MONASH U. (AUS) — Asked to rate 3D, computer-generated male bodies, women in a new study preferred taller figures, as well as those with larger penises.
The study also shows that taller men with larger genitalia were considered more attractive than shorter men with larger genitalia.
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The researchers showed the male bodies to 105 female participants with the images differing in height, body shape, and penis size, and asked them to assess the figures’ sexual attractiveness.
As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that penis size influenced how the female participants perceived attractiveness—and the bigger, the better.
“There is always much debate on the subject and we wanted to address the notion of whether size matters using a valid scientific approach,” says Bob Wong of the School of Biological Sciences as Monash University.
“Our study altered several male body parts at once using used life-size, 3D figures to show for the first time that penis size has different effects on attractiveness depending on height and body shape.”
In line with popular belief, height and shoulder width were also influential, with women preferring taller men and men with broad shoulders and narrow hips—V-shaped—rather than pear-shaped.
“We found that penis size affected a man’s sexual attractiveness, but height was equally as important, with taller men considered more attractive,” Wong says.
An overall impression of attractiveness to women, without focusing on any particular body part, is what distinguished the research from previous findings,” says lead author Brian Mautz of the Australian National University.
“The only previous study of this topic in humans used five small drawings of male figures that differed only in penis length. It was very obvious to the female participants which character they were being asked to assess. In that situation, it’s easy for people to self-deceive or lie and distort the results,” Mautz says.
Wong says the results support the theory that female mate choice could have driven the evolution of larger penis size in humans.
“Our results hint that humans might have larger penises because before humans wore clothes, females may have been more likely to mate with well-endowed males,” Wong says.
Source: Monash University
