What Kind of Male Body Are Women After?

David Frederick of UCLA did a research study on male and female perspectives of body appearance. His study asked:

"Do representations of male muscularity differ in men’s and women’s magazines?"

Here is the abstract, or summary of his findings:

Men overestimate the degree of muscularity that is attractive to women, and women overestimate the degree of thinness that is most attractive to men. Consistent with the thesis that sociocultural input influences such body type preferences and beliefs, we postulated that magazines aimed at a male audience would portray a more muscular male body ideal than would magazines aimed at a female audience. Systematic comparison of popular magazines (Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness) revealed that the ideal male body marketed to men is more muscular than the ideal male body marketed to women.
We introduce the Physical Trait Overvaluation Hypothesis, which proposes that gender-specific media fuel emphasis on certain body parts in within-gender prestige competitions. The resulting competitive escalation creates a disconnect between the preferences of one gender and the personal aspirations of the other.

What does this mean? (From Men's Health, September 2004):

When rating desirability of varying builds for sexual partners, [325 college-age women] rated:

"average bodies as somewhat desirable;
muscular men as very desirable;
and extremely muscular men somewhere in between.
Least desirable: soft, fat guys."

"Frederick...says very brawny guys were viewed as likely to attract other women--and cheat."

Women associate pronounced muscularity with...
[+] dominance
[+] sexiness
[+] sexual ability and skill
[+] popularity
[+] ability to acquire resources and provide protection
[+] health and genetic fitness
[+] money and ambition

[-] decreased likelihood of sexual fidelity
[-] decreased sensitivity to their needs
[-] greater likelihood of narcissism and a bad temper

Note that whether or not women's associations are "correct or incorrect," or simply stereotypes, is a different subject.

Fun test for your degree of narcissism.

'Echo and Narcissus' 1903
John William Waterhouse