h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was just wondering, from a male's perspective, what is really important for a female to do/be/have as far as her body/mind/personality go?

What is really attractive in a woman?

Is it actually as important to have the "perfect body" as the media make it seem?

It depends on individual taste. Objectively, nothing is 'really' attractive except insofar as more or fewer people are in fact attracted to it.

Tits, bum, hips, and a great personality

But what counts as a great personality? (And why rank hips higher than eyes?-- See, individual taste.)

You're more likely to get an unbiased opinion from 2legs, as he's going on how those particular body parts feel!.... and he does ALOT of feeling people up!

I always think that someone having a 'great personality' as a single reason for liking them is a load of old tosh.... I'm sorry but if I was to be intimate with someone they'd have to be what I considered good looking! There would be no question of a paper bag.... Beauty is on the eye of the beholder. Generally if the first words I use to describe someone is 'has a great personality, or is a great person' it generally means they are ugly and I wouldn't climb in the sack with them for all the proverbial tea!

What defines a nice personality? People have varying views on that too! I wouldn't be attracted to a 'lout' but then I have friends who love a 'bad boy' as they put it!

Sorry, I know this question was for the menfolk, just had to add my

'hips before eyes' hips are an important...... thing for getting hold of wish I had some myself mind Well, I guess what one person means by 'personality' is different to another; I need to 'connect' with people (wether friends or lovers), on several levesl; intelectually, physically, same/simular/compatible sense of humour, sense of fun, daring, simular interests, etc., But its not always as simple as having the same* interests/intelect/sense of humour etc., opposites do work in that sense too, so long as they're compatible with each other

today march 8th is international womens day. whats important about women? they do two thirds of the worlds work for one third of the pay,
and what they look like is still more important than what they can achieve.am I the only one that finds this very sad in the year 2006?

Funny, I was mulling over this idea this morning in the shower (not the inequality of women - that's a different matter!)

I was thinking that I'm glad my partners and boyfriends haven't been the shallow types who are fussy about me having beautiful nails, or always having smooth legs, or having a good figure. But maybe there's some self selection going on there - we wouldn't be going out together for long if those things DID matter to him.

But I do get a bit paranoid and self-critical when I compare myself to previous girlfriends who were definitely prettier.

Good personality is like having a GSOH or being a better than average driver - everyone thinks they have/ are/do.

I just can't comprehend why the image of "ideal" beauty is so cookie-cutter if beauty in and of itself varies so much.

My boyfriend says I'm one of the prettiest women he's ever seen, but I look nothing like what traditional beauty entails (I'm rather short and chubby with frizzy hair and bad skin).

I'm just confused as to where the whole system of beauty standards comes from. If personality and personal preferences are the real deciding factors of attraction, then why do we focus so much on one certain type of "ideal" physical beauty?

And further more it IS horrible and inexcusable that we still judge women mostly on physical appearances. Even I find myself judging women I've never met or hardly know on how they look. And the whole time, I'm judging myself as well. I know most magazine pictures are airbrushed and mostly fictional, but I STILL find myself drawing comparisons between myself and these unrealistic pictures and end up feeling ugly.

I can't understand it! I also can't help but wonder what kind of effects our impossible standards are leaving on society.

Whats really important when you get to my age is that the body still actually works.I've had so many bits replaced i can't go through an airport scanner without alarm bells ringing,but the brains still sharp although my children think my brain was replaced some time ago by an alien from the planet LUNA (as in tic)

'I just can't comprehend why the image of "ideal" beauty is so cookie-cutter if beauty in and of itself varies so much.'

Well, there are lines of explanation to do with characteristics indicative of fertility; then there are differing social conceptions: e.g. if you think clean white teeth are attractive your opinion differs from the prevailing one in feudal Japan:

http://www.kyotojournal.org/kjselections/murasaki.html
"Super-white makeup makes white teeth look yellow," she explains, "and so you can see with black teeth this removes the distraction." Another effect of the black teeth, says Dalby, is the emphasis on the kurokami — black hair. "In Heian Japan hair was important. The black teeth set off the black hair." Dalby didn't try the other custom of Murasaki's day which was shaving off your eyebrows and painting them on the middle of the forehead. "They completely rearranged the proportions of the face."

http://www.thingsasian.com/goto_article/article.897.html
In Japan tooth blackening was known as Ohagura and was believed to enhance sex appeal in addition to maintaining healthy teeth.

I maintain, however, in relation to the original question, that popular convention =/= 'real' importance.

>> I'm just confused as to where the whole system of beauty standards comes from.

Ahem: A2973855

R.T.

I still get annoyed at the way the media sort of shoves this idea of beauty in your face. I'm also short and chubby which did not prevent someone fancing me so much he married me. It depresses me beyond belief that plastic surgery is on the rise and one girl on a program I saw had breast reduction just so she could wear skimpy tops when originally she had boobs some girls would have killed for.

Yes, you do have to fancy someone to want to sleep with them but you also need something to be about to talk to them about however gorgeous they are and if can be attracted to a sense of humour, kindness and a shared interest the same things the way you can to a physical feature.

A lot of people have a lot of varying tastes - one man's fit is another man's skinny and one man's fat is another's curvy and also most people are willing to compromise on their physical ideal if they meet someone they really click with. Anyone who doesn't is probably too shallow to worth bothering with anyway.

Brain.















Oh no sod it I can't keep this up. Tits.

PP

Boobs, bum, hips and face. Oh, and hair.

What kind of tits, a**, hips, face,and hair? Be more specific.
Most women have those things-just with different sizes, ages, and shapes.

Boobies this big



PP

When woman who you do not know walks into a room they are either:

Sh*ggable
Goodlooking
OK looking
Plain
Plain ugly

After you have spent a few hours chatting to them then they might then become attractive (in some cases with the obligatory paperbag over the head however...!).

i.e. for me an attractive person is more than looks. A physically shaggable woman could have the mind of a haddock which is a major turn off.

Intelligence is VERY sexy. Though a nice pair of 's don't go amiss.