Long legged women (and men) perceived more sexy and healthy

William Atkins
Friday, 18 January 2008 14:53

Science - Health

A Polish study concludes that the length of legs affect human perceptions of people. Longer leg lengths are more desirable and attractive, and associated with better health.         

Polish researchers Boguslaw Pawlowski and Piotr Sorokowski, from the University of Wroclaw in Poland, showed 218 men and women seven male images and seven female images whose figures were altered (computer-enhanced) with regards to leg length.

Leg lengths were modified by plus and minus five, ten, and fifteen percent of the average length of legs within Poland, along with also showing the length of legs of average Polish citizens.

They concluded that subjects liked best the image of legs, whether it was on males or females, which were five percent longer than the average. This preference was found in all types of people (those with various body shapes and leg lengths).

Studies in sexual attraction had already concluded that taller people are found to be generally perceived as more attractive than their shorter-in-statute counterparts. However, the length of legs had not been studied by itself with respect to its attractiveness as seen by people.

The two researchers also concluded that the longer legs were also perceived by people to indicate better health. That is, shorter legs on people were perceived by on-lookers to have a higher risk of diseases and illnesses. (Please remember that this is a study on people's "perceptions" of other people, not a study on whether other people were "actually" healthier or not.)

Although only Polish people were used in the study, the researchers are confident their results will hold throughout the world.

The results of their study were published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior under the title “Adaptive preferences for leg length in a potential partner.”

In another study on body shape, U.S. researchers found that women with hour-glass figures were found to be smarter and to give birth to more intelligent children. See the iTWire article “Curvy women smarter and give birth to higher-IQ children.”