Muscular men are more attractive?

Muscles. Hot or not?

The general feeling is that people should have muscles. But why?

According to a study by UCLA Professor David Frederick:

[...] Of the men physical characteristics are related not only to the preferences of women for his teammates, but also to the men and women of the past and the choices companion of sexual behavior.

NOTE: Although many media reports that we need to understand that the study subjects were male and female college students (aged 18-25 years) living in California, USA. Extrapolating that to all the men and women around the world is stupid. One study interviewed 99 male undergraduates about their sexual histories, and, to be honest – you can not really believe that "conversation" their businesses?

Research

This fascinating document actually includes 6 studies and it is difficult to summarize. Here I will focus on only one of the studies:

141 women between the ages of about 20 university looked 6 Computer-generated images of men (created with MyVirtualModel.com).

Note that only the images were shown to women – not the labels (eg, muscular, lean, etc.).

Women have evaluated the images against four factors: sexual desirability, commitment, physical dominance (more than other males), and volatility (eg in a bad mood).

The heads have been cleared (by the authors of the study) to remove any hint of racial or ethnic.

Who is in the lead?

Okay, deep breath guys … -

• Attractiveness, sexual desirability? The built and tonic guys came tops. The boy was chubby bottom of the pile. Muscular guy still desirable, but not as much as boy built and toned.
• Physical dominance? Muscular and built peaks were, the boy slim down.
• Commitment? Chubby voted the best guy, muscular and built the worst.
• Volatility? The less volatile slender boy with muscular and built the most volatile. I think this is why skinny guys want to gain muscle mass.

The alternate view: not all women like muscles

An Australian search Flinders University (published in Body Image) shows that the body "average" male Businesses as good as the muscular one.

The researchers showed "mock-up advertisements for jeans, skin care products and have cologne – muscular male models and men of more average dimensions – to more than 600 students in their late teens." (Source)

Neither women or men interviewed found the muscle models more attractive than men average. Lead researcher Diedrichs suggests that participants "may be associated with muscular models with vanity, femininity and homosexuality, and dismissed them as targets appropriate comparison."

The women reported "a more positive body image state after exposure to male models, regardless of their body size and muscularity." In other words, advertising images of guys ripped and muscular Hulk did not cause any increased pleasure or positive effect on children of medium-sized.

Medium-thin (left) and medium-large (right).

In case you're wondering what the "average-slim" and "medium-sized" used in the process, I got a sample photo (from newspaper article). The researchers constructed advertising images using Photoshop.

Reference
Diedrichs, PC, and Lee, C. GI Joe or Average Joe? The impact of mid-size and muscular male fashion models on men and women's body image and advertising effectiveness. Body image (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2010.03.004