# Are women more aesthetically attractive than men? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896 "2016-12-30T10:58:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/21 "2016-12-31T00:48:03Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Hetero woman here and I think womens’ bodies are far more beautiful _to look at_ and, probably even to touch in a non sexual way, if that makes any sense. They’re soft and curvy which to me seems like it would be kind of universally more pleasing on a strictly \*aesthetic \*level. Men are far more attractive (to me) on a sexual level; I want to touch and be touched by them but it’s all about the sum of their parts; the individual components, say a man’s pecs compared to a woman’s breasts, aren’t as pleasing to the eye. Hetero woman here too, an admirer of individual male components, especially backs, arms, and shoulders. I have a background in art studies if that matters any (it probably doesn’t) but yeah, there’s a lot of beauty in the average male body. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/22 "2016-12-31T00:51:42Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Hetero woman here too, an admirer of individual male components, especially backs, arms, and shoulders. I have a background in art studies if that matters any (it probably doesn’t) but yeah, there’s a lot of beauty in the average male body. But that’s not – strictly speaking – the question, is it? The question isn’t whether there’s some beauty in the male body, but whether there’s a little more beauty in the female body. What’s your opinion of the female body? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/23 "2016-12-31T01:09:52Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I don’t know that ‘encouraged’ is the right word. My observation of the young girls in my family and among their friends has been that they can’t wait to start putting on make up, doing their hair and wearing attention-getting clothing and accessories. Even at a young age girls know that more attractive is better. For every girl that willingly “does the dance”, there’s another one who does so only because she feels she has to for social reasons. Don’t mistake tolerance and acceptance for enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/24 "2016-12-31T01:17:03Z")
A friend, of 56 years, is about as gay as one can get and he told me once that women are just better looking. I was a bit surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/25 "2016-12-31T01:18:14Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Hetero woman here and I think womens’ bodies are far more beautiful _to look at_ and, probably even to touch in a non sexual way, if that makes any sense. I understand what you’re saying, but I have to disagree - personally, I prefer to look at men’s bodies, and touch them - I find other women to be unpleasantly soft, I like some firm muscle underneath the skin. Clearly, opinion is going to play a role here. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/26 "2016-12-31T01:31:13Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I don’t know that ‘encouraged’ is the right word. My observation of the young girls in my family and among their friends has been that they can’t wait to start putting on make up, doing their hair and wearing attention-getting clothing and accessories. Even at a young age girls know that more attractive is better. Speaking as a woman who was never interested in fashion and such - there actually is _enormous_ pressure on young women to do these things, but it’s subtle and ubiquitous. From toddlerhood young girls are presented with dolls and given the message “make babies”, and more and more there are “toy” make up kits and such for girls to play with, which give the message “this is what you do, how you look, and your role”. When I expressed more desire to play with trucks than barbies, legos rather than baby dolls, there was epic levels of concern about me. That’s how I got sent to charm school not once but _twice_ - I guess you’d call it remedial feminization. Most girls get on board with the programming early. For those of us who do not growing up can become quite a struggle. I couldn’t win - if I expressed my actual desires it was seen as a possible symptom of mental illness. If I conformed then the expectation was that I had put all that “nonsense” about non-traditional interests behind me and I _still_ didn’t get what I wanted. At least when I grew up and wanted a truck I could just go out and buy one and as long as I made the payments no one cared! I’m hoping things are getting better these days. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/27 "2016-12-31T02:27:47Z")
I think **Sam Lowry** a couple posts ago (ETA post #17; this thread advanced a \*lot \*while I was typing) really nailed it. For current culture. OTOH … There have certainly been eras in the West where the men dressed like peacocks and the women wore shapeless brown and gray frocks. So I say that a lot of this is purely cultural. We “know” from legit psych research that men are more visual than women when it comes to initial attraction to their preferred sex. What we \*don’t \*know is how 17th century European aristocrats (the aforementioned peacocks) would score on the same tests. Nor how their boring frock-wearing women would score. The disco era (when I was in college) was a mini cultural inversion. Suddenly men had to spend a lot more effort getting groomed and dressed up for dates. A LOT more. As ridiculous as the outfits look to us today, they clearly demonstrated a deep-seated male interest in looking good for the ladies. To which, I can assure you youngsters, those ladies responded. Massively. And with no small amount of appreciation that finally somebody else was going to all the trouble they’d been raised to go through; all that primping and clothes-horsing don’t come easy. Nor cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/28 "2016-12-31T02:35:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But that’s not – strictly speaking – the question, is it? > > The question isn’t whether there’s some beauty in the male body, but whether there’s a little more beauty in the female body. What’s your opinion of the female body? I think the hair, face, neck and décolletage on women is aesthetically more pleasing. From the waist down, I don’t think either gender has an advantage, until you get to the feet, where women dominate. I personally don’t find a woman’s breasts more appealing than a man’s chest, quite the opposite…and that’s about where my objectivity runs out and preference takes over. I would not argue that women put more effort into beauty as an overall effect though, it’s what we do and society appreciates it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/29 "2016-12-31T02:47:35Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > From the waist down, I don’t think either gender has an advantage, until you get to the feet, where women dominate. Wow, I could not disagree more. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/30 "2016-12-31T02:54:16Z")
As a straight man viewing women to me, yes, younger women’s bodies are generally more curvy, gracile and aesthetically appealing than a chunkier man’s body. Having said this I do appreciate, and pursue with limited effectiveness as 57 year old man, a muscular male look as an aspirational ideal for myself to obtain. In this context there is a sea change as women get older, and in some cases seemingly overnight, their bodies and faces change from aesthetically desirable objects of desire to lumpy, sagging sacks. The speed with which this happens as women age out of the maximum attractiveness bell curve is often astounding. Still and all there’s more to attractiveness than just being pretty. If an older woman can maintain some semblance of muscle tone and trimness they can still be very attractive sexually even if they are not supermodels. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/31 "2016-12-31T06:39:32Z")
Men are gross. I can’t believe this is even a debate. We’re angular, hairy, and our genitals are ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/32 "2016-12-31T11:53:01Z")
I agree the male genitals have a certain ridiculousness, but I actually _like_ the angularity and hairiness… but then, I’m a very hetero woman and you (presumably) are a hetero male. It makes sense you’d prefer the look of woman and I’d prefer the look of men. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/33 "2016-12-31T12:15:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Men are gross. I can’t believe this is even a debate. We’re angular, hairy, and our genitals are ridiculous. You know, I was just thinking the other day:: A man smelling his wife’s panties seems perfectly fine. But the mental image of a woman smelling her husband’s underwear makes one want to retch. Why is that? A: Men are gross. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/34 "2016-12-31T13:51:50Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > You know, I was just thinking the other day:: > > A man smelling his wife’s panties seems perfectly fine. It does? > [@](#): > > But the mental image of a woman smelling her husband’s underwear makes one want to retch. > > Why is that? I fail to perceive a difference, so I see nothing that needs to be explained. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/35 "2016-12-31T14:26:27Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > It does? Uh… yeah. Some dude surreptitiously sniffing some random woman’s panties is beyond creepy. But a man doing it with his wife or GF? Yeah, perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/36 "2016-12-31T14:32:21Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Uh… yeah. > > Some dude surreptitiously sniffing some random woman’s panties is beyond creepy. > > But a man doing it with his wife or GF? Yeah, perfectly fine. To you. Both are disgusting to me. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/37 "2016-12-31T15:04:01Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > You know, I was just thinking the other day:: > > A man smelling his wife’s panties seems perfectly fine. > But the mental image of a woman smelling her husband’s underwear makes one want to retch. > > Why is that? > > A: Men are gross. Women do sniff T-shirts and pillowcases and stuff like that, which is somewhere in the same neighborhood, and yet far enough away that I almost snorted my coffee reading this. Thanks. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I agree the male genitals have a certain ridiculousness… I agree too. Also, ears. Ears are ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/38 "2016-12-31T16:22:42Z")
Generically speaking, a woman’s reproductive success is more heavily based on her physical appearance than a mans. Appearance is important in a man but so are other non appearance based factors like status, wealth, reputation, etc. as well as signs that he will be a good provider and protector. For women it is mostly just appearance and personality traits that she would be a good mother. So yes, overall I’d say women are more aesthetically attractive just because appearance plays a bigger role in reproduction for women than for men. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/39 "2016-12-31T16:54:39Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I don’t think so. Women’s appearance is more of a “thing”, which is why it sells to women. > > Women aren’t just interested in looking at attractive women. Women are more interested in talking about other women’s attractiveness or lack thereof than they are of men’s. Because, again, women attractiveness is a “thing”, i.e. a big deal in our culture. Not only is women’s appearance more of a thing, but men are more hesitant to notice or discuss other men’s appearance, because it’s just not a thing for straight men to do. I’d guess you could go into absolutely any female hair salon with 20 pictures of female models and ask the women in the salon to rank the models from most to least attractive, and you’d get a lively debate going pretty quickly even if they couldn’t agree on the rankings. But if you went to a random barbershop with 20 pictures of male models and asked the men in the barbershop to rank the male models, then the men would either be hesitant, or confused, or disgusted that you asked. Maybe in barbershops in LA or New York the men might not be as afraid of being seen as gay by noticing male beauty and would happily rank the pictures, but I’d guess in a lot of places, even liberal gay-friendly ones, the debate would not go over well. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Generically speaking, a woman’s reproductive success is more heavily based on her physical appearance than a mans. Appearance is important in a man but so are other non appearance based factors like status, wealth, reputation, etc. as well as signs that he will be a good provider and protector. For women it is mostly just appearance and personality traits that she would be a good mother. > > So yes, overall I’d say women are more aesthetically attractive just because appearance plays a bigger role in reproduction for women than for men. But is that inherent from biology or genetics, or because of culture? It seems in a lot of animal species where one sex has to be more showy and attractive to get a mate it’s more often the males, while the females are more muted colors. Also, for many years women had mainly to use their appearance to attract men, because they had much less opportunities to accumulate status and wealth then men do. Even today there are lots of men are threatened by women with more status and wealth. And a woman’s reputation has always been a big deal in whether a woman is chosen to be a long-term mate, even if it’s not considered for a short-term fling. So yes, women might be more aesthetically pleasing, but it’s not solely because evolution or God made it that way, but because of cultural demands. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896/40 "2016-12-31T17:15:14Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > To you. > > Both are disgusting to me. I don’t think most Doper’s find it disgusting. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=596488) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-aesthetically-attractive-than-men/775896.md?page=3)