AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY 19:8895 (2007)

Original Research Article

Studies of Human Physique and Sexual Attractiveness: Sexual

Preferences of Men and Women in China
BARNABY J. DIXSON,1 ALAN F. DIXSON,2* BAOGUO LI,3 AND M.J. ANDERSON1
1
Department of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego,
San Diego, California
2
School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
3
College of Life Sciences, and Key Laboratory Resource Biology and Biotechnology in
Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xian, China

ABSTRACT Men and women at Northwest University (n 631), Xian, China, were asked
to rate the attractiveness of male or female gures manipulated to vary somatotype, waist-to-
hip ratio (WHR), secondary sexual traits, and other features. In study 1, women rated the aver-
age masculine somatotype as most attractive, followed by the mesomorphic (muscular), ecto-
morphic (slim), and endomorphic (heavily built) somatotypes, in descending order of preference.
In study 2, the amount and distribution of masculine trunk (chest and abdominal) hair were
altered progressively in a series of front-posed gures. Women rated gures with no or little
trunk hair as most attractive. Study 3 assessed the attractiveness of front-posed male gures
which varied only in length of their nonerect penis. Numerical ratings for this trait were low,
but moderate lengthening of the penis (22% or 33% above average) resulted in a signicant
increase in scores for attractiveness. In study 4, Chinese men rated the attractiveness of back-
posed female images varying in waist-to-hip ratio (WHR from 0.51.0). The 0.6 WHR gure was
most preferred, followed by 0.7, while gures with higher ratios (0.9 or 1.0) were signicantly
less attractive. Study 5 rated the attractiveness of female skin color: men expressed a marked
preference for images which were lighter in color, as compared to images of average or darker
skin colors. These results, the rst of their kind reported for a Chinese population, support the
view that sexual selection has inuenced the evolution of human physique and sexual attrac-
tiveness in men and women. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:8895, 2007. ' 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

There is increasing evidence that sexual
selection has inuenced the evolution of
human morphology, especially via sexual pref-
erences for features which signal female re-
productive potential or masculine strength
and tness. In women, for example, the waist-
to-hip ratio (WHR) may provide an honest sig-
nal of fat distribution in relation to repro-
ductive health (Singh, 1993, 2002; Singh and
Young, 1995). A low female WHR (0.7) is
judged as most attractive by men in some cul-
tures (e.g., North America: Singh and Young,
1995), but not in all human populations (e.g.,
the Matsigenka of Peru: Yu and Shepard,
1998; the Hadza of Tanzania: Wetsman and
Marlowe, 1998). Recent work on the Hadza
conrmed the importance of a low WHR in
female attractiveness, provided that side-
posed images are used which allow men to
include judgments of the shape and size of the
female buttocks (Marlowe et al., 2005). Nar-
row waists and large breasts are correlated
with higher levels of 17-b-estradiol and
greater reproductive potential in women
(Jasienska et al., 2004). Women with higher
follicular-phase levels of estrogen are also
judged to be facially more attractive by men
(Law-Smith et al., 2006). Measurements of the
body mass index (BMI) of women are also cor-
related with female attractiveness; the rela-
tive importance of BMI and WHR in this
respect was debated by various authors (e.g.,
Tovee et al., 1999; Streeter and McBurney,
2003; Schutzwohl, 2006).
Skin color is another trait which may be
related to female attractiveness. Darwin (1871)
noted that women in various parts of the world
*Correspondence to: Alan F. Dixson, School of Biological
Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600,
Wellington, New Zealand. E-mail: alan.dixson@vuw.ac.nz
Received 17 January 2006; Revision received 5 August
2006; Accepted 8 August 2006
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.
wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ajhb.20584

V
C 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
 SEXUAL PREFERENCES IN CHINA
tend to have lighter skin than men. He quoted
Schweinfurth, for example, concerning the
Monbuttoos of Africa: Like all her race she
had a skin several shades lighter than her hus-
bands, being something of the colour of half-
roasted coffee. Some evidence to support
effects of sexual selection on female skin color
has been obtained (van den Berghe and Frost,
1986; Frost, 1988; Symons, 1995). Female skin
color changes with age and reproductive condi-
tion (e.g., in pregnant and multiparous
women), so that it might provide men with vis-
ual cues of female age and reproductive condi-
tion (Symons, 1995). However, few cross-cul-
tural data have been collected to assess mens
preferences for female skin color.
Where masculine physique is concerned,
there is evidence that taller men achieve
greater reproductive success (Pawlowski et al.,
2000), and that a broad chest, narrow waist,
and muscular torso are rated as attractive by
women (Mealey, 1997; Lynch and Zellner, 1999;
Maisey et al., 1999). These traits may have
played an important role in human evolution,
given the requirement for men to compete with
one another, to provide protection for female
partners, and to assure competence in hunting
and other physically demanding survival skills
(Buss, 2003; Bramble and Lieberman, 2004).
Men are more hirsute than women, and in a va-
riety of nonhuman primate species, reproduc-
tively mature males exhibit androgen-depend-
ent capes of hair (Dixson, 1998). Sexual dimor-
phism in the distribution of trunk (chest and
abdominal) hair in human beings might play
some role in masculine sexual attractiveness.
Human beings are unique among primates in
being bipedal, so that features on the chest and
abdomen are displayed more prominently to
conspecics. Masculine trunk hair was rated as
highly sexually attractive by women in studies
conducted in the UK (Dixson et al., 2003).
Women also rated more hirsute male images as
being older than those lacking chest hair. Cross-
cultural studies consistently show that women
prefer to marry men who are older than them-
selves (Buss, 2003). However, there are very few
cross-cultural data on the potential attractive-
ness of masculine trunk hair, and this trait may
vary considerably between human populations.
The assumption of an upright gait also
means that human genitalia are displayed in
a different way, and perhaps more promi-
nently, than in typically quadrupedal mam-
mals. A number of authors commented on the
relatively large size of the human penis, for
example, and the possibility that it plays some
89
signicant role in visual display either within,
or between, the sexes (Short, 1980; Diamond,
1997; Potts and Short, 1999). It may play some
role in female sexual preference, although
with some exceptions (Stulhofer, 2006), the
evidence for this remains largely anecdotal.
The current study was undertaken in order
to obtain information on the sexual preferences
of young men and women in a Chinese popula-
tion. Questionnaires were used to measure
female preferences for images which varied in
masculine physique (somatotype), distribution
of chest and abdominal hair, and penile size, as
well as mens preferences for female waist-to-
hip ratio and skin color. The results, which are
the rst of their kind obtained for a Chinese
population, are discussed in relation to studies
conducted in other parts of the world.
METHODS
Subjects
This study was conducted at Northwest
University, in the city of Xian, Shaanxi Prov-
ince, China. Students were asked to partici-
pate by lling out a questionnaire and rating
various images (see below) for sexual attrac-
tiveness. A total of 631 subjects participated
in the study (311 men and 320 women).
Questionnaires
Each questionnaire had a cover sheet
(written in Mandarin Chinese) for demographic
data, including the respondents sex, age, and
marital status. Participation was voluntary,
and at no time were respondents asked to give
their names. Women were asked to rate images
of males, varying in somatotype, distribution of
body hair, and size of genitalia. To produce
these images, photographs of back-posed and
front-posed men were scanned from Sheldon
et al. (1954). Men were asked to rate the attrac-
tiveness of images of women, varying in WHR
and skin color. Each image was manipulated
using Photoshop version 7.0 in order to stand-
ardize images for height, posture, and skin
color. Skin color was matched to that of a Chi-
nese sample by scanning photographs into the
computer and using these as the basis for color-
ing images. Where front-posed images were
used, the faces were blocked out, as our studies
did not concern facial stimuli.
Study 1. Study 1 assessed the preferences of
women for four back-posed male gures of
American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb
90 B.J. DIXSON ET AL.
varying somatotype (ectomorphic, endomor-
phic, mesomorphic, and average).
Study 2. Study 2 assessed womens preferen-
ces for front-posed images of males differing
in levels of hirsuteness of the trunk (chest and
abdomen). Five images were presented, which
varied only in degree of trunk hair (from none
to pronounced hirsuteness).
Study 3. Study 3 examined womens prefer-
ences for ve male images varying only in
length of the (nonerect) penis. In one gure,
the penis was its original size (i.e., the same
size as the original photograph used to model
the image in the computer). In the remaining
four images, penile length was modeled to be
either smaller or larger than the original size.
We had intended to alter penile lengths to be
80%, 120%, 130%, and 140% of original size.
In the event, measurement of the actual
images conrmed that they were 78%, 122%,
133%, and 143% of original size, respectively.
In all three studies, women rated each of
the stimulus images on a six-point scale where
0 unattractive, 1 only slightly attractive,
2 mildly attractive, 3 moderately attrac-
tive, 4 very attractive, and 5 extremely
attractive. The scale appeared next to each
image, as in previous studies (Dixson et al.,
2003).
Study 4. Study 4 examined mens preferen-
ces for back-posed images of the same women,
differing only in waist-to-hip ratios. Using
Photoshop, six images were produced (WHR
0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0). These images
were presented in random order on the same
page of the questionnaire; respondents were
asked to select only the image that they found
most attractive sexually. On a subsequent
page, the same stimuli were presented again,
but respondents were asked to select the one
they found most attractive for a long-term
relationship.
Study 5. Study 5 assessed male preferences
for variations in female skin color. Five images
of an identical back-posed female gure
(WHR, 0.8) were used. One standard image
had skin typical for a Chinese woman. Skin
tone was altered (using Adobe Photoshop) in a
stepwise fashion (by 10 units of brightness
American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb
and 15 units of contrast) to produce two
images which were darker than the standard
image, and two that were lighter in color.
Data analysis and statistics
In studies 13, a repeated-measures analy-
sis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to deter-
mine whether attractiveness ratings for the
various stimuli exhibited signicant differen-
ces. Post hoc Scheffe tests were then used to
test for signicant differences in attractive-
ness ratings in pairs of stimuli, but only if the
initial ANOVA had yielded a signicant result
(P < 0.05). In studies 4 and 5, w2 tests were
used to compare observed vs. expected scores
for preferences expressed by men for the vari-
ous female images.
RESULTS
A total of 320 women answered the ques-
tionnaire: 68% of them were 20 years or less
in age, and the remainder were aged 2130
years. Only one of these women was married.
The ages of male respondents (n311) were
distributed as follows: <20 years old 44%;
2130 years 54.5%; 3140 years 1%; >40
years 0.5%. Six of these men (i.e., 2%) were
married. Hence our sample consisted predomi-
nantly of young and unmarried university stu-
dents in their late teens or twenties.
Study 1: Womens ratings of masculine
somatotypes
ANOVA showed a signicant effect for wom-
ens ratings of the attractiveness of the four
male gures (F[3,957] 293, P < 0.0001). The
average somatotype was judged as most
attractive, followed by the mesomorphic soma-
totype and the ectomorphic image. The endo-
morphic somatotype was clearly rated as the
least attractive image (Fig. 1). Post hoc
Scheffe tests revealed the endomorphic image
to be signicantly less attractive than any of
the other three somatotypes (P < 0.001 for
each paired comparison). The male image
depicting an average somatotype was rated as
signicantly more attractive than the meso-
morphic gure (P < 0.001), and the meso-
morph achieved a higher rating than the ecto-
morphic image, but only slightly so (P < 0.05;
Fig. 1).
Study 2: Womens ratings of male images
varying in hirsuteness
ANOVA showed that the ve male (meso-
morphic) gures differing only in amounts of
 SEXUAL PREFERENCES IN CHINA
Fig. 1. Womens mean ratings ( SEM) for sexual
attractiveness of back-posed male gures of four differ-
ent somatotypes: ENDO, endomorphic; ECTO, ectomor-
phic; MESO, mesomorphic; AVER, average body build.
*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001. [Color gure can be viewed in
the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.
wiley.com.]
trunk (chest and abdominal) hair varied sig-
nicantly in their attractiveness to women
(F[4,1276] 76.69, P < 0.0001). Most attrac-
tive was the image lacking any trunk hair,
with a progressive decline in attractiveness as
more hair was added to the image (Fig. 2). The
image with the most chest hair was rated as
signicantly less attractive than any of the
other four images (P < 0.001 for each paired
comparison).
Study 3: Penile size and attractiveness
ANOVA revealed an overall effect of penile
length on attractiveness ratings (F[4,1276]
29.59, P < 0.0001). Women rated the gure
with the shortest penis (reduced to 78% of nor-
mal length) as least attractive, followed by the
original and largest images, with the interme-
diate (22% and 33%) lengths yielding the
highest ratings (Fig. 3). However, none of the
images was rated as being moderately attrac-
tive (score 3) on average. The highest rat-
91
Fig. 2. Womens mean ratings ( SEM) for attrac-
tiveness of front-posed male gures which vary only in
hirsuteness of trunk (chest and abdomen). None, no
trunk hair; Max, pronounced hirsuteness. *P < 0.05,
***P < 0.001. [Color gure can be viewed in the online
issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.
com.]
ings were mean 1.87 and mean 1.84 for
images in which the penis was 22% or 33%
longer in the original, respectively (it should
be recalled that a rating of 1 slightly attrac-
tive, and 2 mildly attractive). All images
used in study 3 depicted the same mesomor-
phic front-posed gure, lacking trunk hair,
and were identical except for their genitalia.
The image depicting an unaltered penile
length and lacking trunk hair also formed
part of study 2, on masculine hirsuteness. In
that study, this gure scored a mean score of
2.48, whereas in the study on penile size the
identical image was rated as signicantly less
attractive, with a mean score of 1.38. An
unpaired t-test revealed that this difference
was signicant (P < 0.0001).
Study 4: Mens ratings of female WHR
The majority of men rated the female image
depicting a WHR of 0.6 as most attractive sex-
ually, and most attractive for a potentially
long-term relationship. Thus 163 and 148
men, respectively, rated the 0.6 WHR image
as most attractive (Fig. 4), compared to the
total of 52 expected by chance (w2 test P <
0.001). The second most favored choice was
the 0.7 WHR image, signicantly so in the
American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb
92 B.J. DIXSON ET AL.

Fig. 3. Womens preferences for images of male g-

ures varying only in length of (nonerect) penis (15 in
order of increasing size). Data are means ( SEM).
***P < 0.001. [Color gure can be viewed in the online
issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.
com.]

case of a prospective long-term relationship

(P 0.001). The high WHR images (0.9 and
1.0) were consistently rated as less attractive
than expected (P < 0.001), as was the
extremely low WHR (0.5) image (P < 0.001 in
Fig. 4B). Ratings for the 0.8 WHR image did
not differ from those expected by chance.
Study 5: Mens ratings of female skin color
There was a striking effect of skin color on
mens ratings of attractiveness of the ve
back-posed female images (Fig. 5). The two
images with lighter-than-average skin colors
were chosen as most attractive by 272 (87%) of
the 311 men who lled out the questionnaire.
By contrast, the two darker-than-average
female images were preferred by 15 (5%) of
the men, and the average image was chosen
by the remaining 24 (8%). The observed pref-
erences for the ve images differed signi-
cantly (P < 0.001) from those expected by
chance in every case (Fig. 5).
DISCUSSION
The studies reported here are, to our knowl-
edge, the rst of their kind conducted in
China. It should be apparent that they refer to
a limited sample of the population (631 uni-
Fig. 4. Mens preferences for back-posed female g-
ures varying in WHR from 0.51.0. A: Subjects were
asked to choose most sexually attractive image. B: Sub-
jects were asked to choose most attractive image for
potentially long-term relationship. Dashed line, ex-
pected number of males preferring a given image; histo-
grams, observed scores. **P < 0.001, ***P < 0.001 (w2
test). [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue,
which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
versity students); thus, only 4 of our subjects
were over 30 years of age, and only 7 of them
were married. However, having acknowledged
these limitations, our results provide some use-
ful comparisons and contrasts with the nd-
ings of similar studies conducted in the US,
Europe, and elsewhere.
Chinese women rated images of average or
mesomorphic (i.e., muscular) masculine body

American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb

 SEXUAL PREFERENCES IN CHINA
Fig. 5. Mens preferences for back-posed female g-
ures varying in skin color. Average, a gure whose color
is typical of Chinese women. Two gures were lighter in
color, and two gures were darker than average.
Dashed line, expected number of males preferring a
given image; histograms, observed scores. ***P < 0.001
(w2 test). [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue,
which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
types as most attractive. Next preferred was
the slimly built (ectomorphic) male physique,
with the endomorphic (obese) male scoring
lowest for attractiveness. These results are
similar to those obtained in the UK and Sri
Lanka (Dixson et al., 2003) which showed that
women rate images of endomorphic males as
unattractive. The preferred (mesomorphic and
average) male physiques incorporate features,
such as a broad chest and narrow waist, which
were identied as attractive features for
women in a number of studies (e.g., Mealey,
1997; Schultze et al., 1991; Lynch and Zellner,
1999; Maisey et al., 1999). Signals of mascu-
line strength and health may have been
selected for early in human evolution, because
the possessors of such traits offered tangible
benets to women. Men who were better able
to protect their female partners (and off-
spring), to succeed in physical contests with
other males, and to undertake rigorous activ-
ities (such as endurance hunting) may have
experienced signicantly greater reproductive
success (Buss, 2003). By contrast, obese or
very slim men may have less stamina and
may be less healthy than those having a more
athletic physique (Katzmarzyk et al., 1998;
Bolunchuk et al., 2000).
93
In this study, Chinese women showed a
clear preference for male images lacking hair
on the chest and abdomen. This result con-
trasts with that obtained in the UK, where
women rated hirsute male images as highly
attractive and also as being older than images
of men lacking trunk hair. Clearly it would be
incorrect to attribute a generalized function to
masculine trunk hair, as a signal of hormonal
(androgenic) status or reproductive maturity.
Very few human populations have been exam-
ined, and the expression of this trait probably
differs signicantly in different parts of the
world. Chinese men may be less hirsute than
men of some European populations, for exam-
ple, although it is exceedingly difcult to
obtain quantitative information on this ques-
tion.
Body depilation is also practiced by some
men, as reported by Boroughs et al. (2005) for
a sample 118 male university students in the
US (Florida). Over half (63.61%) of these men
regularly removed body hair, especially from
the groin, chest, and abdomen (Boroughs
et al., 2005).
To our knowledge, no previous question-
naire study measured womens preferences for
male images which differ in genital morphol-
ogy. Many authors drew attention to the rela-
tively large size of the human penis, and to
the fact that it is more prominently displayed,
due to the upright posture and bipedal gait of
human beings (Short, 1980; Diamond, 1991,
1997; Jolly, 1999; Potts and Short, 1999; Miller,
2000; Graslund, 2005). It was suggested that
penile size may inuence attractiveness of the
human male, via visual as well as tactile cues
(e.g., Diamond, 1997; Jolly, 1999; Potts and
Short, 1999; Miller, 2000). Our current nd-
ings, from China, indicate that women rate
the attractiveness of male images differently
if the length of the (nonerect) penis is altered.
The lowest ratings were for the image in which
penile length was reduced, but the greatest
length increase (43%) was rated as less
attractive than smaller increases (22% and
33%; Fig. 5). The comparatively low scores
given by Chinese women may reect a cultural
or experiential effect (e.g., ambivalence to view-
ing such images or lack of sexual experience).
In studies conducted in Cameroon and the US
(California), we noted that women gave higher
ratings, although the overall pattern was the
same; the lowest ratings were for extremes
(small or large) of penile length (Dixson et al.,
unpublished data). The mechanisms controlling
these choices are currently unknown. It might
American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb
94 B.J. DIXSON ET AL.
be argued, for example, that images showing a
longer penis are more attractive because they
signal some degree of sexual arousal. However,
it would be difcult to explain the lessened
attractiveness of the largest image on that ba-
sis. The women viewed all images simultane-
ously (arranged in random order). It is possible
that viewing and rating each image separately
might have inuenced their results. Setting
aside cultural and methodological speculations,
it remains the case that very little is known
about how important women judge penis size to
be. In a recent study conducted in Croatia,
Stulhofer (2006) reported that, in a sample of
556 sexually experienced women, 75% rated
penile length or girth as being either
somewhat important or very important for tive potential (Symons, 1995). In the current
their judgment of partners. We believe that it is
time to set prudery aside and conduct more
research on this topic.
Men in our study population showed pro-
nounced preferences for back-posed female
images, dependent on their WHR or skin tone.
A WHR of 0.6 was judged as most attractive,
with 0.7 as the next most favored image, espe-
cially when judging attractiveness for a poten-
tially long-term relationship. By contrast,
images with a high WHR (0.9 or 1.0) were
rated as signicantly less attractive by Chi-
nese men. Singh (1993, 2002) argued that a
low WHR (0.7) typically reects a healthy and
fertile reproductive status in women, based on
the distribution of subcutaneous and intra-ab-
dominal fat reserves. Support for this view
comes from studies which reported correla-
tions between female waist size, breast size,
and levels of 17-b-estradiol in relation to
reproductive health (Jasienska et al., 2004).
However, cross-cultural studies revealed male
preferences for a higher WHR in some cases
(e.g., among the Matsigenka of Peru: Wu and
Shepard, 1998; and the Hadza of Tanzania:
Wetsman and Marlowe, 1998). A more recent
study of the Hadza by Marlowe et al. (2005)
showed that preferences for higher WHR
diminished when men were asked to rate side-
posed images which varied in female buttock
size. Whether WHR or body mass index (BMI:
weight scaled for height) is the most impor-
tant factor inuencing mens ratings of female
images remains a controversial issue (Tassi-
nary and Hansen, 1998; Manning et al., 1999;
Tovee et al., 1999, 2001; Henns, 2000; Singh,
2002; Streeter and McBurney, 2003). Because
WHR and BMI tend to be positively corre-
lated, it has proven difcult to tease apart the
two variables in judgments of female attrac-
American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb
tiveness. The results of the current study sup-
port the notion that lower WHRs are more
attractive to Chinese males than images with
a high (0.9 or 1.0) WHR. Whether WHR alone
or BMI is the critical variable in making such
judgments remains to be determined.
The evolution of lighter skin color in women,
as compared to men, may have been inuenced
by sexual selection (Darwin, 1871). Changes in
pigmentation (e.g., affecting the skin of the face
and abdomen) may occur in women as they
mature and pass through successive pregnan-
cies (Wong and Ellis, 1984; Sodhi and Sausker,
1988). Male preferences for lighter skin tones
might be selected for because skin color pro-
vides cues concerning female age and reproduc-
study, Chinese males expressed marked prefer-
ences for images of women with the lightest skin
tones. Ethnographic comparisons conrm that
such preferences exist in various human popula-
tions (van den Berghe and Frost, 1986; Frost,
1988). Our ndings support this conclusion.
However, it is important to extend such studies
to a wide range of human populations, because
human skin pigmentation varies so greatly in
different parts of the world, and because cul-
tural biases may also inuence judgments of
attractiveness where this trait is concerned.
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American Journal of Human Biology DOI 10.1002/ajhb