What The 'Perfect Baby' Looks & Acts Like, According To Men Vs. Women
Men and women agree that three things make up the perfect baby.
EvgeniiAnd / Shutterstock Every parent believes that their baby is the “perfect baby.”
Mathematically, however, we know that can’t be true, because while every baby is precious, every single baby can’t be perfect — for now, at least.
However, that may change in the future, as the concept of genetically altered babies is becoming more realistic.
In fact, in 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced that he had created the world’s first genetically modified babies from embryos altered to make them resistant to HIV.
These so-called “designer babies,” while ultimately meant to eradicate disease in humans, also cross an ethical line when considering the ability to design a baby’s looks and personality.
With gene editing on the horizon, Superdrug Online Doctor surveyed 500 Europeans and 500 Americans to find out what traits they’d prioritize if they could genetically modify their kids.
As it turns out, the “perfect baby” looks slightly different for men and women.
What does the "perfect" baby look like?
Overall, results show that the perfect baby is smart, creative, healthy, attractive and has blue eyes. Other than that, the answers varied slightly between men and women.
Here’s how the results are broken down.
The Perfect Baby’s Physical Traits According to Men vs. Women
When breaking down physical traits to consider, the survey included health, weight, attractiveness, athletic ability, eye color, and height. While men and women were able to choose hair color and eye color, the way they define “attractiveness” was left open to interpretation, as no specific indicators of what makes a baby attractive were given.
Of the men and women surveyed, both groups agreed that health was the most important physical trait in a baby, with 55% of women and 46% of men placing it at the top of their list.
For women, weight, attractiveness, height, and eye color followed in that order, with 0% of women prioritizing athletic ability.
While men agreed that weight and attractiveness were the second and third most important things, 10% of men found athletic ability to be more important than height, and 0% of the men prioritized eye color.
Photo: Superdrug Online Doctor
Getting even more specific, 71% of women would choose a female baby with black hair and blue eyes, while 60% of men would choose a male baby with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Photo: Superdrug Online Doctor
The Perfect Baby’s Personality Traits
Survey takers were also asked to rank the personality traits they considered most important if they were to create their version of the perfect baby. The traits they were give to consider were intelligence, creativity, independence, charisma, courage and kindness.
Both men and women agreed that intelligence, creativity, and kindness are the three most important mental traits, respectively.
Photo: Superdrug Online Doctor
However, those surveyed differed in their thoughts on charisma, independence, and courage.
While 1 in 10 men believe courage to be the fourth most important trait followed by charisma, women believe charisma to be more important than courage, followed by independence.
Photo: Superdrug Online Doctor
The survey also asked how much people would be willing to pay for the perfect baby.
Health and intelligence were by far the most important traits in the perfect baby for both men and women in the U.S. and Europe. And according to the survey, would-be parents are willing to pay to achieve those traits.
The survey found that over half of the women would pay between $1,001 and $5,000 for intelligence and 37.3% of women surveyed would pay over $10,000 for good health for their baby.
Men were about the same, with 41.4% also willing to pay between $1,001 and $5,000 for intelligence and 43.5% would pay over $10,000 for good health.
Micki Spollen is an editor, writer, and traveler. Follow her on Instagram and keep up with her travels on her website.