Decoding Love - Andrew Trees [32]
One of the best indicators of female genetic fitness is a rather bizarre ratio that most people have never heard of, let alone consciously considered. Waist-to-hip ratio. That’s right—not breast size or any of the other more obvious markers of beauty, but waist-to-hip ratio, which has an enormous influence on whether or not men find a woman attractive (the comparable male ratio is waist-to-shoulder). It turns out that the ideal ratio is 0.7 or, in layman’s terms, an hourglass figure. In one ingenious study, a researcher examined centerfolds from Playboy and beauty contest winners from the past several decades. While the women did get thinner on average during that period, their waist-to-hip ratio held steady at 0.7. Women may worry about being fat, but it turns out that it’s not how fat you are but how that fat is distributed. For example, one study found that heavy women with a low waist-to-hip ratio were preferred to thin women with a high ratio. Again, there is a very good reason for men’s preference. That waist-to-hip ratio is an excellent indicator not just of good health (many diseases have been linked to the ratios in which fat is distributed) but also of high fertility. A study of Polish women revealed that women with low waist-to-hip ratios also had high fecundity as measured by their reproductive hormones. And scientists have recently discovered yet another advantage. Fat in a woman’s hips and thighs is particularly good fat because there is a higher concentration of omega-3 fatty acids (which are important for brain development). A recent study has shown that children of these curvy mothers have better cognitive abilities than children of the less curvy, and the bigger the difference between the waist and the hips, the better the children did.
Because of our built-in preference for attractive people, those who are genetically blessed enjoy all sorts of additional societal advantages beyond simply finding a mate. For instance, one study revealed the power of attractiveness to create personal space. Researchers placed a beautiful woman on a busy street corner and found that people will give her more room than an unattractive woman. And growing up with good looks imbues the person with an inherent self-confidence. In one study, people were made to wait while a psychiatrist conducted a phone conversation. The real purpose of the study was to see how long people would wait before they interrupted. Attractive people waited on average three minutes and twenty seconds. Unattractive people waited nine minutes. And here’s the kicker: when both groups were asked to rate their assertiveness, they gave themselves equal marks! That shows how ingrained these tendencies become and how they are hidden not just from the individuals but from society in general. It turns out that a great deal of what we assume about someone’s personality might largely be the result of something like attractiveness. Female attractiveness even appears to make men behave stupidly. Well, okay, maybe that’s a little harsh, but one study did find that if you show men pictures of beautiful women, the men are more likely to stop thinking about the long-term consequences of their actions. And if they are turned on, watch out. According to another study, men in a state of arousal are more likely to respond positively to almost any suggestion from the merely kinky (do you find women’s shoes erotic?) to the downright disturbing (would you slip a woman a drug to increase the chance that she would have sex