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Mon 12 Feb, 2018 03:46 am
What's with the long legs obsession?
I am a man and have had my fair share of intimacy with women. Strangely enough, there is one thing about men I've been thinking about a lot and just can't understand:
Why is it that men fancy long legs?
In works of fiction and non-fiction, I have over many years (as we all have) read countless praising descriptions of one or another woman's looks. Time and again, I have seen the author admiringly state that the woman had long legs. Long legs are without doubt applauded far more often than, say, smooth skin or firm buttocks. And when a man describes a woman's legs, it's almost never about how straight or curved they are, how thick or thin they are, how firm or flabby they are, how hairy or hairless they are. The focus is always on their length, as if that was more important than anything else.
Now, it is perfectly understandable why a man would prefer large breasts over small breasts, or a slim figure over a stout one. But, for the life of me, I can't see how the length of a woman's legs should influence her attractiveness one way or another.
Obviously, different people have different tastes. I'm sure most of us have a personal preference concerning women's skin color, hairstyle or pubic hair. But as to the legs, I haven't even once in my life read anything like "there was that looker with gorgeous short legs". It's always "gorgeous long legs". Everyone who writes about women's legs seems to think it goes without saying that long legs are better than short legs. And every time I read something like that I wish I could call the writer and ask him: "What in heaven's name has the LENGTH of the legs got to do with anything?"
Not that it has any practical importance. It's just that I am very interested in psychology and I do understand great many things about people, so it disturbs me that I can't find any explanation to the men's fascination with women's long legs.
I would be most grateful if you could help me further my knowledge on this.
Pretty please, try to write something at least remotely insightful. Platitudes such as "I don't know why, I just find long legs sexy", "We like many things, not just long legs" and "Not all men like long legs" are not exactly helpful in understanding WHAT it is many men find so special about womens' long legs. As hard as it may be, if you don't have anything to say, just don't say anything.
@Lawless,
Beauty standards are cultural. Our ideas of what makes a woman attractive come from the society we live in.
I am not sure if long legs were considered attractive throughout history. I suspect not.
@maxdancona,
Human beauty standards are first and foremost natural, although also tweaked and shaped by culture.
Maybe in this case, the explaination is simply that people with long legs can run faster and longer than people with short legs.
@Olivier5,
I don't think history agrees with you Olivier. Different cultures, and different eras, have had wildly different ideas of beauty with very few universal traits.
@maxdancona,
I think history agrees with me. Was there ever a period or a place where short legs were given an aestetics preference over long ones?
@hightor,
I've met a group of pygmies once, but forgot to ask them...
@Olivier5,
It appears you are wrong. The way they study cultural differences is to compare feminine ideals as expressed in art and cross cultural studies. It is easy to find studies that show that the attractiveness of long legs varies from culture to culture.
For example...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2007.00235.x/abstract
The attractiveness assigned to breast size also varies from.culture to culture.
What we consider attractive in a woman is more nurture than nature.
@maxdancona,
It's a mix of nurture and nature. In my experience, the main variable aesthetic factor across cultures and eras is body mass -- the amount of fat considered beautiful in a woman. For instance, our western societies currently discourage fat and encourage very light body frames in women, to an unhealthy degree, through movies, fashion, etc. at the same time as the same societies are hit by an unhealthy obesity epidemic.
In contrast, I never heard of a period or culture favoring short legs. Of course there would be local variations in what precise ratio is considered optimal. We would need to get the actual data from your quoted article to see whether the cultural variations between the UK and Malaysia are large or small, and how they compare to the actual specrum of sizes (or ratios) in each culture.
@Olivier5,
You are the one making a universal claim based on a single data point. I think the burden of proof is on you. There is a cognitive bias here; people tend to assume that modern Western cultural norms are universal. Usually they aren't.
But here is another study suggesting you are wrong... I am doing your work for you.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/p6621?journalCode=peca
@maxdancona,
Idem. We would need to get the actual data from your quoted articles to see whether the cultural variations are large or small, and how they compare to the actual specrum of sizes (or ratios) in each context.
@Olivier5,
Olivier5 wrote:I never heard of a period or culture favoring short legs.
it helps to look at fashions - they favour different body types and proportions - body types come in and out of fashion over the years. big boobs, no boobs. taller/shorter. hips/no hips. flapper clothing flattered shorter and narrower bodies which were the rage in the 1920's. shorter legs managed (still do) dances of that period better and were preferred. similar body type to the Twiggy of the 1960's but with shorter legs.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2913285/How-shape-perfect-body-changed-100-years.html
https://www.scienceofpeople.com/ideal-body-types-throughout-history/
the buzzfeed video is pretty good
you can really see the difference between the Egyptian and Ancient Greek legs/overall body
https://www.buzzfeed.com/eugeneyang/womens-ideal-body-types-throughout-history
Petite women are found to be very attractive by some standards, but not small men. .
Amazon women - with large, muscular legs- are desirable to some men. I think there's a pre- conceived notion of attraction that people follow.
I saw the most beautiful couple the other day. He was ruggedly handsome. She was 1-1/2 heads taller, at least 6'5 and absolutely gorgeous.They seemed very much in love. I know another gal who finds her BF thru a club for tall people. I think it's called Toppers.
@PUNKEY,
PUNKEY wrote:Petite women are found to be very attractive by some standards, but not small men. .
My sister loves small guys! Her friend is the same, and I don't think they are all that unusual. Actually my sister says (I just asked her) that of course the mere matter of a guy's height would neither be a deal maker or breaker, she is not that shallow, that would make her preference into a fetish, but still she does like her "pocket rockets" (her phrase, not mine).
Does anyone remember the Six Feet Under episode where Rico is for a short time working for the Krohner mortician company and he is at a conference where he runs into a woman who says to him "Aren't you just the cutest little thing?" or something like that, and they go to his hotel room and go at it like rabbits?
@ehBeth,
Still no short legs in there...
@Olivier5,
flappers and Ancient Greeks - to name two from those links
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