, where a similar experiment was done. Men and women had to judge photographs of women's faces taken during their fertile phase. They were all rated more attractive than during non-fertile phase. There are some subtle visible cues to ovulation in women's faces, and they are perceived as more attractive, leading to the idea that it could be an adaptive mechanism to raise a female's mate value at that specific time (when probability of conception is at its highest).{{sfnp|Miller|Tybur|Jordan|2007}}

Women's attractiveness, as perceived by men and women, slightly differs across her menstrual cycle, being at peak when she is in her ovulation phase. Jones et al. (2008), focused on women's preferences for masculinity, apparent health and self-resemblance and found that it varies across the cycle. They explained that the function of the effects of menstrual cycle phase on preferences for apparent health and self-resemblance in faces is to increase the likelihood of pregnancy.{{cite journal | vauthors = Jones BC, DeBruine LM, Perrett DI, Little AC, Feinberg DR, Law Smith MJ | title = Effects of menstrual cycle phase on face preferences | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_2008-02_37_1/page/78 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 37 | issue = 1 | pages = 78–84 | date = February 2008 | pmid = 18193349 | doi = 10.1007/s10508-007-9268-y }}

Similarly, females prefer the scent of symmetrically faced men and men with masculine faces during fertile phases as well as stereotypical male displays such as social presence, and direct intrasexual competitiveness.{{cite journal | vauthors = Gangestad SW, Simpson JA, Cousins AJ, Garver-Apgar CE, Christensen PN | title = Women's preferences for male behavioral displays change across the menstrual cycle | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 15 | issue = 3 | pages = 2030–7 | date = March 2004 | pmid = 15016293 | doi = 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503010.x }}

During the follicular phase (fertile), females prefer more masculine traits (testosterone dependent traits such as face shape) than when in non-fertile phase. Those findings have been found in the voice, showing that females' preferences for more masculine voices over feminine voices increase the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle.{{cite journal | vauthors = Feinberg DR, Jones BC, Law Smith MJ, Moore FR, DeBruine LM, Cornwell RE, Hillier SG, Perrett DI | title = Menstrual cycle, trait estrogen level, and masculinity preferences in the human voice | journal = Hormones and Behavior | volume = 49 | issue = 2 | pages = 215–22 | date = February 2006 | pmid = 16055126 | doi = 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.07.004 }}

But not only females' preferences vary across cycle, their behaviours as well. Effectively, men respond differently to females when they are on ovulatory cycle,{{sfnp|Miller|Tybur|Jordan|2007 }} because females act differently. Women in the ovulatory phase are flirtier with males showing genetic fitness markers than in low fertile phase.{{cite journal | vauthors = Cantú SM, Simpson JA, Griskevicius V, Weisberg YJ, Durante KM, Beal DJ | title = Fertile and selectively flirty: women's behavior toward men changes across the ovulatory cycle | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | pages = 431–38 | date = February 2014 | pmid = 24335600 | doi = 10.1177/0956797613508413 }} It has been shown in some studies that women high in estrogen are generally perceived to be more attractive than women with low levels of estrogen, based on women not wearing make-up. High estrogen level women may also be viewed as healthier or to have a more feminine face.{{cite journal | vauthors = Smith MJ, Perrett DI, Jones BC, Cornwell RE, Moore FR, Feinberg DR, Boothroyd LG, Durrani SJ, Stirrat MR, Whiten S, Pitman RM, Hillier SG | title = Facial appearance is a cue to oestrogen levels in women | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 273 | issue = 1583 | pages = 135–40 | date = January 2006 | pmid = 16555779 | pmc = 1560017 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2005.3296 }}

Similarly, a study investigated the capacity of women to select high quality males based on their facial attractiveness. They found that facial attractiveness correlated with semen quality (good, normal, or bad depending on sperm morphology and motility). The more attractive a man's face is, linked to his sperm being of better quality.{{cite journal | vauthors = Soler C, Núñez M, Gutiérrez R, Núñez J, Medina P, Sancho M, Álvarez J, Núńez A | year = 2003 | title = Facial attractiveness in men provides clues to semen quality | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2003-05_24_3/page/199 | journal = Evolution & Human Behavior | volume = 24 | issue = 3| pages = 199–207 | doi=10.1016/s1090-5138(03)00013-8| bibcode = 2003EHumB..24..199S }}

Sexual ornaments are seen in many organisms; in humans, females have sexual ornamentation in the form of breasts and buttocks. The physical attraction to sexual ornaments is associated with gynoid fat, as opposed to android fat, which is considered unattractive.{{cite journal| vauthors = Singh D |date=1993|title=Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1993-08_65_2/page/293 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.293 |pmid=8366421|volume=65|issue=2|pages=293–307 }} In human females, proximate causes of the development of sexual ornaments are associated with the predominance of estrogen in puberty. The activation of estrogen receptors around the female skeletal tissue causes gynoid fat to be deposited in the breasts, buttocks, hips and thighs, producing an overall typical female body shape.{{cite journal | vauthors = Scheaefer K, Fink B, Grammer K, Mitteroecker P, Gunz P, Bookstein FL |date=2006|title=Female appearance: facial and bodily attractiveness as shape|journal=Psychology Science}} Specifically, female breasts are considered more attractive when symmetrical, rather than asymmetrical,{{cite journal | vauthors = Dixson BJ, Vasey PL, Sagata K, Sibanda N, Linklater WL, Dixson AF | title = Men's preferences for women's breast morphology in New Zealand, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_archives-of-sexual-behavior_2011-12_40_6/page/1271 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 40 | issue = 6 | pages = 1271–79 | date = December 2011 | pmid = 20862533 | doi = 10.1007/s10508-010-9680-6 }} as this is thought to reflect good developmental stability.{{cite journal | last1=Thornhill|first1=Randy|last2=Grammer|first2=Karl | name-list-style = vanc |date=1999|title=The Body and Face of Woman: One Ornament That Signals Quality?| url=https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_1999-03_20_2/page/105|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=20|issue=2|pages=105–20|doi=10.1016/S1090-5138(98)00044-0|bibcode=1999EHumB..20..105T }}

Sexual ornaments are considered attractive features as they are thought to indicate high mate value, fertility,{{cite journal | vauthors = Jasieńska G, Ziomkiewicz A, Ellison PT, Lipson SF, Thune I | title = Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 271 | issue = 1545 | pages = 1213–17 | date = June 2004 | pmid = 15306344 | pmc = 1691716 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2712 }} and the ability to provide good care to offspring. They are sexually selected traits present for the purpose of honest signalling and capturing the visual attention of the opposite sex, most commonly associated with females capturing the visual attention of males. It has been proposed that these ornaments have evolved in order to advertise personal quality and reproductive value.{{cite journal | vauthors = Marlowe F | title = The nubility hypothesis: The human breast as an honest signal of residual reproductive value | journal = Human Nature | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages = 263–71 | date = September 1998 | pmid = 26197484 | doi = 10.1007/s12110-998-1005-2 }} Honest signalling with sexual ornaments is associated with ultimate causation of these evolved traits. The evolution of these ornaments is also associated with female-female competition in order to gain material benefits provided by resourceful and high status males.{{sfnp|Wang et al.|2015}} In humans, once these sexual ornaments develop, they are permanent. It is thought that this is associated with the long-term pair bonding humans engage in; human females engage in extended sexual activity outside of their fertile period.{{cite journal | vauthors = Grebe NM, Gangestad SW, Garver-Apgar CE, Thornhill R | title = Women's luteal-phase sexual proceptivity and the functions of extended sexuality | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_psychological-science_2013-10_24_10/page/2106 | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 24 | issue = 10 | pages = 2106–10 | date = October 2013 | pmid = 23965377 | doi = 10.1177/0956797613485965 }} This relates to another ultimate cause of sexual ornaments with function in obtaining non-genetic material benefits from males. In other animal species, even other primate species, these advertisements of reproductive value are not permanent. Usually, it is the point at which the female is at her most fertile, she displays sexual swellings.{{cite journal | vauthors = Domb LG, Pagel M | title = Sexual swellings advertise female quality in wild baboons | journal = Nature | volume = 410 | issue = 6825 | pages = 204–06 | date = March 2001 | pmid = 11242079 | doi = 10.1038/35065597 | bibcode = 2001Natur.410..204D }}

Adolescence is the period of time whereby humans experience puberty, and experience anatomical changes to their bodies through the increase of sex hormones released in the body. Adolescent exaggeration is the period of time at which sexual ornaments are maximised, and peak gynoid fat content is reached.{{sfnp|Wang et al.|2015}} In human females, the mean age for this is approximately 16 years. Female breasts develop at this stage not only to prepare for reproduction, but also due to competition with other females in displaying their reproductive value and quality to males.{{sfnp|Wang et al.|2015}}

Most studies of the brain activations associated with the perception of attractiveness show photographs of faces to their participants and let them or a comparable group of people rate the attractiveness of these faces. Such studies consistently find that activity in certain parts of the orbitofrontal cortex increases with increasing attractiveness of faces.{{cite journal|vauthors=Winston JS, O'Doherty J, Kilner JM, Perrett DI, Dolan RJ|date=January 2007|title=Brain systems for assessing facial attractiveness|journal=Neuropsychologia|series=The Perception of Emotion and Social Cues in Faces|volume=45|issue=1|pages=195–206|doi=10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.05.009|pmid=16828125|hdl-access=free |hdl=21.11116/0000-0001-9F80-B}}{{cite journal|last1=Vartanian|first1=Oshin|last2=Goel|first2=Vinod|last3=Lam|first3=Elaine|last4=Fisher|first4=Maryanne|last5=Granic|first5=Josipa|year=2013|title=Middle temporal gyrus encodes individual differences in perceived facial attractiveness|journal=Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts|volume=7|issue=1|pages=38–47|doi=10.1037/a0031591|name-list-style=vanc}}{{sfnp|Wang et al.|2015}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Tsukiura T, Cabeza R|date=January 2011|title=Remembering beauty: roles of orbitofrontal and hippocampal regions in successful memory encoding of attractive faces|journal=NeuroImage|volume=54|issue=1|pages=653–60|doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.046|pmc=2962707|pmid=20659568}}{{cite journal|vauthors=Tsukiura T, Cabeza R|date=January 2011|title=Shared brain activity for aesthetic and moral judgments: implications for the Beauty-is-Good stereotype|journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience|volume=6|issue=1|pages=138–48|doi=10.1093/scan/nsq025|pmc=3023089|pmid=20231177}} This neural response has been interpreted as a reaction on the rewarding nature of attractiveness, as similar increases in activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex can be seen in response to smiling faces{{cite journal|vauthors=O'Doherty J, Winston J, Critchley H, Perrett D, Burt DM, Dolan RJ|date=January 1, 2003|title=Beauty in a smile: the role of medial orbitofrontal cortex in facial attractiveness|journal=Neuropsychologia|volume=41|issue=2|pages=147–55|doi=10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00145-8|pmid=12459213|hdl-access=free |hdl=21.11116/0000-0001-A0A6-E}} and to statements of morally good actions.{{sfnp|Wang et al.|2015}} While most of these studies have not assessed participants of both genders or homosexual individuals, evidence from one study including male and female hetero- and homosexual individuals indicate that some of the aforementioned increases in brain activity are restricted to images of faces of the gender which participants feel sexually attracted to.{{cite journal|vauthors=Kranz F, Ishai A|date=January 2006|title=Face perception is modulated by sexual preference|journal=Current Biology|volume=16|issue=1|pages=63–8|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2005.10.070|pmid=16401423 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2006CBio...16...63K }}

With regard to brain activation related to the perception of attractive bodies, one study with heterosexual participants suggests that activity in the nucleus accumbens and the anterior cingulate cortex increases with increasing attractiveness. The same study finds that for faces and bodies alike, the medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex responds with greater activity to both very attractive and very unattractive pictures.{{cite journal|vauthors=Martín-Loeches M, Hernández-Tamames JA, Martín A, Urrutia M|date=September 2014|title=Beauty and ugliness in the bodies and faces of others: an fMRI study of person esthetic judgement|journal=Neuroscience|volume=277|pages=486–97|doi=10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.07.040|pmid=25086316 }} Recent research has found that the perception of women with lower Waist-to-Hip Ratios and larger breasts triggers distinct patterns of temporal and spatial brain activation, differing from those associated with larger WHRs and smaller breasts.{{cite journal|vauthors=Pazhoohi F, Arantes J, Kingstone A, Pinal D|date=2020|title=Waist to hip ratio and breast size modulate the processing of female body silhouettes: An EEG study|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=41|issue=2 |pages=150–169|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.01.001|bibcode=2020EHumB..41..150P }} Specifically, attractive WHRs and breast sizes influenced brain activity related to visual processing differently than less attractive WHRs and breast sizes, impacting both early and late stages of temporal processing in men and women. Moreover, research on upper body size shows that posterior brain regions are involved in perceiving body forms of differing attractiveness due to variations male upper body size, while frontal brain regions are engaged when these perceptions are explicitly rated.{{cite journal|vauthors=Pazhoohi F, Arantes J, Kingstone A, Pinal D|date=2023|title=Neural Correlates and Perceived Attractiveness of Male and Female Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio in Men and Women: An EEG Study|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume=52|issue=5 |pages=2123–2141|doi=10.1007/s10508-023-02610-w|pmid=37170034 |hdl=1822/90971|hdl-access=free}} Such brain activities are unique to processing male, but not female, body sizes.

For both men and women, there appear to be universal criteria of attractiveness both within and across cultures and ethnic groups.{{cite news | first = Joanna | last = Briscoe | name-list-style = vanc |title= Haven't I seen you somewhere before? |newspaper= The Guardian |quote= Evolutionary psychologists claim there is an underlying standard script for beauty – a foundation for what we find appealing that transcends culture and ethnicity. There are various absolutes. For instance, to judge someone beautiful, the eye requires symmetry |date= January 17, 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2004/jan/17/weekend7.weekend2 |access-date= July 15, 2011 |location=London}}{{cite journal |last1=Langlois |first1=Judith H. |last2=Kalakanis |first2=Lisa |last3=Rubenstein |first3=Adam J. |last4=Larson |first4=Andrea |last5=Hallam |first5=Monica |last6=Smoot |first6=Monica |title=Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=2000 |volume=126 |issue=3 |pages=390–423 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390 |pmid=10825783 }} When considering long-term relationships, some studies have found that men place a higher emphasis on physical attractiveness in a partner than women do.{{cite journal |last1=Walster |first1=Elaine |last2=Aronson |first2=Vera |last3=Abrahams |first3=Darcy |last4=Rottman |first4=Leon |title=Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=1966 |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=508–516 |doi=10.1037/h0021188 |pmid=6008393 }}{{cite journal| last = Cowley | first = Geoffrey | name-list-style = vanc | title = The Biology of beauty | journal = Newsweek | date = June 3, 1996 | url = https://www.newsweek.com/biology-beauty-178836 }}{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=57, 58, 60–63}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Bar-Tal D, Saxe L | doi = 10.1007/BF00287245 | title = Physical attractiveness and its relationship to sex-role stereotyping | journal = Sex Roles | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | year = 1976 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Nevid JS | title = Sex differences in factors of romantic attraction | doi = 10.1007/BF00287468 | journal = Sex Roles | volume = 11 | issue = 5–6 | pages = 401–11 | year = 1984 }} On the other hand, some studies have found few differences between men and women in terms of the weight they place on physical characteristics when they are choosing partners for short-term relationships,{{cite journal | vauthors = Li NP, Kenrick DT | title = Sex similarities and differences in preferences for short-term mates: what, whether, and why | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_2006-03_90_3/page/468 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 90 | issue = 3 | pages = 468–89 | date = March 2006 | pmid = 16594832 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.90.3.468 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Eastwick PW, Finkel EJ | title = Sex differences in mate preferences revisited: do people know what they initially desire in a romantic partner? | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_2008-02_94_2/page/245 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 94 | issue = 2 | pages = 245–64 | date = February 2008 | pmid = 18211175 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.94.2.245 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Feingold A | year = 1990 | title = Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1990-11_59_5/page/981 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 59 | issue = 5| pages = 981–993 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.59.5.981 }} in particular with regard to their implicit, as opposed to explicitly articulated, preferences.{{cite journal| vauthors = Eastwick PW, Eagly AH, Finkel EJ, Johnson SE | title = Implicit and explicit preferences for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner: a double dissociation in predictive validity | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_2011-11_101_5/page/993 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 101 | issue = 5 | pages = 993–1011 | date = November 2011 | pmid = 21767032 | doi = 10.1037/a0024061 }} Other recent studies continue to find sex differences for long-term relationships.{{cite journal | vauthors = Little AC, Cohen DL, Jones BC, Belsky J | title = Human preferences for facial masculinity change with relationship type and environmental harshness | doi = 10.1007/s00265-006-0325-7 | journal = Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology | volume = 61 | issue = 6 | pages = 967–73 | year = 2006 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Belsky J, Cohen DL | title = Individual differences in female mate preferences as a function of attachment and hypothetical ecological conditions | journal = Journal of Evolutionary Psychology | volume = 6 | pages = 25–42 | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1556/JEP.2008.1001| doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Dunn MJ, Searle R | title = Effect of manipulated prestige-car ownership on both sex attractiveness ratings | journal = British Journal of Psychology | volume = 101 | issue = Pt 1 | pages = 69–80 | date = February 2010 | pmid = 19302732 | doi = 10.1348/000712609X417319 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Li NP, Valentine KA | last3 = Patel | first3 = L. | doi = 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.005 | title = Mate preferences in the US and Singapore: A cross-cultural test of the mate preference priority model | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_personality-and-individual-differences_2011-01_50_2/page/291 | journal = Personality and Individual Differences | volume = 50 | issue = 2 | pages = 291–94 | year = 2011 }} While still valuing physical attractiveness, women tend to prioritize a man's status over his physical attractiveness, while men prioritize physical attractiveness over status.{{cite book |url=https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/initial-attraction/ |title=Initial Attraction |date=September 26, 2014 |last1=Stangor |first1=Dr Charles }} There is also one study suggesting that only men, not women, place greater priority on bodily compared to facial attractiveness when looking for a short-term as compared to a long-term partner.{{cite journal|title = More than just a pretty face: men's priority shifts toward bodily attractiveness in short-term versus long-term mating contexts |url = https://archive.org/details/sim_evolution-and-human-behavior_2010-09_31_5/page/348 |journal = Evolution and Human Behavior|date = September 1, 2010|pages = 348–53|volume = 31|issue = 5|doi = 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.04.002|first1 = Jaime C.|last1 = Confer|first2 = Carin|last2 = Perilloux|first3 = David M.|last3 = Buss |bibcode = 2010EHumB..31..348C | name-list-style = vanc }}

File:Wedding of Bangladesh.jpg bride exemplifying wedding day beauty]]

Some evolutionary psychologists, including David Buss, have argued that this long-term relationship difference may be a consequence of ancestral humans who selected partners based on secondary sexual characteristics, as well as general indicators of fitness which allowed for greater reproductive success as a result of higher fertility in those partners,{{cite book | vauthors = Symons D | year = 1995 | chapter = Beauty is in the adaptations of the beholder: the evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness. | title = Sexual Nature, Sexual Culture | url = https://archive.org/details/sexualnaturesexu0000unse | series = Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society | veditors = Abramson PR, Pinkerton SD | pages = [https://archive.org/details/sexualnaturesexu0000unse/page/80 80]–119 | location = Chicago | publisher = Univ. Chicago Press }} although a male's ability to provide resources for offspring was likely signaled less by physical features.{{sfnp|Buss|2003|pp=57, 58, 60–63}} It is argued that the most prominent indicator of fertility in women is youth,{{cite book |last1=Mealey |first1=Linda | name-list-style = vanc | author-link = Linda Mealey |title=Sex differences development and evolutionary strategies |url=https://archive.org/details/sexdifferencesde0000meal |url-access=registration |date=2000 |publisher=Academic Press |location=San Diego |isbn=978-0-12-487460-2}}{{cite book |last1=Hrdy |first1=Sarah Blaffer | name-list-style = vanc |title=Mother nature: maternal instincts and how they shape the human species |date=2000 |publisher=Ballantine |location=New York |isbn=978-0-345-40893-8 |edition=1st}}{{cite news | first1 = Abigail | last1 = Trafford | first2 = Andrew | last2 = Cherlin | name-list-style = vanc |title= Second Opinion: Men's Health & Marriage |quote=The major reason for the imbalance between men and women in the later decades of life is because men tend to marry younger women as they get older. |newspaper= Washington Post |date=March 6, 2001 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/01/health/health0306.htm |access-date=November 6, 2009}} while the traits in a man which enhance reproductive success are proxies for his ability to accrue resources and protect.

Studies have shown that women pay greater attention to physical traits than they do directly to earning capability or potential to commit,{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sex-muscles-idUSEIC04599320070710?feedType=RSS|title=Women drawn to men with muscles|work=Reuters|access-date=June 14, 2015|date=July 10, 2007}} including muscularity, fitness and masculinity of features; the latter preference was observed to vary during a woman's period, with women preferring more masculine features during the late-follicular (fertile) phase of the menstrual cycle.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/376321.stm|title=Women's choice of men goes in cycles|work=bbc.co.uk|access-date=June 14, 2015|date=June 24, 1999}} Additionally, women process physical attractiveness differently, paying attention to both individual features and the aesthetic effect of the whole face.{{cite magazine|url=https://healthland.time.com/2009/08/26/how-ladies-size-up-facial-attractiveness/|title=When admiring potential partners' faces, women look for both overall aesthetics and individual sexual appeal|magazine=Time|access-date=June 14, 2015|date=August 26, 2009}}

According to Bonnie Adrian, Taiwanese brides place great importance on physical attractiveness for their wedding photographs. These brides go through hours of makeup to transform themselves into socially constructed beauty. Adrian notes that female beauty standards and practices in Taiwan are quite different from those found in the West. Women in Taiwan tend to avoid tanning, while Taiwanese women with tanned skin tones would be considered the ideal in the Western world.{{cite book | last=Adrian | first=Bonnie | title=Framing the Bride: Globalizing Beauty and Romance in Taiwan's Bridal Industry | publisher=University of California Press | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-520-23834-3 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=saYwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 165]}}

According to strategic pluralism theory, men may have correspondingly evolved to pursue reproductive strategies that are contingent on their own physical attractiveness. More physically attractive men accrue reproductive benefits from spending more time seeking multiple mating partners and relatively less time investing in offspring. In contrast, the reproductive effort of physically less attractive men, who therefore will not have the same mating opportunities, is better allocated either to investing heavily in accruing resources, or investing in their mates and offspring and spending relatively less time seeking additional mates.{{cite journal | vauthors = Frederick DA, Haselton MG | title = Why is muscularity sexy? Tests of the fitness indicator hypothesis | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_personality-and-social-psychology-bulletin_2007-08_33_8/page/1167 | journal = Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin | volume = 33 | issue = 8 | pages = 1167–83 | date = August 2007 | pmid = 17578932 | doi = 10.1177/0146167207303022 }}

{{See also|Race and sexuality}}

Research has suggested that people give high attractiveness ratings to same-sex people who look like them, but only in a nonsexual context. On the other hand, people generally do not find similar-looking people of the opposite sex to be sexually attractive. It is theorized that people may prefer sexual partners who look different from them, which is consistent with a pattern of inbreeding avoidance.{{cite journal |last1=Little |first1=Anthony C. |last2=Jones |first2=Benedict C. |last3=DeBruine |first3=Lisa M. |title=Facial attractiveness: evolutionary based research |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=12 June 2011 |volume=366 |issue=1571 |pages=1638–1659 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0404 |pmid=21536551 |pmc=3130383 |quote=Male and female 'siblings' of both male and female participants were manufactured using computer-graphic methods detailed in DeBruine et al. [163]. Participants judged self-resemblance to be more attractive in the context of own-sex faces than in the context of opposite-sex faces. However, there was no such opposite-sex bias when the same faces were judged for averageness. This own-sex bias in preferences for self-resemblance indicates that, while self-resemblance is attractive in an exclusively prosocial (i.e. nonsexual) context, it is less attractive in a potential mating context. Stronger attraction to cues of kinship in own-sex faces than in opposite-sex faces is likely to promote prosocial behaviour towards own-sex kin, while minimizing occurrences of inbreeding with opposite-sex kin. }}{{cite journal | vauthors = DeBruine LM |title=Resemblance to self increases the appeal of child faces to both men and women |journal=Evol Hum Behav |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=142–54 |date=May 2004 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.03.003|bibcode=2004EHumB..25..142D }}{{cite journal | vauthors = DeBruine LM | title = Trustworthy but not lust-worthy: context-specific effects of facial resemblance | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 272 | issue = 1566 | pages = 919–22 | date = May 2005 | pmid = 16024346 | pmc = 1564091 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.3003 }} Although one study found that individuals show a preference for similar-looking mates, after a physiological stress test they preferred dis-similar looking mates.{{cite book | last=Bittles | first=A.H. | title=Consanguinity in Context | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-107-37693-9 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KvAfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 97] | quote= "Also, although unstressed individuals showed a preference for visually similar mates, when subjected to physiological stress by cooling, they were more likepy to prefer dissimilar mates (Lass-Hennemann et al., 2010)."}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Lass-Hennemann J, Deuter CE, Kuehl LK, Schulz A, Blumenthal TD, Schachinger H | title = Effects of stress on human mating preferences: stressed individuals prefer dissimilar mates | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 277 | issue = 1691 | pages = 2175–83 | date = July 2010 | pmid = 20219732 | pmc = 2880157 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2010.0258 }}

One study found no strong evidence for a same-race preference in heterosexual people, and they note that evidence from two similar studies is conflicting. Some racial groups show a strong preference for partners of a different race or ethnicity, and this preference may be gendered.{{cite journal | last1=Burke | first1=Darren | last2=Nolan | first2=Caroline | last3=Hayward | first3=William Gordon | last4=Russell | first4=Robert | last5=Sulikowski | first5=Danielle | title=Is There an Own-Race Preference in Attractiveness? | journal=Evolutionary Psychology | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=11 | issue=4 | date=2013-10-01 | pages=855–872 | doi=10.1177/147470491301100410 | pmid=23948346 | pmc=10481032 | quote= Only two studies have directly investigated whether people perceive own-race faces to be more attractive than other-race faces using more than one race of participant (Rhodes et al., 2001; Rhodes et al., 2005), and these studies present conflicting findings. | hdl=1959.13/1051875 | hdl-access=free }}{{cite web | last=Khan | first=Razib | title=Why does race matter for women? | website=Discover Magazine | date=2008-07-21 | url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-does-race-matter-for-women | access-date=2023-07-20}} One study suggested that attraction to people with different ethnic features may be related to the effects of heterozygosity, which are thought to be a fitness advantage.{{cite journal |last1=Little |first1=Anthony C |last2=Hockings |first2=Kimberley J |last3=Apicella |first3=Coren L |last4=Sousa |first4=Claudia |title=Mixed-Ethnicity Face Shape and Attractiveness in Humans |journal=Perception |date=December 2012 |volume=41 |issue=12 |pages=1486–1496 |doi=10.1068/p7278 |pmid=23586288 |hdl=1893/17918 |hdl-access=free }}

A 2012 study using British raters found that Asian women's faces were rated as more feminine, and therefore more attractive, than White women's, which could explain the high rate of interracial marriage with Asian women.{{cite journal | vauthors = Lewis MB | title = A facial attractiveness account of gender asymmetries in interracial marriage | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | issue = 2 | page = 2 | date = February 9, 2012 | pmid = 22347504 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0031703 | pmc = 3276508 | bibcode = 2012PLoSO...731703L | doi-access = free }} A 2018 facial manipulation experiment conducted in Australia was consistent with these hypotheses, finding both Asian and White participants chose to reduce Asian women's "masculine" facial traits less than White women's, which the authors conclude suggests that Asian faces may be more feminine to begin with.{{cite journal| vauthors = Stephen ID, Salter DL, Tan KW, Tan CB, Stevenson RJ |date=July 3, 2018|title=Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces |journal=Visual Cognition|volume=26|issue=6|pages=442–49|doi=10.1080/13506285.2018.1475437 |quote=The perception that White faces are more masculine than Asian faces provides support for Lewis’ (2012) hypothesis that interracial marriage can be explained by differences in sexual dimorphism and thus advances our understanding of the gender asymmetries in interracial marriage. }}

In contrast, a 2013 Australian study on facial attractiveness with Asian and White participants found that Asian and White women's faces were not different in attractiveness overall, although a slight own-race bias was observed. However, when rating composite faces (the average of many faces, grouped by race, as opposed to real faces), all participants rated the composite faces more highly and rated White women's composite faces the highest. In a follow-up experiment, the researchers found that there was no difference in Asian and White women's perceived facial femininity.{{Cite journal |last1=Burke |first1=Darren |last2=Nolan |first2=Caroline |last3=Hayward |first3=William Gordon |last4=Russell |first4=Robert |last5=Sulikowski |first5=Danielle |date=2013-10-01 |title=Is There an Own-Race Preference in Attractiveness? |journal=Evolutionary Psychology |language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=855–872 |doi=10.1177/147470491301100410 |pmc=10481032 |pmid=23948346}}

A 2008 American study on female facial attractiveness with majority White participants (with a significant proportion of Asian, and few Black, Hispanic, or Middle-Eastern participants) found that White women's faces were rated most attractive. The study showed gradations of computer-generated racial mixes to the participants in increments of one-quarter. The top three rated faces were 100% White, 75% White 25% Black, and 75% White 25% Asian. To the researchers' surprise, Asian women's faces were rated significantly less attractive than White or Black faces in this study.{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-79098-5_6 |chapter=Racial Characteristics and Female Facial Attractiveness Perception Among United States University Students |title=Racism in the 21st Century |date=2008 |last1=Belletti |first1=Nicole E. |last2=Wade |first2=T. Joel |pages=93–124 |isbn=978-0-387-79097-8 }}

A 2012 study using Black and Caucasian subjects found that inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic differences in perceived male facial masculinity have no impact on attractiveness, and that skin colour plays a more important role in attractiveness assessments of male faces within groups, but not between groups as a health signal.{{cite journal| vauthors = Stephen ID, Scott IM, Coetzee V, Pound N, Perrett DI, Penton-Voak IS |date=July 1, 2012|title=Cross-cultural effects of color, but not morphological masculinity, on perceived attractiveness of men's faces |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=260–67 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.10.003 |bibcode=2012EHumB..33..260S |hdl=2263/19120 |url=http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7032 |hdl-access=free }}

{{Main|Group attractiveness effect}}

The group attractiveness effect is where a group's overall attractiveness rating is higher than the mean of each individuals' attractiveness rating. This occurs because people selectively attend to the most attractive group members{{cite journal |last1=Maner |first1=Jon K. |last2=Kenrick |first2=Douglas T. |last3=Becker |first3=D. Vaughn |last4=Delton |first4=Andrew W. |last5=Hofer |first5=Brian |last6=Wilbur |first6=Christopher J. |last7=Neuberg |first7=Steven L. |title=Sexually Selective Cognition: Beauty Captures the Mind of the Beholder |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=2003 |volume=85 |issue=6 |pages=1107–1120 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.85.6.1107 |pmid=14674817 }} and thus they get the most attention. Men selectively attend to attractive people more than women, it has been suggested that this could be because men are less invested in their offspring, so they are less choosy when it comes to sexual partners, and therefore they are more easily attracted. As a result of selective attention, people end up giving a group rating which is biased as the rating focuses mainly on the attractive members and ignores the less attractive members. So the overall attractiveness rating is skewed towards more attractive. The group attractiveness effect was investigated in a study which got participants to rate the physical attractiveness of a group of females as a whole, individually in a group, and individually on their own.{{cite journal |last1=van Osch |first1=Yvette |last2=Blanken |first2=Irene |last3=Meijs |first3=Maartje H. J. |last4=van Wolferen |first4=Job |title=A Group's Physical Attractiveness Is Greater Than the Average Attractiveness of Its Members: The Group Attractiveness Effect |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |date=April 2015 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=559–574 |doi=10.1177/0146167215572799 |pmid=25733515 |hdl=10411/20549 |hdl-access=free }} Participants were asked to give a rating of 1–7, with 1 being very unattractive and 7 being very attractive. The group attractiveness effect has been replicated with males as the main group and also with a group of both males and females. This effect may not be demonstrated across all cultures because the sample only contained Dutch university students.

Perceptions of physical attractiveness contribute to generalized assumptions based on those attractions. Individuals assume that when someone is beautiful, then they have many other positive attributes that make the attractive person more likeable.{{sfnp|Barelds-Dijkstra|Barelds|2008}} This is referred to as the halo effect, also known as the 'beautiful-is-good' effect.{{sfnp|Barelds-Dijkstra|Barelds|2008}} Across cultures, what is beautiful is assumed to be good; attractive people are assumed to be more extroverted, popular, and happy. This could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, as, from a young age, attractive people receive more attention that helps them develop these characteristics.{{cite journal |vauthors=Cash TF, Gillen B, Burns DS |title=Sexism and beautyism in personnel consultant decision making |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-applied-psychology_1977-06_62_3/page/301 |journal=Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=301–310 |date=June 1977 |doi=10.1037/0021-9010.62.3.301 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Clark MS, Mills J | title = Interpersonal attraction in exchange and communal relationships. | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1979-01_37_1/page/12 | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | date = January 1979 | volume = 37 | issue = 1 | pages = 12–24 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.37.1.12 }} In one study, beautiful people were found to be generally happier than less beautiful or plain people, perhaps because these outgoing personality traits are linked to happiness, or perhaps because beauty led to increased economic benefits which partially explained the increased happiness.{{sfnp|Jayson|2011}} In another study testing first impressions in 56 female and 17 male participants at University of British Columbia, personality traits of physically attractive people were identified more positively and more accurately than those who were less physically attractive. It was explained that people pay closer attention to those they find physically beautiful or attractive, and thus perceiving attractive individuals with greater distinctive accuracy. The study believes this accuracy to be subjective to the eye of the beholder.{{cite journal | vauthors = Lorenzo GL, Biesanz JC, Human LJ | title = What is beautiful is good and more accurately understood. Physical attractiveness and accuracy in first impressions of personality | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_psychological-science_2010-12_21_12/page/1777 | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 21 | issue = 12 | pages = 1777–1782 | date = December 2010 | pmid = 21051521 | doi = 10.1177/0956797610388048 }} Recent results from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study confirmed the positive link between psychological well-being and attractiveness (higher facial attractiveness, lower BMI) and also found the complementary negative association with distress/depression. Even though connections and confounds with other variables could not be excluded, the effects of attractiveness in this study were the same size as the ones for other demographic variables.{{cite journal|doi = 10.1007/s10902-015-9644-6 |title = Beauty in Mind: The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Psychological Well-Being and Distress|last1 = Gupta|first1 = Nabanita Datta|date = 2015|journal = Journal of Happiness Studies |volume = 17|issue = 3|pages = 1313–1325|last2 = Etcoff|first2 = Nancy L.|last3 = Jaeger|first3 = Mads M. | name-list-style = vanc }}

In developed western societies, women tend to be judged for their physical appearance over their other qualities and the pressure to engage in beauty work is much higher for women than men. Beauty work is defined as various beauty "practices individuals perform on themselves or others to elicit certain benefits from a specific social hierarchy."{{cite journal |last1=Kwan |first1=Samantha |last2=Trautner |first2=Mary Nell | name-list-style = vanc |title=Beauty Work: Individual and Institutional Rewards, the Reproduction of Gender, and Questions of Agency |journal=Sociology Compass |date=January 2009 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=49–71 |doi=10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00179.x}} Being "beautiful" has individual, social and institutional rewards. Although marketers have started to target the "metro-sexual" male and produce hygiene and beauty products geared towards men, the expectations placed on them is less than women.{{cite book | first1 = Elayne A. | last1 = Saltzberg | first2 = Joan C. | last2 = Chrisler | chapter = Beauty Is the Beast: Psychological Effects of the Pursuit of the Perfect Female Body | veditors = Freeman J | title = Women: A Feminist Perspective. | volume = 5 | year = 1995 | edition = 5th | pages = 306–315 | location = Mountain View, CA | publisher = Mayfield Publishing Company }} The time and money required for a man to achieve the same well-groomed appearance is much lower. Even in areas that men also face pressure to perform beauty work, such as haircuts/styling, the prices discrepancy for products and services are skewed. This phenomenon is called the "pink tax."{{cite web | first = Ivana | last = Kottasova | name-list-style = vanc | work = CNN Money | date = February 3, 2016 | url = https://money.cnn.com/2016/02/03/news/female-male-products-pricing-boots/ | title = 'Pink tax' angers women from New York to London }}{{cite web | first = Charlotte | last = Alter | name-list-style = vanc | work = Time Magazine | date = December 21, 2015 | url = https://time.com/4159973/women-pay-more-everything/ | title = Women Pay More for Everything From Birth to Death, Report Finds }}

However, attractiveness varies by society; in ancient China foot binding was practiced by confining young girls' feet in tightly bound shoes to prevent the feet from growing to normal size causing the women to have an attractive "lotus gait". In England, women used to wear corsets that severely constricted their breathing in order to achieve a visual effect of an exaggeratedly low waist-to-hip ratio.

People make judgments of physical attractiveness based on what they see, but also on what they know about the person. Specifically, perceptions of beauty are malleable such that information about the person's personality traits can influence one's assessment of another person's physical beauty. A 2007 study had participants first rate pictures for attractiveness. After doing distracting math problems, participants saw the pictures again, but with information about the person's personality. When participants learned that a person had positive personality characteristics (e.g., smart, funny, kind), that person was seen as more physically attractive.{{cite journal |title=Personality goes a long way: The malleability of opposite-sex physical attractiveness | vauthors = Lewandowski Jr GW, Aron A, Gee J |journal=Personal Relationships |volume=14 |issue=4 |year=2007 |pages=571–585 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00172.x }} Conversely, a person with negative personality characteristics (e.g., materialistic, rude, untrustworthy) was seen as less physically attractive. This was true for both females and males.

Physical attractiveness can have various social effects. For instance, humans tend to self-organize into couples where both parties have loosely similar attractiveness levels as judged by third parties.{{cite journal |last1=Hitsch|first1=Gunter |last2=Hortaçsu|first2=Ali |last3=Ariely|first3=Dan |date=March 1, 2020|title=Matching and Sorting in Online Dating|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=100|issue=1|pages=130–63|doi=10.1257/aer.100.1.130|doi-access=free|hdl=10161/3331|hdl-access=free}}{{cite journal |last1=Feingold |first1=Alan |title=Matching for attractiveness in romantic partners and same-sex friends: A meta-analysis and theoretical critique |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=September 1988 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=226–235 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.104.2.226 }}{{cite journal |last1=Hunt |first1=Lucy L. |last2=Eastwick |first2=Paul W. |last3=Finkel |first3=Eli J. |title=Leveling the Playing Field: Longer Acquaintance Predicts Reduced Assortative Mating on Attractiveness |journal=Psychological Science |date=July 2015 |volume=26 |issue=7 |pages=1046–1053 |doi=10.1177/0956797615579273 |pmid=26068893 }} A survey conducted by London Guildhall University of 11,000 people showed that those who subjectively describe themselves as physically attractive earn more income than others who would describe themselves as less attractive. People who described themselves as less attractive earned, on average, 13% less than those who described themselves as more attractive, while the penalty for being overweight was around 5%. According to further research done on the correlation between looks and earnings in men, the punishment for unattractiveness is greater than the benefits of being attractive. However, in women the punishment is found to be equal to the benefits.{{fact|date=March 2025}} Another study suggests that more physically attractive people are significantly more likely on average to earn considerably higher wages. Differences in income due to attractiveness was much more pronounced for men rather than women, and held true for all ranges of income.{{cite journal |last1=Pfeifer |first1=Christian |title=Physical attractiveness, employment and earnings |journal=Applied Economics Letters |date=April 2012 |volume=19 |issue=6 |pages=505–510 |doi=10.1080/13504851.2011.587758 |hdl=10419/51972 |url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5664 |hdl-access=free }} In the US the earnings disparities along the attractiveness continuum (net of controls) are similar or greater than the black-white disparity.{{cite journal |last1=Monk |first1=Ellis P. |last2=Esposito |first2=Michael H. |last3=Lee |first3=Hedwig |title=Beholding Inequality: Race, Gender, and Returns to Physical Attractiveness in the United States |journal=American Journal of Sociology |year=2021 |volume=127 |issue=1 |pages=194–241 |doi=10.1086/715141 }} A study from 2020 found that social scientists who are judged as being more attractive receive higher public speaking fees than less attractive social scientists, whereas for natural scientists, relative unattractiveness is a comparative advantage in terms of public speaking fees.{{cite journal |last1=Bi |first1=Weilong |last2=Chan |first2=Ho Fai |last3=Torgler |first3=Benno |title='Beauty' premium for social scientists but "unattractiveness" premium for natural scientists in the public speaking market |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |date=7 October 2020 |volume=7 |issue=1 |doi=10.1057/s41599-020-00608-6 |doi-access=free }}

It is important to note that other factors such as self-confidence may explain or influence these findings as they are based on self-reported attractiveness as opposed to any sort of objective criteria; however, as one's self-confidence and self-esteem are largely learned from how one is regarded by their peers while maturing, even these considerations would suggest a significant role for physical appearance. One writer speculated that "the distress created in women by the spread of unattainable ideals of female beauty" might possibly be linked to increasing incidence of depression.{{cite news | first = Daniel | last = Goleman | name-list-style = vanc |title=A Rising Cost Of Modernity: Depression |quote=Competing explanations range from a loss of beliefs in God or an afterlife that can buffer people against life's setbacks, to the stresses of industrialization, to the distress created in women by the spread of unattainable ideals of female beauty, to exposure to toxic substances. |work=The New York Times |date=December 8, 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/science/a-rising-cost-of-modernity-depression.html |access-date=November 6, 2009}}

Many have asserted that certain advantages tend to come to those who are perceived as being more attractive, including the ability to get better jobs and promotions; receiving better treatment from authorities and the legal system; having more choices in romantic or platonic partners and, therefore, more power in relationships; and marrying into families with more money.{{sfnp|Jayson|2011}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Desantts A, Kayson WA | title = Defendants' characteristics of attractiveness, race, and sex and sentencing decisions. | journal = Psychological Reports | date = October 1997 | volume = 81 | issue = 2 | pages = 679–83 | doi = 10.2466/pr0.1997.81.2.679 }} Those who are attractive are treated and judged more positively than those who are considered unattractive, even by those who know them. Also, attractive individuals behave more positively than those who are unattractive.{{cite journal | vauthors = Langlois JH, Kalakanis L, Rubenstein AJ, Larson A, Hallam M, Smoot M | title = Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 126 | issue = 3 | pages = 390–423 | date = May 2000 | pmid = 10825783 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390 }} One study found that teachers tend to expect that children who are attractive are more intelligent, and are more likely to progress further in school. They also consider these students to be more popular.{{cite journal |last1=Clifford |first1=Margaret M. |last2=Walster |first2=Elaine |title=The Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Teacher Expectations |journal=Sociology of Education |date=1973 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=248–258 |doi=10.2307/2112099 |jstor=2112099 }} Voters choose political candidates who are more attractive over those who are less attractive.{{cite journal |last1=Efrain |first1=Michael G. |last2=Patterson |first2=E. W. J. |title=Voters vote beautiful: The effect of physical appearance on a national election |journal=Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science |date=1974 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=352–356 |doi=10.1037/h0081881 }} Men and women use physical attractiveness as a measure of how "good" another person is.{{cite web|url=http://www.sensualism.com/beauty/attraction.html|title=Science rewrites the rules of attraction|last=Persaud|first=Raj| name-list-style = vanc |date=April 30, 2005|publisher=London Times|work=sensualism.com|access-date=June 14, 2015}} In 1946, Soloman Asch coined the Implicit Personality Theory, meaning that the presence of one trait tends to imply the existence of other traits. This is also known as the halo effect. Research suggests that those who are physically attractive are thought to have more socially desirable personalities and lead better lives in general.{{sfnp|Dion |Berscheid |Walster|1972}} This is also known as the "what-is-beautiful-is-good effect" or physical attractiveness stereotype. Discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance is sometimes referred to as lookism (prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty).{{Cite web|title=Definition of LOOKISM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lookism|access-date=November 19, 2021|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}

Some researchers conclude that little difference exists between men and women in terms of sexual behaviour.{{cite web|url=http://www.psychdaily.com/article/613|title=Sexual behavior predicted by voice attractiveness|work=psychdaily.com|access-date=June 14, 2015}} Other researchers disagree.{{cite web|url=http://www.webmd.com/sex/features/sex-drive-how-do-men-women-compare|title=Sex Drive: How Do Men and Women Compare?|work=WebMD|access-date=June 14, 2015}} Symmetrically faced men and women have a tendency to begin to have sexual intercourse at an earlier age, to have more sexual partners, to engage in a wider variety of sexual activities, and to have more one-night stands. They are also prone to infidelity and are more likely to have open relationships. Additionally, they have the most reproductive success. Therefore, their physical characteristics are most likely to be inherited by future generations.{{cite book | last1 = Rhodes | first1 = Gillian | last2 = Zebrowitz | first2 = Leslie A. | name-list-style = vanc |title=Facial Attractiveness – Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Social Perspectives |publisher=Ablex |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-56750-636-5}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Edler RJ | title = Background considerations to facial aesthetics | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-orthodontics_2001-06_28_2/page/159 | journal = Journal of Orthodontics | volume = 28 | issue = 2 | pages = 159–168 | date = June 2001 | pmid = 11395532 | doi = 10.1093/ortho/28.2.159 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Zaidel DW, Aarde SM, Baig K | title = Appearance of symmetry, beauty, and health in human faces | journal = Brain and Cognition | volume = 57 | issue = 3 | pages = 261–263 | date = April 2005 | pmid = 15780460 | doi = 10.1016/j.bandc.2004.08.056 | url = http://cogprints.org/4349/1/Zaidel2005.pdf }}

Concern for improving physical attractiveness has led many persons to consider alternatives such as cosmetic surgery. It has led scientists working with related disciplines such as computer imaging and mathematics to conduct research to suggest ways to surgically alter the distances between facial features in order to make a face conform more closely to the "agreed-upon standards of attractiveness" of an ideal face by using algorithms to suggest an alternative which still resembles the current face.{{sfnp|Kershaw|2008}} One research study found that cosmetic surgery as a way to "boost earnings" was "not profitable in a monetary sense."{{sfnp|Jayson|2011}} Some research shows that physical attractiveness has a marginal effect on happiness.{{cite journal |last1=Diener |first1=Ed |last2=Wolsic |first2=Brian |last3=Fujita |first3=Frank |title=Physical attractiveness and subjective well-being |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=July 1995 |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=120–129 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.69.1.120 }}

The golden ratio, also known as the golden proportion, was considered the perfect measurement of harmony, beauty and proportion in Ancient Greece. Researchers Mohammad Khursheed Alam, Nor Farid Mohd Noor, Rehana Basri, Tan Fo Yew and Tay Hui Wen conducted a study to test if the golden ratio was a contributor to perceptions of facial attractiveness in various ethnic groups. A total of 286 people aged 18 to 25 participated in the survey, including 100 Malay (50 male, 50 female), 100 Malaysian Chinese (50 male, 50 female), and 86 Malaysian Indian (36 male, 50 female). This study excluded subjects of mixed race, those with craniofacial deformities, and those who had previously received orthodontic treatment or had face surgery. The results showed that the golden ratio had no significant association with physical attractiveness.{{cite journal |last1=Alam |first1=Mohammad Khursheed |last2=Mohd Noor |first2=Nor Farid |last3=Basri |first3=Rehana |last4=Yew |first4=Tan Fo |last5=Wen |first5=Tay Hui |title=Multiracial Facial Golden Ratio and Evaluation of Facial Appearance |journal=PLOS ONE |date=12 November 2015 |volume=10 |issue=11 |pages=e0142914 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0142914 |pmid=26562655 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1042914A |doi-access=free |pmc=4642949 }}{{Cite web|title=The Myth That Will Not Go Away|url=https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_05_07.html|access-date=December 23, 2021|website=www.maa.org|archive-date=February 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225040027/https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_05_07.html|url-status=dead}}

{{Original research|section|date=September 2022}}

{{Unreliable sources|section|date=September 2022}}

Some argue that body type preference is a mark of culture and regional beauty standards, and that there is no definitive "ideal body" for women, because it constantly shifts.{{cite press release |title=Ideal weight varies across cultures, but body image dissatisfaction pervades |url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2007-10-ideal-weight-varies-cultures-body.html |work=medicalxpress.com |publisher=Temple University |date=23 October 2007 }}{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Vanessa Van |date=2016-05-10 |title=Beauty Standards: See How Body Types Change Through History |url=https://www.scienceofpeople.com/beauty-standards/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=Science of People |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Ginsburg |first=Jacqueline Howard |date=2018-03-07 |title=The history of the 'ideal' woman and where that has left us |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/health/body-image-history-of-beauty-explainer-intl/index.html |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=CNN |language=en}} Some authors argue that body types have never been universal and that most evolutionary psychology studies on the "ideal female body" shape have been questioned or disproven due to external factors such as unreliable data and idealized western gender roles.{{Cite journal |last1=Winegard |first1=Benjamin M. |last2=Winegard |first2=Bo M. |last3=Deaner |first3=Robert O. |date=2014-07-01 |title=Misrepresentations of Evolutionary Psychology in Sex and Gender Textbooks |journal=Evolutionary Psychology |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=474–508 |doi=10.1177/147470491401200301 |pmid=25299988 |doi-access=free |pmc=10480807 }}{{Cite web |title=Are Sex Differences in Mate Choice Really Universal? {{!}} Psychology Today |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sex-murder-and-the-meaning-life/202203/are-sex-differences-in-mate-choice-really-universal |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=www.psychologytoday.com |language=en-US}}{{cite journal |last1=Sypeck |first1=Mia Foley |last2=Gray |first2=James J. |last3=Ahrens |first3=Anthony H. |title=No longer just a pretty face: Fashion magazines' depictions of ideal female beauty from 1959 to 1999 |journal=International Journal of Eating Disorders |date=November 2004 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=342–347 |doi=10.1002/eat.20039 |pmid=15478132 }}{{cite book |doi=10.1057/9780230596887_13 |chapter=The Impact of Western Beauty Ideals on the Lives of Women: A Sociocultural Perspective |title=The Body Beautiful |date=2007 |last1=Calogero |first1=Rachel M. |last2=Boroughs |first2=Michael |last3=Thompson |first3=J. Kevin |pages=259–298 |isbn=978-1-349-35664-5 }} On the internet, communities can create their own niche beauty standards that differ from the cultural norm.{{cite journal |last1=Wooldridge |first1=Tom |title=The Enigma of Ana: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Pro-Anorexia Internet Forums |journal=Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy |date=3 July 2014 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=202–216 |doi=10.1080/15289168.2014.937978 }}{{cite journal |id={{Gale|A110265520}} |last1=Lehman |first1=JoAnne |title=The Web of size acceptance: Internet resources for exploring a Feminist Issue |journal=Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources |date=22 March 2003 |volume=24 |issue=3–4 |pages=13–20 }}{{Cite thesis |title=Body positivity as public pedagogy? The case of the #effyourbeautystandards movement on Instagram |url=https://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/4736 |date=2021 |degree=Thesis |language=en-US |first=Jennifer |last=Jolie}} It has been argued that the "perfect body" is a matter of personal preference and exposure to regional media.{{cite journal |last1=Darling-Wolf |first1=Fabienne |title=Sites of attractiveness: Japanese women and westernized representations of feminine beauty |journal=Critical Studies in Media Communication |date=December 2004 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=325–345 |doi=10.1080/0739318042000245354 }}{{cite journal |last1=Bissell |first1=Kim L. |last2=Chung |first2=Jee Young |title=Americanized beauty? Predictors of perceived attractiveness from US and South Korean participants based on media exposure, ethnicity, and socio-cultural attitudes toward ideal beauty |journal=Asian Journal of Communication |date=June 2009 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=227–247 |doi=10.1080/01292980902827144 }}

{{div col}}

• {{Annotated link |Adornment}}
• {{Annotated link |Body proportions}}
• {{Annotated link |Artistic canons of body proportions}}
• {{Annotated link |Body shape}}
• Male body shape{{snd}}Male musculo-skeletal characteristics
• {{Annotated link |Female body shape}}
• {{Annotated link |Circassian beauties}}
• {{Annotated link |Cultural views on the navel}}
• {{anli|Cuteness}}
• {{Annotated link |Dating preferences}}
• {{Annotated link |Feminine beauty ideal}}
• {{Annotated link |The Honest Body Project}}
• {{Annotated link |Human physical appearance}}
• {{Annotated link |Koinophilia}}
• {{Annotated link |Looksmaxxing}}
• {{Annotated link |Masculine beauty ideal}}
• {{Annotated link |Matching hypothesis}}
• {{Annotated link |Ovulatory shift hypothesis}}
• {{Annotated link |Sexual attraction}}
• {{Annotated link |Sexual capital}}
• {{Annotated link |Sexual fetishism}}

{{div col end}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin |indent=yes}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Bertamini |first1=Marco |last2=Bennett |first2=Kate M. |title=The effect of leg length on perceived attractiveness of simplified stimuli |journal=Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology |date=September 2009 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=233–250 |doi=10.1037/h0099320 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite book |last=Buss |first=David |title=The Evolution of Desire |publisher=Basic Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-465-07750-2 |edition=second |location=New York |orig-date=1994 }}
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}}

• {{cite book |last1=Kyo |first1=Cho |title=The Search for the Beautiful Woman: A Cultural History of Japanese and Chinese Beauty |date=2012 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1-4422-1895-6 }}
• {{cite journal | last1 = Miller |first1=G |last2=Tybur |first2=JM |last3=Jordan |first3=BD | date = 2007 | title = Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by lap dancers: economic evidence for human estrus? | journal = Evolution & Human Behavior | volume = 28 | issue = 6 | doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.06.002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beautyupexplorin00mill_0/page/28 28] }}
• {{cite book | last= Milani |first=F | year = 1992 | title = Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers | url = https://archive.org/details/veilswordsemergi0000mila | url-access = registration | publisher = Syracuse University Press | isbn = 978-0-8156-0266-8 }}
• {{cite news |first= Sharon |last= Jayson |title= Study: Beautiful people cash in on their looks |newspaper= USA Today |quote= Numerous studies, including his [Daniel Hamermesh's] earlier research, have concluded that beauty helps the budget by providing greater wealth in several ways: Better-looking people generally earn more money and marry those who are better-looking and higher-earning, he says. |date= March 31, 2011

|url= http://yourlife.usatoday.com/your-look/story/2011/03/Beautiful-people-are-happier-study-finds/45500558/1 |access-date= July 15, 2011 |archive-date= August 12, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110812023538/http://yourlife.usatoday.com/your-look/story/2011/03/Beautiful-people-are-happier-study-finds/45500558/1 |url-status= dead }}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Sear |first1=R |last2=Marlowe |first2=FW |date= 2009 |title=How universal are human mate choices? Size does not matter when Hadza foragers are choosing a mate |journal=Biology Letters |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=606–09 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2009.0342|pmc=2781963|pmid=19570778}}
• {{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Swami et al.|2006}} |vauthors=Swami V, Einon D, Furnham A |date=December 2006 |title=The leg-to-body ratio as a human aesthetic criterion |journal=Body Image |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=317–23 |doi=10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.08.003|pmid=18089235}}
• {{cite book |doi=10.1002/9780470939376.ch10 |chapter=Physical Attractiveness in Adaptationist Perspective |title=The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology |date=2015 |last1=Sugiyama |first1=Lawrence S. |pages=292–343 |isbn=978-0-471-26403-3 }}
• {{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Wang et al.|2015}} |vauthors=Wang T, Mo L, Mo C, Tan LH, Cant JS, Zhong L, Cupchik G |date=June 2015 |title=Is moral beauty different from facial beauty? Evidence from an fMRI study |journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience |volume=10 |issue=6 |pages=814–23 |doi=10.1093/scan/nsu123|pmc=4448025 |pmid=25298010}}

{{refend}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Aesthetics}}

{{Evolutionary psychology}}

{{Human sexuality and sexology}}

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Category:Interpersonal attraction

Category:Human sexuality

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Category:Human appearance

Category:Beauty