Dating

We wanted to figure out which male body types women would find the most attractive, as well as which body types men thought women would find the most attractive. To do this, we ran an informal study, surveying over 1000 people to see which bodies they preferred. The results surprised us.

We created several photo arrays and asked women to rate which male bodies they found the most attractive. Then we asked men to guess which bodies the women had picked. It quickly became apparent that most men were trying to build bodies that women didn’t even find attractive, let alone ideal. (We’ve since confirmed these results with a second survey using illustrations instead of photos.)

There were some surprises for women, too. For example, when we asked women which celebrity had the most attractive body, the most popular response was Ryan Reynolds. However, when we cropped his head off and placed his body in a line-up, they told us he was overly lean and musclebound.

On the other hand, Brad Pitt’s headless body (as Tyler Durden in Fight Club) performed incredibly well in the photo arrays, being rated extremely attractive by both men and women, showing some overlap between male and female preferences. But what was so special about this particular body type?

After all, Ryan Reynolds is only slightly leaner and more muscular than Brad Pitt, and yet those tiny changes made a dramatic difference (for the worse). Women thought that Brad Pitt looked strong and healthy, whereas they thought Ryan Reynolds looked like a fitness model, assuming he must be obsessed with his appearance.

Along with covering which male bodies and physical traits were rated as the most attractive by women, we’ll also cover which physiques men found the most impressive and what level of leanness and muscularity guys were most eager to achieve.