Abstract
An evolutionary approach to female attractiveness predicts that men should prefer honest signals of health, youth, and fertility in potential mates (Buss, 1989). Singh (1993a, 1993b) proposed that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was a signal of female fertility, and thus served as a measure of attractiveness. How revolutionary this approach was can be seen by reviewing what leading books on social psychology said concerning attractiveness before Singh’s work. In Baron and Byrne’s (1994) leading textbook of the time, the chapter on attractiveness has a section entitled, ‘What, exactly, determines attractiveness?’ In it they say, ‘[It] seems to be difficult to specify precisely what cues people utilize to evaluate attractiveness’ (Baron & Byrne, 1994: 290). Baron and Byrne (1994) discussed the importance of childlike and mature facial features. They also reviewed work using computer-generated composite faces which showed that average faces were most attractive. Concerning the body, they cited research showing the attractiveness of medium-sized breasts and a slim figure (Baron & Byrne, 1994: 291). Another leading book (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 1994: 381) asked the question, ‘What is beautiful, anyway?’ and answered by stating that, ‘From early childhood on, the media tell us what is beautiful... ‘.
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© 2007 Donald H. McBurney and Sybil A. Streeter
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McBurney, D.H., Streeter, S.A. (2007). Waist-to-Hip Ratios and Female Attractiveness: Comparing Apples, Oranges, and Pears. In: Swami, V., Furnham, A. (eds) The Body Beautiful. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596887_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596887_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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