Are men are more attractive in some countries and women in others?

[The Controvert]

Yes, some will consider this a highly racist thread. If you can't deal with it, the exits are clearly marked and easy to find.

After looking at some of the news photos of Libya, I noticed the men are much better looking than the women. Yes, this is a broad generalization and there are plenty of exceptions and outliers. But I'm wondering if there's a grain of truth to this.

Political correctness is telling me it's wrong to stereotype people and blah blah blah. Let's set that aside for a moment to at least explore the idea a bit further.

For me, personally, I think African, Arab and Russian men are better looking than their female counterparts. Asian and Irish women on average look better than their male equivalents. And both men and women from Latin America and Europe are equally hot.

Other than thinking I'm a huge racist, do you have any opinions on this?

[Yorikke]

I'm a white European-descended man, and I think you're 180° of wrong about Russians.

Joe

[Blaster Master]

I can agree with your general idea, though not necessarily with the groups you pick, but I think you're misattributing the cause. That is, I think different cultures will tend to find different attributes more or less attractive in different ways. As a result, particular ethnicities that have those attributes will appear more attractive if they're considered positive for that gender, and less if not.

[Darryl Lict]

Africans, Asians, Europeans, and Latin Americans are quite ethnically diverse. Your statement makes absolutely no sense at all. I agree that Russian women are way hotter than the men.

[The Controvert]

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

I'm a white European-descended man, and I think you're 180° of wrong about Russians.

Joe

You make a good point. I was thinking the average babushka, but then again Anna Chapman was pretty hot.

[the lone cashew]

Women are going to look better than men, no matter where you are, even in a Turkish prison.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by The Controvert

You make a good point. I was thinking the average babushka, but then again Anna Chapman was pretty hot.

Well, I think it's safe to say that most old women aren't going to look as good as most young men, no...

[fjs1fs]

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

I'm a white European-descended man, and I think you're 180° of wrong about Russians.

Joe

white man here, and 100% agree with Joe.

[tdn]

I was thinking Russians before I even opened the thread.

I've actually noticed this in different parts of the country. Women in the DC area, for instance, struck me as being a little taller and a little heavier than women in the Boston area. But that could have just been a coincidence.

[Anaamika]

A) If you are not racist in your preference for who looks good, I am doubting your humanity.
B) It is different for everyone
C) Yes

[Renee]

Japan. There very few good-looking Japanese men, IMO. Having spent a lot of time there, I'd say the whole "all Japanese women are hot" thing is overstated, but the men over there just do absolutely nothing for me.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Renee

Japan. There very few good-looking Japanese men, IMO. Having spent a lot of time there, I'd say the whole "all Japanese women are hot" thing is overstated, but the men over there just do absolutely nothing for me.

And I disagree a lot. A young, slim Japanese or Chinese man, with dark eyes or dark hair....!

Everything is subjective, I guess.

[Argent Towers]

Australian Aborigines...well...I don't know if the men or the women are better looking, but both genders, generally seem to leave something to be desired in terms of looks. I'm not trying to bash them as people, but from what I've seen, these folks just tend to have fairly un-symmetrical, non-harmonious and generally odd-looking faces.

This is the only people of the world who I feel this way about. But some research seems to show that the view is widely held.

[Beware of Doug]

Last 2 really foreign nations I've been to were Italy and Denmark.

Italians seem to have a rough parity genderwise on looks - but let it be known, a lot of 'em aren't so great looking. The women especially often overdo it on the clothes and makeup.

Danish women have a clean simple look that makes them, often, breathtaking. Those dark blond and fine boned genes help. But that same gene pool (and taste in dress) tends to make men look a little scraggly and unprepossessing.

[alice_in_wonderland]

Originally Posted by Renee

Japan. There very few good-looking Japanese men, IMO. Having spent a lot of time there, I'd say the whole "all Japanese women are hot" thing is overstated, but the men over there just do absolutely nothing for me.

Yah - I disagree. I've met lots of Japanese men that I find quite hot. I've met lots of Japanese women that I find quite hot.

They tend to be slim and eat a healthy diet so I would say Japanese in general are among one of the better looking races, with some notable exceptions of course.

[Autolycus]

Originally Posted by alice_in_wonderland

They tend to be slim and eat a healthy diet so I would say Japanese in general are among one of the better looking races, with some notable exceptions of course.

Giggity. *snuggles with his GF*

[Mister Rik]

Originally Posted by Beware of Doug

Danish women have a clean simple look that makes them, often, breathtaking. Those dark blond and fine boned genes help. But that same gene pool (and taste in dress) tends to make men look a little scraggly and unprepossessing.

Same with redheads. Redheaded women are frequently quite attractive; redheaded men much less frequently.

[Hermitian]

I am surprised that no one mentioned India.

Indian women are some of the most attractive women in the world. The thing I can't seem to figure out is why they keep marrying Indian men.

[Chronos]

To be clear, here, are we talking typical members of these ethnicities, or the outliers? Is, say, one extremely hot Russian woman enough to say that "Russian women are hot"? Or does that require that the typical Russian woman looks better than the typical American woman? Or is it a comparison of how common the really ugly women are?

[Sunspace]

Originally Posted by Hermitian

I am surprised that no one mentioned India.

Indian women are some of the most attractive women in the world. The thing I can't seem to figure out is why they keep marrying Indian men.

Because non-Indian men are too far away?

(Another fan of South Asian women here. Also, North Asian, East Asian, West Asian, African, American, European, Antarctican, Oceanic, and for that matter space women. Heck, I just like women. )

[Markxxx]

It amazes me how many Muslims have such good teeth. You always seem them angry on the news yelling, and they have these great white teeth.

Now perhaps the news crews only pick out the ones with good teeth to show. After all they are "bearing them in anger" to the USA. But it doesn't matter if they're Iranian, Afgani or Arab they all have these great teeth.

I keep thinking they must have a great dental plan (or more likely no soft drinks)

[WarmNPrickly]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

A) If you are not racist in your preference for who looks good, I am doubting your humanity.

I'd doubt your intellectual honesty. (The general "you" not you personally.)

B) It is different for everyone
C) Yes

Yup

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

A) If you are not racist in your preference for who looks good, I am doubting your humanity.

I would argue that you aren't racist if you don't dismiss someone out of hand for being in a certain racial group. Having a preference for certain features is not the same thing.

Heck, many darker cultures have a preference for lighter skin, while Americans actually seem to tend towards darker skin, with all the push for tanning.

[Argent Towers]

The tanning is just a current trend. For most of history, dark skin has not been desirable. This is just a fad and it will probably pass at some point.

Yes, many "dark" cultures exhibit preferences for lighter skin. I'm always amazed when I catch a clip of some Bollywood thing and everyone in it looks European to me. Likewise on Mexican news channels, the news anchors all look like they could pass as French or Hungarian or something. Totally different from what most Americans think of "Mexican" looking. All of the female movie stars in the Philippines look absolutely nothing like Malays, they look like light skinned Spanish which is what they probably are, predominantly, in their background.

[ColdPhoenix]

Originally Posted by The Controvert

After looking at some of the news photos of Libya, I noticed the men are much better looking than the women. Yes, this is a broad generalization and there are plenty of exceptions and outliers. But I'm wondering if there's a grain of truth to this.

I did a google image search for "libyan people".

This was the first image for a man:
http://www.joshuaproject.net/profiles/photos/p13169.jpg

And this was the first image for a woman:
http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flic...9157-image.jpg

Not scientific, but I imagine he'd be extremely happy to hook up with her!

[phantom lamb]

Totally true for my country, Serbia. Although it is a matter of taste, of course.

I'm a straight female and I find 99% of the men here physically unattractive. I've lived here for most of my life yet I've only seen a handful of guys I would consider describing as "attractive" (heh, thankfully I'm in a relationship with one now).

But the girls, for the most part, are above average looking.

In fact, I discussed this with my friend the other day and she had the same observation... so we might be onto something.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Hermitian

I am surprised that no one mentioned India.

Indian women are some of the most attractive women in the world. The thing I can't seem to figure out is why they keep marrying Indian men.

Dunnow, could it be because of Indian men's often-gorgeous eyes?




Very much agree with what Anaamika said.

In my class trip to Greece, some of my classmates were disappointed by the unatractiveness of Greek guys. I did remind them that they should be searching for short George Michael lookalikes, rather than the tall Norse gods which magazines back home (in another country of short, dark men) insisted we had to like: wrong end of Europe for the second kind! I have absolutely no problem with the general attractiveness of Italian or Greek guys, but I know better than to expect long legs there

[Mississippienne]

One of my Turkish friends was super-pissed after returning home from a visit to Italy. "Italian man very handsome!" he lamented. "But Italian woman, not handsome!"

I will say there was a noticeable drop in attractiveness of the local population when I went from Istanbul to Athens. Turks of both sexes tended to be very good-looking. I remember thinking to myself while strolling around Athens that the Greeks weren't nearly as good-looking. I also haven't heard of any stereotypes about Greeks being especially sexy (although Turkish men, bless 'em, they have an intense love for every variety of female, and that includes Greek women).

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by fjs1fs

white man here, and 100% agree with Joe.

Ditto here. Well, not quite--I find Russian women's features a bit "sharp" for my tastes, if that makes any sense. But they tend to be regarded, in my experience among my male American peers, to be in the top tier of hotness.

In general, I find women from the Slavic countries and Hungary to be more attractive than their male counterparts, but I'm really terrible at judging male attractiveness. It's more that I find women from these countries to be particularly hot, especially Czech Republic, Hungary, and Serbia.

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

Michael Caine's autobiography -- where you can find the SDMB's beloved quote about JAWS IV -- contains a quick aside about Brazil, where he notes that (a) the men are more attractive than the women, and (b) the most attractive women turned out to be men.

[marshmallow]

Originally Posted by The Controvert

For me, personally, I think African, Arab and Russian men are better looking than their female counterparts. Asian and Irish women on average look better than their male equivalents. And both men and women from Latin America and Europe are equally hot.

Other than thinking I'm a huge racist, do you have any opinions on this?

I can't really relate because from my POV men everywhere are hopelessly ugly, while women are beautiful. Whether it's some war torn desert hellhole or a primitive tribe in the middle of a jungle there always seem to be ridiculously hot women. I've even seen good looking Inuit women.

The biggest difference in hotness between the sexes seems to be Arab women over men though. Some of their men look downright trollish. I'd also agree with Eastern European girls having a significant lead over their counterparts.

[wheresmymind]

It's entirely subjective I suppose, but I'd tend to agree with you (your general thesis, not your specific examples). When I visited Iceland the women were conspicuously gorgeous, while the men were pretty average. Everyone in my group (3 guys 3 girls, Americans) came to the same conclusion.

[Mister Rik]

Originally Posted by marshmallow

I can't really relate because from my POV men everywhere are hopelessly ugly, while women are beautiful. Whether it's some war torn desert hellhole or a primitive tribe in the middle of a jungle there always seem to be ridiculously hot women. I've even seen good looking Inuit women.

You must not read National Geographic. I swear their photographers go out of their way to find the absolute ugliest woman in whatever village they're covering to sit as the subject of an "artistic" portrait. At least they used to.

[Bijou Drains]

Originally Posted by wheresmymind

It's entirely subjective I suppose, but I'd tend to agree with you (your general thesis, not your specific examples). When I visited Iceland the women were conspicuously gorgeous, while the men were pretty average. Everyone in my group (3 guys 3 girls, Americans) came to the same conclusion.

The story goes that when the Vikings settled Iceland way back they would raid villages and only kidnap the hottest looking women. Not sure if that is true but it's widely accepted that the women there look great.

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by Mississippienne

I will say there was a noticeable drop in attractiveness of the local population when I went from Istanbul to Athens. Turks of both sexes tended to be very good-looking. I remember thinking to myself while strolling around Athens that the Greeks weren't nearly as good-looking. I also haven't heard of any stereotypes about Greeks being especially sexy...

You haven't? Come on, it was a Greek woman who gave us the description "aphrodisiac"!

[Dearie]

[quote=Mississippienne;13649945]One of my Turkish friends was super-pissed after returning home from a visit to Italy. "Italian man very handsome!" he lamented. "But Italian woman, not handsome!"

I will say there was a noticeable drop in attractiveness of the local population when I went from Istanbul to Athens. QUOTE]

omg i couldnt disagree more ..I ve never been to Istanbul but when i went from the greek island of Kos to bodrum -turkey i noticed a significant drop in attractiveness that was verified by my other female friends as well...Turkish people tended to be shorter (both sexes-pretty much as short as Italians, Greeks tend to be the tallest in the mediteranean ...) and with rougher facial features,(no offense thats only my personal opinion) and turkish men well ,they usually were thick-short with fat noses... ://

[echo7tango]

I was recently noticing this about the UK. While there certainly are beautiful women there (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Keira Knightley, Kate Middleton and many others), I find the average UK woman, to me, to not be attractive - again, to me. I was wondering if it's a "cultural thing," since I am American so I'm used to "typical American looks" and I'm not used to "typical UK looks."

It's a personal preference, apparently. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

[Wesley Clark]

I tend to think this about middle easterners, that the men are more attractive than the women. In western nations it is the opposite, the women are more attractive (but I'm a heterosexual, so I guess that plays a role).

I wonder what role culture plays in it. In nations where women are less educated than men, don't get as good nutrition as men or where cosmetics are considered immoral the women aren't going to be as attractive as men.

I've noticed vegans tend to be more handsome and attractive than people who eat junk food. Part of that is a good diet makes you young and healthy both on the inside and the outside (better skin, better hair, whiter teeth, etc). So in nations where women are malnourished or can't get makeup they are going to be uglier.

[newcomer]

Originally Posted by The Controvert

Russian men are better looking than their female counterparts.

Well, say no more...

Patently wrong. Obviously you never been to Russia so will ascribe this to a plain lack of 1st hand experience.

[newcomer]

Originally Posted by hrhomer

I'm a white European-descended man, and I think you're 180° of wrong about Russians.

Joe

I know this is a 2nd post in the thread but I saw it right after my knee-jerk reaction post

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

Heterosexual male here. I tend to be attracted to East Asian women more then white women but I'm more likely to judge a white male "handsome" than an Asian male.

[echo7tango]

I grew up in the northeast USA. Our family moved to San Francisco when I graduated high school. My sister and I then went to college in Santa Barbara, at UCSB. It's in Southern California, and the campus is right on the beach at the Pacific Ocean.

This was 1980. My sister called the place "The Land of Beautiful People" - it was uncanny, walking around the campus and seeing all the good looking people, just college kids like my sister and me.

[even sven]

There is no way to judge, this, since so many people are essentially one issue voters.

For examples, for some ladies, height trumps all. They can see a clear skinned, big eyed, well-toned Asian dude and find him fugly because he's 5"5'. But show them some straggly lanky Dutch dude and they'll be all over it. All they see is the tall. So they are always going to dismiss men in shorter countries, but will be willing to look at all aspects of female beauty.

Or, I know plenty of guys who have outright Asian fetishes (came with the territory when I lived in China.). All they see is the Asian. They girl they are eying could be a wide-mouthed, gangly legged farmer's daughter, but all they'd see was an exotic Oriental princess. On the other side, in many areas guys fetishize light skin, and will basically always choose the light skin over any other form of facial beauty, physique, etc. Both of these guys are going to be all over the ladies that exhibit their preferred fetish, but won't see anything special about the men.

Anyway, any answer you get is going to be completely tainted by people's individual deal breakers. You are never going to get some idea of who is most attractive, the best you are going to get is a comparison of the number of people with, say, Asian fetishes versus the number of guys who want light skin, versus the number of guys who want X, Y, or Z.

[BrotherCadfael]

Originally Posted by echo7tango

I was recently noticing this about the UK. While there certainly are beautiful women there (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Keira Knightley, Kate Middleton and many others), I find the average UK woman, to me, to not be attractive - again, to me. I was wondering if it's a "cultural thing," since I am American so I'm used to "typical American looks" and I'm not used to "typical UK looks".

It has been said that the Vikings raided all across Europe, taking all the good-looking women back with them to Scandinavia... and dropping all the funny-looking ones in England on the way by.

Note that I said that it HAS been said - but not by me.

[panaccione]

Well, I'll just come right out and say that I'm pretty much universally attractive. I don't know if that makes me a sexist, bigot, or racist, but whatever. I can't help it. : )

[PandaBear77]

I've never seen an ugly Israeli, male or female.

The most beautiful women I've ever seen, though, were in Washington DC.

[monstro]

I have an archetypal "Japanese guy" and "Russian woman" in my head. But I just draw a blank when it comes to the stereotypical American. If someone says "American girls are hawt", who are they likely referring to? Anyone know?

[DigitalC]

Originally Posted by The Controvert

You make a good point. I was thinking the average babushka, but then again Anna Chapman was pretty hot.

According to Russian mail order bride websites Russia is populated by nothing but Victoria Secret models.

[epbrown01]

Originally Posted by monstro

I have an archetypal "Japanese guy" and "Russian woman" in my head. But I just draw a blank when it comes to the stereotypical American. If someone says "American girls are hawt", who are they likely referring to? Anyone know?

I'd nominate Britney Spears, with Jessica Simpson as runner-up. What we've seen with both is that with a full marketing and media machine behind them, they are pin-up girls; without it, they're a couple of good ol' country girls like you'll find all over the rural US fending off the sleazy managers of auto parts places and fast-food restaurants.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by The Other Waldo Pepper

Michael Caine's autobiography -- where you can find the SDMB's beloved quote about JAWS IV -- contains a quick aside about Brazil, where he notes that (a) the men are more attractive than the women, and (b) the most attractive women turned out to be men.

Heh. I was going to make a joke about how it's sad how unattractive Brazilian women are, but really a joke because I know there are many men who find the ladies as attractive as I do the fellows.

Wesley Clark, I guess I've never met a vegan that's a smart eater, just the malnourished ones that my nutrition professor railed against, because every self-confessed vegan I've met has looked sickly and frail rather than healthy and fit. Vegetarians I've known, on the other hand, are often as you describe though.