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Nelson concedes that it’s unlikely that men are able to precisely narrow down, pound for pound, their idea of a sexy female body: “If you ask men 'What would the ideal woman weigh?' they have trouble with the question. They don’t even know how much they weigh.”
Nelson interprets this ultra-thin margin as the products of statistics, arguing that what is likely going on is that one group of men is swayed, fairly substantially, toward heavier women, while others might not be as affected. The average difference looks small, but it may stand in for something significantly, um, larger.
The concept driving Nelson’s work is that people implicitly judge the overall availability of “resources” in the environment—both cash and food—based on how much of it they themselves have. This assessment, in turn, influences their choice of a romantic partner. Nelson’s work also assumes that feeling poor and feeling hungry, while not identical sensations, are linked to the same basic, underlying mechanism.
He himself does not try to explain what, or why, that is. “This is the sort of opaque black box of the process,” he says. “That feeling of resource scarcity goes into the black box and a relationship preference comes out the other side. Certainly what it is not is that men are introspecting and saying, ‘Hmm, how hungry am I right now? I need to recalibrate my preference in women.’”
Nelson isn’t attached to various biological or psychological reasons that might explain his results, but Dr. Terry Pettijohn II, a psychologist who has done related research, has his own point of view.
Pettijohn believes that one major factor that determines what men consider sexually attractive in women is something he calls “the environmental-security hypothesis.” Men are likely to choose the women they’re involved with at least in part from an instinctual sense of what is in their own best interest, given the current state of the "environment." During challenging economic times, men would gravitate toward women they intuited were mature, independent and protective; when times are flush, men wouldn’t prioritize these same values, and instead seek a woman who appeared to be “less emotionally strong, less physically strong,” Pettijohn says.
Pettijohn investigated his hypothesis in two different studies, looking at the facial features of the most popular American movie actresses from 1932-1995 and then, in a second study, looking at both the bodies and faces of Playboy Magazine’s Playmate of the Year from 1960, when the tradition began, through 2000. He found that during rocky economic and social times (which he calculated with a composite “General Hard Times Measure”), the most popular actresses appeared more mature, with smaller eyes, thinner faces, and stronger chins; likewise, the playmate of the year during these tumultuous periods were slightly “taller and heavier,” and also tended to have smaller eyes. By contrast, when things were good, the popular actresses had more baby-faced qualities—bigger eyes, chubbier cheeks—and the playmates tended to be “shorter and lighter.”
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
The Sex-Abuse 'Memory' Crimes
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
How to Live Forever
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
Is There a Suicide Gene?
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
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.
The smaller your pants, the more men want to get in 'em.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
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?
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.
[Sorry, I uploaded the same comment twice].
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.
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.
The great popular philosopher Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
This is just generalization on top of generalization.
Good luck finding any real evidence to support this hokum.
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!
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.
RE
Concordian
The smaller your pants, the more men want to get in 'em.
Very, very true.
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..
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.
I've had fellow male colleagues say "got to find the trophy wife that the boss would like to hump" to advance my career, pop out a couple of kids so I fit the family man type, find a religion that's not too preachy.So let me make sure I get this. This University spent money on a study to benefit Humankind to confirm what women already know that men are shallow walking penis heads?
So, I guess the next trend will be to take the bathroom scale and weigh women BEFORE a dinner date. (please don't take that seriously).
Can't wait for ESPN to broadcast men dragging women by the hair based on weight...Can the size 10 beat the heavily favored size 2 in a caveman drag off, stay tuned!!!
TWO or THREE pounds?
Are they serious?
Who in the heck is going to be able to discern the difference between a 125 pound woman and a 128 pound woman?
The difference between thin and fat is not 2 or 3 measly pounds!!!!
This is a complete joke to anyone with any scientific background at all. But, it was amusing nonetheless.
That being said, big girls need love too. Not hating on the thick ladies.
Maybe the insecure dudes prefer a pleasantly plump lady because they won't feel like they aren't good enough for her.
Ok orange trousers maybe you don't care what men think. But, not all ladies are lesbians who wear "trousers" and feel it necessary to mention they go to an "elite" school when it has nothing to do with your premise.
Loser
As a Wall Streeter, I have been fairly tense over the past months as my portfolio's value has plummeted. My job security is not what it once was and I spend much of my time worrying about my future. When I do unwind, like most young men, I enjoy going out for a meal with a nice woman. In the past, I would have gotten in touch with someone at Per Se or Matsu or Del Posto and have them hold a nice romantic table for 2. I would have asked out an attractive, thin woman and we would have made a night of it. Now, with the economy the way it is, I'm not comfortable eating at some of the super expensive restaurants with regular frequency. My solution has been to approach larger women, who obviously like food, and take them out to less expensive restaurants where they can eat to their hearts' content. They invariably seem grateful and we make a night of it. Times may be lean, but my women aren't.
This is one seriously stupid article. Casey Schwartz is a blogger and not a journalist, right? We're really going to miss real journalists when all the newspapers go ka-put. We'll be seeing more of these nonsensical pseudo stories. Ugh. God help us.
I've always liked healthy women - and have never had any use for the stick figure anorexic chicks.
But then again I'm African American, and Black men as a group in general prefer our women with curves.
I have never understood what White men saw in those stick figure chicks - and I still don't comprehend how they could even be attracted to women who are built like 12 year old boys with breast implants!
A visit to Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=leif nelson evan morrison) reveals that the research was published three years ago in Psychological Science (presumably a peer-reviewed outlet) and has been cited 31 times. The article itself can be downloaded via the 3rd search result.
I know everyone's looking forward to NinaMiller's thoughts on the article.
This article is somewhat humorous, but mostly puts another angle on our twisted psychological mindset about weight in this country. We turn weight into a sexist issue. Everyone, including men, keeps getting fatter and unhealthier and we are the the most well off country on the planet. But, why is it always about what women weigh? And, this thing about Jessica Simpson's weight gain! Oh my! Wow, probably a whole 20 pounds! Who cares? But, she's using the fact that we care, to boost her publicity and help her stay a celebrity.
Also, I find it hard to believe that so many men are that shallow. I suppose a lot of women are too, if they believe that a big pocketbook makes a guy more attractive and less of a jerk.
More useless pop psychology. Men like what they like and the economy has nothing to do with it. It's so disheartening that academics with advanced degrees would even think that this was a topic that merited RESEARCH.
Dr. Nelson is affiliated with NYU's Stern Business School. No doubt this study was supported/sponsored by an outside group focusing on marketing analysis that would be applied as a tool to aid businesses in selling consumer goods.
What a misuse of time and effort. "Industrial psychology," an urgent, life enhancing area of investigation.
Thank you.
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