Althouse: "Men want hot women, study confirms."

September 4, 2007

"Men want hot women, study confirms."

Noted.

ADDED: And women will judge you by your kiss.

32 comments:

Palladian said...: Um, not all men, honey...; 9/4/07, 7:51 PM
Moose said...: "In the dating game, men know what they want."

Well, duh. Thank god one of the parties knows what they want...; 9/4/07, 8:01 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Palladian... it's not my quote... but anyway, when men want men, they still want hot, right? (And therefore gay men tend to be better looking than straight men.); 9/4/07, 8:02 PM
Revenant said...: That's a cute headline, but the *accurate* headline should have been:

Men don't want ugly women, study confirms

As the article notes, "Men tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold". In other words, women are picky, but men will settle for just about anything with a vagina and a pulse.; 9/4/07, 8:08 PM
Palladian said...: Eh, "hot" is a pretty variable term. My boyfriend is "hot" in a conventional sense and I'm not, yet he finds me "hot". I suppose the key is that all men involved must think the other is "hot", regardless of how that is defined.

And I don't think gay men are better looking than straight men, but I happen to think more conventionally masculine guys are "hot" rather than ones that pluck their eyebrows. Not all gay men pluck their eyebrows, mind you...

I need a drink.

And by "honey" I wasn't referring to you. It was a more general "honey". But you're sweet anyway.; 9/4/07, 8:10 PM
XWL said...: Um, not all straight men either, honey . . .

In Calvin Tompkins bio of Marcel Duchamp he explains Duchamp's theory on relations with women.

He had a strong preference for women with plain to homely faces but fantastic bodies.

My inartful distillation of the idea is that Duchamp felt that women who were both attractive of body and face tended to get too much attention, and therefore wouldn't try hard to be pleasing, and would be somewhat monstrous as men would be constantly fawning over them.

Contrast that with the sturdily built woman with the less than traditionally attractive face, and you have someone with a much greater incentive to develop their mind, and have a greater appreciation for the attention you choose to throw their way.

Plus, when you get down to the 'fun' part of the relationship, the whole body is more important than just the face (and when people speak of attractiveness they are primarily talking about a person's face).

It seems like sound advice, not advice I've ever been inclined to take (I've been shallow and lucky enough to have limited my relationships to only hot women).; 9/4/07, 8:18 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Eh, "hot" is a pretty variable term."

But I think it's true that women -- a lot of women -- will let men off the hook for allowing themselves to be less attractive than they could be with moderate effort. I don't know why this is, but these women are messing up the incentive structure for straight women who have aesthetic standards. It's a huge problem.; 9/4/07, 8:26 PM
Joe said...: Revenant, you left out breasts.; 9/4/07, 8:31 PM
Synova said...: Men who make themselves up (which seems to include most high-power business types) get an ewww response from me most of the time. Intellectually I know that they are attractive, sometimes very much so, but the visceral reaction isn't there... or it is, but it's not a positive reaction.

Too polished and I get "player" vibes.; 9/4/07, 8:32 PM
XWL said...: The 'schlubby hubby' effect does seem to be pretty strong.

It's as if many women insist that in a committed relationship, their men prove their 'off the market' status by being 'unmarketable'. Plus there's the assumption that men only maintain their appearance in anticipation of capturing new conquests, so if a man is in a relationship and stays 'hot', he's after outside nooky.

I don't think it's just that straight men choose to slide into schlubbiness, but I think there's some women who push their men towards schlubbiness in hopes that schlubbiness=faithfulness.

(Some men encourage their paramours in the same way, just not in the same numbers); 9/4/07, 8:36 PM
ìgbàlonígbàńlò said...: XWL: dead on (for me and most of my friends at least)

I think a significant amount of women can't tell guys on the 'down-low' from players hence the let-them-off-the-hook scenario. Just a conjecture.; 9/4/07, 8:43 PM
rcocean said...: "I don't know why this is, but these women are messing up the incentive structure for straight women who have aesthetic standards. It's a huge problem."

So once again, we're back to men in shorts.; 9/4/07, 8:43 PM
ìgbàlonígbàńlò said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/4/07, 8:44 PM
ìgbàlonígbàńlò said...: Yeah Cher her body was perfect to the waist. It's like 'God' ran out of ass material that day.; 9/4/07, 8:46 PM
Palladian said...: Men need to dress like this again. Rowr!; 9/4/07, 8:49 PM
Revenant said...: Revenant, you left out breasts.

If breasts are so important to men, how the heck did China ever get overpopulated? :); 9/4/07, 8:54 PM
Simon said...: Palladian said...
"Eh, 'hot' is a pretty variable term."

I think that's exactly right. Taste is idiosyncratic; in a world where people think Paris Hilton is "hot," there is surely someone who thinks every woman is hot.

And then there's this.; 9/4/07, 8:57 PM
tjl said...: No, Palladian, men don't need to dress like that again. Less is more!; 9/4/07, 9:02 PM
Palladian said...: "No, Palladian, men don't need to dress like that again. Less is more!"

In the bedroom, perhaps your adage is true. But for lounging next to brooks contemplating melancholia, nothing beats Venetian lace, a velvet doublet and spurs...; 9/4/07, 9:16 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm very picky when it comes to mates. And looks are definitely #1 on the agenda.

I think it's the only thing on the agenda actually . . .; 9/4/07, 9:31 PM
Hazy Dave said...: Good weather for it, then. Hot women that don't sweat a lot. Yep. Straight from the Onion, or a real scientific paper? Whatever. Good starting point, at least. At some point, anything on two legs that shows interest comes into play. (The legs are negotiable, of course.); 9/4/07, 10:13 PM
zzRon said...: "Hot" really isnt the right word - at least for me. Just plain old attractive will do quite nicely (thank you very much). However, besides taking reasonably good care of herself, there is no set criteria for what I find attractive in a woman. It could be nothing more than the way she carries herself. Or, perhaps how she wiggles her nose when she smiles or laughs. Whatever it might be, I always know it when I find it :-).; 9/4/07, 10:16 PM
Synova said...: Hygiene.; 9/4/07, 10:24 PM
zzRon said...: Yes, hygiene certainly helps :-).; 9/4/07, 11:06 PM
Simon Kenton said...: They said it couldn't be done, but Ms Althouse has done it. Finding a cut with Cher singing that's actually enjoyable. When I said of Sonny and Cher, one dead and the other should be? I take it back. I issue a public apology. One of them dead but the other can continue forever in her Jackie do, so far as I'm concerned. Heartfelt thanks to Ms Althouse.; 9/4/07, 11:15 PM
former law student said...: Unfortunately, this study is fatally flawed because it was conducted in Munich. After spending a summer there, I can confidently say there are no attractive women in Munich. A Munich 10 would be a 5 anywhere else. It got to the point that, if I saw an attractive woman, I would ask where she was from. For example, pretty brunettes came from Italy and Spain and a stunning blonde was Danish. While checking in on Lufthansa, I waited in line for a very attractive gate agent. Her line moved the slowest, because every male spent time chatting her up. As I got closer, I noticed from her name tag that her surname was German. Thinking she was the exception that broke the rule, I asked her how she spoke such perfect English.

"I'm from Chicago," she said.; 9/4/07, 11:16 PM
hdhouse said...: i never figured that out. i always thought smart was a better choice...no one stays beautiful forever but for the most part the brain stays ..... otherwise how would you explain Paris Hilton?; 9/5/07, 4:28 AM
Gedaliya said...: If breasts are so important to men, how the heck did China ever get overpopulated? :)

This made me laugh out loud.; 9/5/07, 6:11 AM
Mark Daniels said...: And the video confirms that Cher cannot sing. The woman always sounds like Jerry Lewis pretending he's in an opera.

Mark Daniels; 9/5/07, 7:35 AM
Joe said...: If breasts are so important to men, how the heck did China ever get overpopulated?

Small breasts are still breasts (and preferably in any measure to those hideous plastic things that are all to common.); 9/5/07, 2:13 PM
JorgXMcKie said...: Revenant, men want women. They strongly prefer more attractive women, but it's comparative.; 9/5/07, 4:52 PM
zzRon said...: Yes, small breasts are vastly superior to those "hideous plastic things". For the life of me, I cant figure out why some women choose to do that to themselves. But then again, understanding women has never been my strong suit :-(.; 9/5/07, 5:24 PM