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.