Study says women are more attracted to muscular men. Really?

Why are men’s muscles so much bigger than women’s?  Partly, of course, because men do the fighting and hunting. But also, perhaps, because women like men who can do these things well, and are thus attracted to muscular men…

The more muscular a man, the more sexual partners he reported, both in the past year and over his lifetime, and the earlier his first sexual experience was likely to have been. This may, in part, be a result of the ability of muscular men to intimidate 97lb weaklings…

[P]revious studies have confirmed scientifically the everyday observation that women do indeed prefer men with big biceps and triangular torsos.

Indeed, this is the not so revolutionary finding of a National Health and Nutrition Survey that followed 12,000 men and women over the course of six years. 

I was rather amused to read a report on it in the current issue of the Economist under the titillating title, Sexual selection in humans.

But I thought the report was undermined somewhat by the fact that it featured a photo of Russian Premier Vladimir Putin … fly fishing. After all, if muscles were so determinative in this respect, why not feature a real muscleman like, say, Lou Ferrigno (aka The Incredible Hulk)?

The reason, of course, is that the study merely reflects atavistic sexual instinct.  And no doubt it would be relevant if we were still living in the Stone Age, when women were dependent on strong men to fight to protect, and hunt to feed, them.

Today, however, when most women fantasize about a man to protect and feed them, a rich professional or a powerful politician – even if he can barely lift 97lbs – probably comes to mind. This, ironically, is why the picture of Putin, not Ferrigno, is so appropriate.

Indeed, what, if not money and (non-physical) power, do you think explains the phenomenon of beautiful women marrying scrawny men?!

This is why we would be far better advised to develop our minds to get rich like Bill Gates than to develop our bodies to get strong like Lou Ferrigno – as the report suggests.  Of course, either way, if the goal is primarily to attract beautiful women, our souls (to say nothing of our hearts) are doomed.