I was having a drunken discussion with a few buddies about this over the weekend. I have a friend who maintains that because of limited fertility time, women hit their peak sex appeal at the end of puberty, then the clock starts ticking.
Men on the other hand, tend to maintain their sex appeal longer (into their 30s and 40s) because we stay fertile much longer.
Is there any truth to this, and does it inform our norms as a society when it comes to pop culture sexualization of men and women?
The standard line is that men age like wine and women age like milk, with women basically running into the wall by their mid to late 20s while most men prefer 'em super young, 18-22. Personally, I tend to appreciate older women more, I’d say early to mid 30s for the physical peak, but I’m a weirdo.
There was an interesting survey several months ago which showed men found women at age 21 the most sexually desirable while women found men about their own age the most sexually desirable.
According to OKCupid, a woman’s peak is between 21 and 26 and a man’s peak is between 25 and 30, as handily summarized in this graph.
In the circles where these things matter a woman’s peak is anywhere up to size 10, a man’s peak is anywhere over $200,000.
I think that graph is slightly different than what the question as asked. OKC did another survey where they asked what age men and women found most attractive. Women found men their age most attractive up until around 45. Men found 20 year old women most attractive no matter how old the man was.
For me (and I suspect for a lot of men), the peak time is after the woman quits looking like a kid. Most women seem to fill out in their late teens/early 20s as far as their figures are concerned, and at some point in there, they quit looking so immature facially.
That point when they’ve filled out in their figure, and don’t look like a kid is the apex. Most women stay there until sometime around 30, at which point they seem to lose, for lack of a better term, “baby fat” in their faces. For most non-overweight women, this makes them look old. My wife and I typically reference a “Far Side” comic and say that this is “being hit by the Old Age Truck”. This can also happen if they get too concerned about being extremely thin. Mind you, that doesn’t mean they’re unattractive, but that they’re definitely on the far side of the hill. For an example, look at Cobie Smulders in the first 3 seasons of “HIMYM” and then in the last 2-3 seasons. Somewhere in there, this happened to her- she’s still extremely attractive, but not at her peak, which was somewhere before she turned 30.
For some, who may have looked particularly girlish, this shifts them from the extremely youthful look into something more mature, and into their “peak”. I personally suspect that Jennifer Lawrence will follow this route.
^ Good insight. Another good example is Kaley Cuoco on TBBT. The first few seasons she was right in the middle of peak sex appeal, and now while she is still beautiful, I find her less feminine (and not because of the haircut).
If we’re talking strictly about physical appeal, it makes sense that we’d have evolved to find people most sexually appealing at the age of greatest health and fertility and/or ability to raise children.
Going from personal observation, I’d say that different people reach their peak attractiveness at different ages.
In Japan, it seems for women that it’s before they’re women. :eek:
Yep… something about her face changed between now and then. Her figure’s not really much different, but her face is.
[Moderator Hat ON]
This seems like it’ll inherently be IMHO sort of responses. Moving from GD to IMHO.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
I certainly hope it is sometime after 55 for men, as it would br really sad to have peaked already. (I suppose some peaks are lower than others.)
Even when I was young I though women in their late thirties through forties are the sexiest. My wife’s in her late forties and still looking good.
I don’t think that’s weird for any man over age 30. I find that as I get older, women age 18-22 tend to look less attractive (not that I see that many of them). They just look like kids, not women.
But as women get older (past 30s) and lose face fat, they can start looking a bit haggard. Particularly if they go for being super skinny.
I am 50 and have already passed my peak. But I find women in their late 30’s to late 40’s most attractive.
For me I think of women in their mid-20s as generally being the most sexually alluring (though I’ve seen plenty of women who were still attractive well past that age). Men? Well, being a straight male I don’t really know but from personal experience it does seem that men seem to stay attractive to women longer than vice-versa (it helps if the guy takes care of himself, I suppose). Look at Hugh Hefner and those Dos Equis ads (“the most interesting man in the world…”) and ask yourself how common it is for 60+ year old women to find themselves in the company of 20-something men who aren’t their grandsons.
I’ve done it with the lights on, but I’ve never been allowed to peek. What’s it like?
