Saturday, July 6, 2013

In Argentina, It's T or A, not T and A

In an Argentine research project, Bruno Dagnino, Joaquin Navajas, and Mariano Sigman explored which feminine features did males find to be most attractive or compelling; specifically, breasts or buttocks.*

In the first experiment, 184 male participants reported their preference between breasts and buttocks on a continuous scale, with the two extremes indicated a preference for breasts or buttocks, and the midpoint indicating an equal preference for both.  Dagnino et al. found that the men fell into two distinct groups: buttocks-focused or breast-focused.  Very rarely did these Argentine guys tend to view these traits as equally influential.  Interestingly, more Argentine guys were biased towards buttocks than breasts.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers studied the eye movements of 25 male participants,  Their eye movements tended to be more toward the trait that they self-designated as being more important to them.

So, is there a lesson from this?  It may be that there are specific physical feminine traits that they focus on in assessing attractiveness that are culture-dependent.  It's worth wondering how this cultural differentiation came about, particularly why American preferences came to be where they presently are.  In this context, data from an breast cup size may be relevant.  Larger breasts are more prevalent in Scandanavia and in Russia; with the United States, Germany, Columbia, and Venezuela in the second tier.**

On the other hand, research by Viren Swami and Adrian Furnham in the United Kingdom indicated that both men and women tended to prefer smallish breasts, while buttock size did not play a significant role.  Apparently, UK women should not worry much about their final impressions as they walk down the street while Argentine women should be concerned about their exits!

While these studies are interesting, the work is necessarily sex-limited.  What about women's preferences for male pectorals versus buttocks?  Are there cultural differences, or do women throughout the world tend to emphasize more heavily certain features?

*It figures.  Three guys would think up this research project.
**The U.S., Columbia, and Venezuela have high rates of breast augmentation procedures.


17 comments:

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

I'm glad we take the total package into consideration here!

Duckbutt said...

Is buttock-enhancement surgery common in Argentina?

MarkD60 said...

There's nothing better that boobs, except butts! And there's nothing better than butts, except boobs!

TexWisGirl said...

duckbutt and mark made me laugh. :)

John A Hill said...

My preference depends on whether they are facing towards me or facing away.

Mike said...

I knew Brazil was a butt country. I didn't know about Argentina. Another country gets added to my visit list.

Brandi said...

Alabamian guys lean more toward the Ts. Still, I try to firm up my glutes.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Sadly...my Ts are barely there..on a plus..NO SAGGING!

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Sadly...my Ts are barely there..on a plus..NO SAGGING!

BipolarBunny said...

Interesting.

Deena said...

Wish mine were larger. Both sides.

Cloudia said...

Very interesting to me as I'm blessed in the bust, but self conscious about my boyish butt!

Aloha my dear toaster pastry!

eViL pOp TaRt said...

It's difficult when you are not of the cultural standard, whatever it is. I wouldn't mind a visit from the boob fairy.

Insane Penguin said...

Female breasts of any size are wonderful!

Randomly Rachel said...

Guys should not make it obvious that they are evaluating either -- it induces unwelcome self-consciousness.

John A Hill said...

Air traffic controllers can be a crass lot. Years ago several guys and a few ladies were gathered and a guy made a comment about one of the ladies lack of breast size. I was impressed by her self confident response.
She simply said, "I know they're not big, but they are pretty. I have very pretty breasts."
I'm pretty sure the guy never got the opportunity to see for himself!

Bilbo said...

I'm glad we made a clean breast of that topic. Me, I love the entire package, whether the boob fairy has visited or not.