What do men want in a woman physically (appearance wise)?

[cathifer]

what do men want their woman ideally to look like?

[Mescaline]

In my opinion there is no right answer to this question, tastes can differ drastically.

That being said, I'm a psychology student, so I'll try to give you the objective answer (not sure that's what you're asking for, but here it goes.)

The current consensus within the scientific community is that averageness 'defines' beauty, for both men and women. What this means is, if one would take all faces of all women, layer them on top of each other, and cancel out all 'irregularities', the 'perfect' face would emerge. This also by itself includes symmetry, as the average face will always be perfectly symmetrical.

Secondly an interesting fact is that most men prefer women slightly 'less skinny' than what the average woman thinks is most attractive to men.

Both of these notions have been repeatedly tested and proved through experiments.

Furthermore there are some evolutionary perspectives on attractiveness. Young and healthy women are considered to be the most attractive, as they seem to be the most fertile, which in turn increases the male's chance to bring forth healthy and strong offspring (this might sound a bit cold hearted, and I agree, yet it a widely accepted theory within the scientific community of psychology).

Moreover, it is often said long legs are more attractive, but as I stated before this is just opinion, and can differ drastically amongst different men. I for one don't give a damn about the length of a woman's legs, it is completely irrelevant to me regarding beauty. One could go on about any other body part and come to the same conclusion.

Then there are the so called pheromones, which are substances secreted through a person's skin, which can be (subconsciously) smelled by a different person. Depending on whether it smells 'good' to the person, the other is regarded as attractive or beautiful.

Lastly the more characteristics people share, the more attracted they are to each other, and the more beautiful people rate each other, regardless of their actual appearance. Thus having similar clothing styles, taste in music, physical appearance, etc. all facilitate attraction.

The most important thing to know is that beauty only exists in the 'mind's eye'. The concept of beauty does NOT EXIST outside the human mind; things just "are"; they don't have qualities untill a person judges an 'object' or person. Considering we all have our own unique brain, thus having unique minds, we all have different understandings of what beauty is.

Hope this sort of answers your question :)

NB: You can check out these wiki pages below. There's probably some stuff I forgot to mention, as it's a pretty broad subject. There's a whole "sub-discipline" dealing with sexual/physical/emotional attraction within psychology, called sexology, and it's not really my preferred field of interest haha.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexology

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averageness

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_attraction

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_attractiveness

[anonymous1422]

AMAZING answer-- though I have read a couple things I want to add.

People do like the averaged look (which does not look average- it looks GORGEOUS)- Evolutionary reason: a wider gene pool means lower chance of inbreading

Also though they like the averaging there are some features that people like larger/smaller in general:

Eyes bigger because is looks more babylike-->cuter

Lips bigger because above reason and more attention to lips--> think about kissing

Healthily large breasts--> fertile

[Mescaline]

Thank you very much :)

Nice to see, there are still poeple who want to know what the 'rea deal' is instead of just spreading subjective opinions, which don't mean anything on a wider scale. Nothing against opinion, but what X people is atractive, is not 'truth', especially not on a forum like this :X. It doesn't give the right impression at all..

Good additions by the way! :D

[Levin]

This is utterly pointless since it's mostly subjective. But my list is as follows:

No fake tan

No fake t*ts

Keep in shape, there's no excuse for being a disgusting flabby slob

no smokers

Someone that is hygienic, floss every hour and then

I like pale skin, but this isn't a must. Generally the darker the skin, the less I will find you attractive.

Unless you're obviously hideous, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I am liable to find you attractive. I'm bemused by what most men and women find attractive, so don't think there is one type. Personality plays a crucial role for me.

[cathifer]

that sounds right.

[peace-love-couture]

-Proportion. Breasts, waist and hips in proportion, subconsciously the hour glass hip to waist ratio is preferred, but as long as you're proportionate whether a pear shape, pencil or apple shape, it's all good

-Nice smile

-Healthy hair, skin and nails. They don't walk around saying "Damnnnnn, did you see her nails/hair?" but they are attracted subconsciously to health

-Healthy overall(mentally, sexually and physically)

-Healthy body, toned

-Good hygiene

-Well put together when the time or occasion calls for it. They may not care how you dress when you lounge around the house, but at dinner parties, special occasions, put in the effort to dress up, do your makeup and hair and nails as well

-They don't care about makeup, hair coloring, surgery or anything else like that as long as you don't over do it

[Mescaline]

Although I agree with what you say, it's more subjective than you make it seem.

For example I might find a girl or woman to be very beautiful, even though she doesn't have a nice smile, or good hygiene. Ofcourse they potentially contribute, but it's not a cause - effect relationship. Adhering to those points does not automatially make you beautiful to men. For example in some eastern Asian (poor) countries 'chubby' women are preferred traditionally, as it indicates a good supply of food.

[peace-love-couture]

I think you and I both know she isn't talking about the countries that find non conventional appearance attractive.

And I think you're reading into it too much.

[Mescaline]

True, but now you only replied to the last half of my comment.

So, what about 'western' people who think chubby is beautiful?

And what about the gothic subculture where it is not uncommon to find massive usage of make-up attractive looking. Or what about the (real, genuine) hippie-subculture, which doesn't use soap, or any other commercially (e.g. by television) induced so called 'necessities'. I don't know if you know this but washing your hair without shampoo but more often is a lot healthier.

[peace-love-couture]

Again, you're thinking too much into it. If we're speaking in general, those things are not found attractive. She's not addressing any one particular group, which leads me to believe she's speaking in general.

And yes I know that, I have curly hair.

And I'm not going to encourage her or anyone else to be overweight because one group of individuals thinks it's attractive.

[Mescaline]

Yes I do think deep into things, I'm a philosopher of psychology by nature, and I do not think it's a bad thing, quite the opposite. I'm NOT saying anything you say is wrong, I just implied it is incomplete. And as I understand it the OP isn't asking for advice on how to look herself, as according to her profile she already is involved in a relationship, and to me she looks beautiful as is.. I think she is asking out of curiosity, in general, yes. This doesn't exclude subcultures.

[Mescaline]

Furthermore if someone reads something is attractive to a certain group of people or a subculture, and they do not belong to that group of people... why would they follow the advice given for the subculture? I'm Just spreading information, I'm not trying to put you down, and I sincerely apologize if I gave you that impression.

[peace-love-couture]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with seeing too deeply into it, the only problem is she was just asking for a straight cut/basic stupified answer

[Mescaline]

Haha, OK, got your point, I'm not used to simplified and superficial discussions or answers haha, sorry. Hence I love philosophy :b

[cathifer]

so what do you guys think, in your own personal opinions? what is attractive?

[BlackBear18]

I want my women just to care about her appearance in a healthy way, but not a obsessive/worrisome way to the point where she'll have a panic attack and not in an arrogant way to the point where she'll feel that she feels she looks better than any other woman out there. That is how I want my women to feel and look like. Hope my response helps out your question!

[blackghost53]

if that's you in your profile pic ...u are just perfect ,a beautiful face ...not so skinny arms or not too fat ...of course we do go crazy about boobs but not too big ...just small curves and likewise to butts

[cathifer]

yes, that's me

[blackghost53]

u got blue-ish green eyes.?

[cathifer]

yeah theyre usually more blue though

[blackghost53]

lovely...

[DirtyDlish]

I like the butt. I don't care about t*ts. I like sweet looking not trashy with a huge butt.

[508Ricky]

PRETTY FACE A MUST.

And a booty lol.

I love long sexy sleek tanned legs!

[internet_guy]

Having Hour glass shaped body ,long legs