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Some scientists have argued that during a recession, men desire fuller figured women. So pass the enchiladas and let’s consider the evidence.
Amid plunging bank accounts and canceled vacations, behold: a bright spot. The recession might actually bring one thing that some women can welcome. Studies suggest that changes in the state of the economy can influence what men find sexually attractive in women—and when the economy’s bad, it’s good to be fat. Or, at least, a tiny bit fatter. It isn’t much, but it’s all we’ve got.
In 2005, Dr. Leif Nelson, an experimental psychologist then at NYU's Stern Business School, published a study that now cries out for our renewed attention.
The study assumes that feeling poor and feeling hungry, while not identical sensations, are linked to the same basic, underlying mechanism.
“When the economy is clearly and uniformly tanking,” Dr. Nelson told The Daily Beast earlier this week, “what will emerge is some kind of a shift to more of an ideal of a fuller, plumper woman.”
Together with Evan Morrison of Stanford, Nelson designed four different experimental situations to investigate the question of whether men’s preferences in female bodily dimensions change during times of “resource scarcity.” In two of them, he included variables meant to instill a sense of financial insecurity in a group of college-age students before asking them to state what their ideal woman would weigh.
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In two other experimental scenarios, he looked at the impact of physical hunger instead of monetary security, polling students about the size of their ideal woman as they made their way into the dining hall to eat a meal, and other students as they made their way out, after eating.
Nelson’s findings were stubbornly consistent. The male subjects who were made to feel insecure about their finances reported a preference for women who were, on average, roughly two pounds heavier than their financially confident counterparts. Similarly, Nelson’s hungry subjects reported an affinity for a heavier (by roughly three pounds) female partner than those subjects who were tested when they were full.
It might seem odd that Nelson’s results, while mathematically consistent, would turn on such a minute discrepancy. Two pounds. Who, aside from the most devoted anorexic or determined Chinese diving coach, could even see such a difference?
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Womentoo
OKAY, THAT IS COOL, THE RECORD SHOWS, MEN ARE HAVE ALL THE RIGHT ANSWERS...HUH. THEY WOULD PREFER TO HAVE A PLUMP WOMAN BESIDE THEM SO THAT THEY WILL NOT MADE TO FEEL LIKE THEY FAILED BECAUSE OF THEIR LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY -BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION THEY FELL INTO.
Concordian
The smaller your pants, the more men want to get in 'em.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
writerforhire
So the font change in the article: is that like a test of the theory that bigger can be better? Or is it like Penis Thought theory? Maybe it is a regional theory wallet, brain, penis all in the same area?
Or maybe it is just something to write about a theory to get your mind off the poor econmy, have sex with someone new (mind manipulation equates to) exciting sex and be happy?
NinaMiller
Sorry if I'm being redundant, but: its quite telling that there are no data and no links. My guess is because the so-called researchers you interviewed are too embarrassed to show it.
This whole article is silly. Silly premise, silly experiments, silly findings, and silly people.
Big waste of time.
NinaMiller
[Sorry, I uploaded the same comment twice].
jainthorne
My favorite part of this whole article is the guy telling the matchmaker "It" has to be a size 2. Not she...."IT". Hmmm....let me guess why this guy needs a matchmaker. LMAO. My experience is in the real world people date and fall in love across a wide spectrum...not due to body parts or size.
orangetrousers
I think we should stop caring so much about what men want in a female figure. Im sorry but if we are in the business of generalizing, like this article has done, most of the men I have met are childish, stupid, insecure and judgmental and I go to an elite private college. Why would I want attract most of the idiots out there? Also, I dont think women are doing themselves any favors when they rely solely on their body to attract the opposite sex. If you are looking for a mate in life, remember that we are no longer Neanderthals, we have evolved.
finderj
The great popular philosopher Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
lastcookie
This is just generalization on top of generalization.
Good luck finding any real evidence to support this hokum.
blade87
Yikes! You mean I've been starving myself for nothing?
I jest. How superficial it would be if women based all their nutritional needs and desires on what men want their bodies to look like.
Right. It seems some do, or this article wouldn't be here, with its poisoned jabs toward the tall, round, and voluptuous female.
This street runs both directions though. Males defining their worth by the size of their (portfolio, penis, female- name it) whatever are equally as superficial.
I say pair off, you vacuous beings! Revel in yourselves!
mumrock
There's a line from an Elton John song, "Times are changing, now the poor get fat." Heavy doesn't mean what it did in the 1920s, when extra weight was seen as a sign of success. Today it means not being able to afford vegetables and unprocessed, low-fat foods.
len811
RE
Concordian
The smaller your pants, the more men want to get in 'em.
Very, very true.
len811
RE
finderj
The great popular philosopher Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
Yes, he did. But he was likely quoting someone else.
I like the personalized versions better:liars, damn liars, and statisticians..
joymars
Another non-story by The Beast. Congratulations.
But I am reminded about a news item that appeared last month. A Carnaval Queen in Brazil painted Obama on her thigh and, aside from other paint, paraded nude during Carnaval.
The woman was not fat, but she wasn't skinny either. She had lots to samba with, if you know what I mean. Well, the comment board at Huffpost lit up with howling dudes repeating one thing: Why are we sold skinny women in this country? Skinny isn't sexy!
But I feel they could want all that moving action from the safety of the internet, looking at a distant culture.
My theory for years about why men prefer size 2 women is that the smaller and weaker the woman, the less they are intimidated sexually. And men's sexual insecurities don't change with the economy. Actually, during a downturn, something else downturns.
Sure there are chubby-chasers, but that's a fetish. There are always fetishists, but they are always a very small minority.
Thank you.
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