Why Men Lust For an Hourglass Figure

Saturday, May 15, 2004

Netscape.com

“It was interesting to see what we observed in psychological studies has some biological background.”

Netscape
Men lust for women with the traditional hourglass figure. Okay, that's not news. What is news is why they are attracted to this shape more than any other: Women who have large breasts and tiny waists may have the highest reproductive potential, giving a biological reason to men's proclivity for ladies who have a figure like a Barbie doll.

An international team of researchers from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and Harvard University in Boston, Mass., determined that women who have a relatively low waist-to-hip ratio and large breasts have 30 percent higher levels of the female reproductive hormone estradiol than do women with other combinations of body shapes, reports New Scientist. Previous research from Harvard has shown that higher levels of estradiol are related to higher fertility in women who are trying to get pregnant.

"If there are 30 percent higher levels, it means they are roughly three times more likely to get pregnant," lead study author Grazyna Jasienska, a human biologist with Jagiellonian University, told New Scientist. "In Western societies, the cultural icon of Barbie as a symbol of female beauty seems to have some biological grounding. I would be the last person to propagate Barbie. But when you think about the hourglass shape, Barbie is sort of the symbol."

* The study

* The results

(More: Netscape Network / Men’s)

2004 © Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Maybe this should have been posted under the PA story below...? Granted, she doesn't usually fit the "narrow waist" requirement, but the lust remains -- or so the media insists upon perceiving...

Dan