Attractiveness and fertility

This example also concerns men and women, procreation and the potential insatiability of our drivers. The article below is taken from The Times:

"From Marilyn Monroe to Jordan, men have always lusted after women with large breasts and a slender waist. Now the sexual appeal of the Barbie doll figure has been explained by science, it is a rare example of truth in advertising.

Women with that enviable combination of a voluptuous chest and narrow midriff tend to be more fertile than those who do not boast an hourglass figure, according to research.

Levels of two hormones that are critical to fertility are consistently higher 17 November 2006 among women with large breasts. They may be two or three times more likely to conceive per menstrual cycle, a study has found.

This suggests that the male predilection for women with such figures has evolved to prefer a mate with the greatest possible reproductive potential.

"The cultural icon of Barbie as a symbol for female beauty appears to have some biological grounding" said Grazyna Jasienska, who led the study at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

If body type is a genuine signal of fecundity, men who recognised it and pursued Barbie clones would over time have left more descendents than those who preferred other shapes. Their tastes would then have been passed on to their sons, leaving a lasting mark on the male sexual psyche.

Evolutionary biologists have long argued that some ideals of beauty are adaptations that allow both men and women to select partners who are fertile, healthy and likely to be good parents. If this is the case, however, there must be a correlation between certain preferred traits of fecundity or fitness.

Dr Jasienska and colleagues in the United States and Norway investigated whether the shape of a woman's body was related to her fertility, as judged by hormone levels.

The scientists took saliva from 119 Polish women, aged between 24 and 37, over the course of a menstrual cycle, and measured the samples for levels of two hormones - oestradiol and progesterone. Both are important indicators of fertility. The vital statistics of the women were then measured.

The results, details of which were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, show a clear link between fertility hormones and body shape.

Among women with both narrow waists and large breasts, levels of the hormone oestradiol were between 26 per cent and 37 percent higher than in women from all the other groups. Progesterone levels were significantly higher in all women with slender waists, regardless of breast size."

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