The Difference Blog by Dan4th ([info]differenceblog) wrote,
@ 2008-01-18 08:54:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:assortative mating, attraction, attractiveness, clothing, evolutionary psychology, height

Height and Legs
The site UKDating.com compiled the "seeking" information from 40,000 women's dating profiles to make a profile of "the perfect man." The Daily Mail (UK, 2008) claims that height was the most important attribute, specifying that "Mr. Right" should be at least 5'10". Good looks came in second to height. Perhaps the importance of height contributes to short men's greater tendency towards violent suicide (New Scientist, 2008).

Several UK papers call the survey a counterpoint to recent research on the attractiveness of long legs. This comparison is incorrect, however, because Sorokowski and Pawlowski (2008) rated leg-to-body ratio attractiveness on both men and women. Sorokowski and Pawlowski had 118 women and 100 men rate the attractiveness of 7 men and 7 women in photographs, height-matched but with the images manipulated to change leg length. Legs 5% longer than average were most attractive; legs 15% longer than average were too long (±15% was the greatest variation tested). Pawlowski suggests that longer legs signal health, making them attractive on an evolutionary basis. It seems the author himself may be a "leg man"; Pawlowski (2001) theorizes that fat deposits on women's hips and buttocks evolved to counterbalance pregnancy.



The news articles give the average height of a Polish woman at 5'4" with an inseam of 29". I'm probably only 5'3.5", and I think my real inseam is probably a 28", but I tend to wear a 30" because I like a little slouch at the ankle. Also, no one sells a 28". "Big and Tall" stores are everywhere; "Short and Slim" -- let alone "Short and Hippy" -- men's clothes are almost impossible to find, which is a frequent point of complaint in the FTM communities. Testosterone, time, and exercise has melted away most of my hips, but the bone structure remains, making it extremely hard to find clothes that fit. Seriously, buying jeans is enough to make me consider violent suicide.

(Post a new comment)


[info]hrafn
2008-01-18 03:24 pm UTC (link)
I think jeans are the fashion industry's attempt to kill off 90% of the world's population. I never heard anyone say "oh, jeans that fit are so easy to find!" but I've heard plenty of complants.

Gah.

Though I guess I feel similarly about all pants, not just jeans.

...

I wonder what that study says about those of us who prefer men no -taller- than 5'10"?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]differenceblog
2008-01-18 03:34 pm UTC (link)
Well, there is some stuff about "don't worry, you non-perfect men: a small percentage of unattractive, otherwise undateable women will still settle for you."

No, I kid. There were some statistics about 21% of women looking for "cuddly" men, and 16% wanting balding ones. "Only 2 per cent of women, however, said they wouldn't mind dating someone who was less than 5ft.." They also women don't want a man shorter than 5'8". (Average Height for a man in the UK is 5'8.9")

My question is how they determined the "most important" qualification was height. It looks like they chose that based on which category the most women agreed on - but they don't say how many women gave the "prefer over 5'10"" response. (Or what the categories were... was "over 5'10" the top group?)

Edited at 2008-01-18 03:35 pm UTC

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]mbigmistake
2008-01-18 03:44 pm UTC (link)
Luckily, short and fat men's clothes aren't that hard to find...in specialty stores anyway. They do tend to be more expensive than "regular sizes" though. I wear a 42 waist and 30 inseam and am 5'5". I'm not very hippy...I've got that oh-so-healthy (yet manly!) abdominal fat distribution, so men's jeans fit me well.

Very few mainstream stores carry anything over a 38 waist, though.

(Reply to this)

[info]plumtreeblossom
2008-01-18 05:31 pm UTC (link)
Dude, Utilikilt! (They're teh sexah.)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]differenceblog
2008-01-18 05:41 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I get "ma'am"ed often enough. I think I'll skip the kilt.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]beckiemoriello
2008-01-18 07:54 pm UTC (link)
Make your own jeans? I've never tried it and don't know anyone who has, but I'm soooo tempted. (More for their suits/shirts.)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]differenceblog
2008-01-18 08:00 pm UTC (link)
Nah, if I'm getting jeans custom made, they'll be in cloth-of-silver...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]pants_of_doom
2008-01-19 02:50 am UTC (link)
You're obsessed. Also, almost no one likes shopping for jeans.

(Reply to this)(Parent)
Don't get me started on clothes for thin men...
[info]pplfichi
2008-01-19 12:10 am UTC (link)
I've noticed a trend that finding male 28" inch jeans is slowly getting harder and harder. A few years ago it was easy to find 28" jeans in Poland (I go to see family there most summers), this year I failed to find them anywhere.

Living in London (UK) I can find clothes for male short(ish) and slim people, but it seems to get getting harder here too. I can wear 28" trousers without a belt, but finding thinner then 28" does appear to be practically impossible short of having your clothes adjusted or tailored :/

Trying to gain weight to find it easier to buy clothes is not the solution, and I'm not really sure how to achieve it without steroids even if it were.

(Reply to this)

[info]totempile
2008-01-20 01:18 am UTC (link)
Part of the jeans thing seems to be the most-men-being-unaware of their waist-size factor: when I transitioned a long time ago, I went directly from always-belting-up bigger-waistline slacks (I think bunched-up-fabric around the beltline was just a fact of life, even if 28 waist was available) ...to like a size 4.

Pre-hormones, I had a ridiculously-low fat cell count, and had to work out a lot to keep meat on my bones, something I gave up once I realized it was, while kind of fun in terms of what I could *do,* really the exact wrong thing for my self-image. I suppose small guys are just expected to deal... I have a Chinese (G-guy) friend who goes through all this anyway.

Anyway, though. I wouldn't dismay, too much. While I'll certainly say, if you asked me, on what makes a guy physically-attractive to me, 'Tallish to tall' would actually top the list, but when it comes to actual people, I have to say it's not like someone being under my 5'6 or so ever actually got in the way. There's a lot more to it.

I tend to think, from my observations, that guys in our culture tend to confuse what you might call 'Males evaluating each other about access to females' with 'What's actually important when push comes to shove' ...and thus overrate the *importance* of physical attributes when it comes to what actually ends up being found attractive... I think this may mean that there's a lot of taller guys out there expecting things to just happen, once they feel 'entitled,' thus they fail to impress while others get something going on upstairs and pay closer attention to what's actually attractive and engaging.

So not being tall probably shouldn't be taken as dooming or anything. The thing about tall guys is, a lot of em seem to have met with success in terms of self-esteem among males, and labor under some notion that the same traits and behaviors will be responded to by the girls. Cause that's what guys and the media tell each other a lot, I guess.

I know it touches on passing issues and all that, too, which certainly doesn't help the confidence, But, Goddess, ...It's not the height.

'Tall and strong' is great in fantasies, certainly... in reality, you don't get that appealing 'I feel protected' glow off guys who are either posturing at you like they posture at other males, (thus reading as 'potentially dangerous to you,') or too overconfident to show any situational awareness while they're strutting.

It's physically-attractive, maybe attracts notice... Doesn't, I think, really affect the decision-making about 'Who's cool,' or 'Who I'd like to spend time with,' or ''Who gets past the initial exchange of looks." ...Stuff you can't necessarily make a list about or quantify. Which is probably the important stuff.

FWIW.




(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…