Politics British Columbia

Being perceived as thin does not guarantee a female body will be rated as attractive by men

New research reveals that men judge female body size in a strict order, looking first at the torso. However, the study shows that men have highly varied, individualized preferences when it comes to judging physical attr…

Being perceived as thin does not guarantee a female body will be rated as attractive by men
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New research reveals that men judge female body size in a strict order, looking first at the torso. However, the study shows that men have highly varied, individualized preferences when it comes to judging physical attractiveness.

New research provides evidence that when men evaluate the physical size of female bodies, they look first at the torso, followed by the legs, and finally the arms. The findings also suggest that men have highly varied preferences for what makes a body attractive, even though they largely agree on what makes a body appear thin. The study was published in the

Source and reference

Journal for Person-Oriented Research . Psychological research on body image often treats the human form as a complete, unified shape rather than a collection of separate parts. This concept is known as a gestalt, a psychological term meaning that a person perceives a whole structure rather than just analyzing individual components. When a person looks at a female body, they tend to take in an overall impression of the shape rather than studying single limbs in isolation. A widely studied aspect of this visual assessment is the male gaze. In psychological studies, the male gaze refers to the specific visual paths and focal points that heterosexual men use when observing female bodies. Research shows that this gaze often zeroes in on specific physical proportions that signal fertility and general health. One of the most heavily researched visual cues is the waist-to-hip ratio. This...

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Published
Jul 14, 2026
Updated
Jul 14, 2026
Source
Psypost - Psychology News
Category
Politics
Read time
6 min
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SectionPolitics
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SourcePsypost - Psychology News
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PublishedJul 14, 2026
UpdatedJul 14, 2026

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PublishedJul 14, 2026, 7:00 AMThis story was published by BC Post.
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Psypost - Psychology News Published Jul 14, 2026 Imported Jul 14, 2026
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Psypost - Psychology News Jul 14, 2026
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