Different people notice different features in potential partners. Maybe you're drawn to dark eyes, or you have a thing for shapely biceps. There are common patterns in what people like to see in possible mates, however, and fitness equipment review site Fitrated.com sussed them out by surveying 2,017 U.S. respondents on their favourite body types and body parts among members of their preferred gender.
Choosing from the body type categories "average," "muscular," "curvy," "thin," and "other," 41.7 percent of straight women in the survey reported that they liked men with average bodies best (the affinity for dad bod lives on), while 35.8 percent of straight women said they opted for muscular dudes. Among gay women, 35.9 percent preferred women with an average body type, while 30.1 percent sought out curvy women, and 11.2 percent liked ladies with a muscular build.
Straight men, meanwhile, most often professed their appreciation for curvy women, to the tune of 48 percent; 24.1 percent of straight men preferred average women, 22.4 percent liked thin women, and only 3.8 percent said that muscular women were their ideal. (Ugh gender norms. I'm hitting the gym tomorrow morning in protest.) Gay men were more split, with 36.1 percent looking for muscular partners, 26.7 percent pleased with average-bodied gentlemen, 18.3 percent liking their partners thin, and 11.1 percent calling "curvy" the ideal body type.
As for which female body part got straight men going the most, among guys who preferred average and curvy women, it was the chest; among men who liked thin women, the butt beat out the chest by half a percentage point. No matter what body type they sought out, straight women reported that they liked arms the best out of a man's body parts, while gay women reported that they were most into women's chests regardless of body type preference. Finally, gay men with an affinity for average- and muscular-bodied men prioritised the chest, while gay men who liked thin men said they looked to the stomach.
Conscious that this entire report is about what other people think of how you look, Fitrated.com ends on a body-positive note, advising that "while it's nice to grab attention, you should love and take care of your body regardless." Something to keep in mind the next time you hit Tinder.
