A research by psychologists have shown that the rated strength of a male body accounts for a full 70 per cent of the variance in attractiveness. A strong upper body, wide shoulders, being physically fit make men attractive to women.
The researchers tested how important physical strength is to men's bodily attractiveness by showing women pictures of men's bodies and asking them how attractive they were.
The results, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, showed that it was possible to almost perfectly predict how attractive a man's body is from three factors: how physically strong he looks, how tall he is, and how lean he is.
The effect of strength was overwhelming that none of the 150 women in the study preferred weak men.
According to Aaron Sell from Griffith University in Australia, Evolutionary psychologists have revealed that women's choices of partners utilise many cues of men's genetic quality and ability to invest resources in the woman and her children.
Sell said, "Among our ancestors, one variable that predicted both a man's genetic quality and his ability to invest was the man's formidability. Therefore, modern women should still have mate choice mechanisms that respond to cues of a man's fighting ability."
"One crucial component of a man's ability to fight was his upper body strength," Sell added.
"The effect of height and weight on attractiveness may indicate that women are responding to cues of health or to the benefits that height and lean bodies have in hunting and other aspects of fighting ability."
The researchers also said the appearance of strength in men proof to be more vital to their attractiveness than being tall or lean.
Sell also revealed that while the women in their study preferred the stronger bodied men, there was a sizeable number across many cultures that showed women did not always prefer the strongest looking men.
