The Bizarre Body Part Men Always Notice First, According To Research
The part of your body that will get your guy going.
Chris Nguyen | Unsplash What do Madonna, Michelle Obama, and Jennifer Aniston all have in common?
They all rock the body part that a 2010 study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology says men love most: great arms. That's right, you never would have guessed arms. It's time to look up arm exercises are purchase those dumbells, it's time to get toned arms.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia had men watch videos of 96 different women as they moved about, asking them to rate each lady for attractiveness.
In the past, similar studies have focused on waist-to-hip ratio, giving the booty-less of us a complex that we don't possess the ideal .7 ratio, like screen siren Jessica Alba.
This time around, while waist-to-hip ratio (along with body mass index) still made the cut, the number one thing on men's lists were long, shapely arms. Looks like size does matter, after all.
Men want women who have nice arms. And there's something about arms that just gets to men. Maybe that's why girls in school aren't allowed to wear shirts without sleeves.
And you know what long arms mean. Likely, height — so it's no surprise that this study also found that taller women are rated to be more attractive than shorter women (especially taller women with a proportionally narrow waist).
But, surprisingly, flashing a little leg won't do you much good to catch a man's eye. No matter how long the gals' legs were, the men in this study didn't go for them.
While researchers didn't explain this surprising find, they did say that, in general, "The dimensions of someone's body can tell observers if that person is suitable as a potential mate, a long-term partner or perhaps the threat they pose as a competitor."
So, it all comes down to biology and survival of the fittest, because the most desirable traits are what survive the most. Therefore, nice arms equals a better survival rate.
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And it's not just long legs men don't notice.
Another 2010 study led by researchers at Northumbria University looked at the reactions of men watching women ages 18 to 35 walking in high heels and flats. Looks like those sky-high heels are lost on him.
Even though walking in heels gives the illusion of longer legs, a tilting torso, and more prominent booty, men aren't able to tell the difference. Not that that'll stop us from rocking our favorite pumps.
But it has been proven that men notice when women have nice arms (and any other particular body part, honestly).
Diana Vilibert is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, Redbook, Paste Magazine, and Self.