Gentlemen do not just prefer blondes, but
lighter-skinned women in general, a study has
suggested.
Scientists looking into attractiveness in men
and woman suggest that men from all races
find fairer-skinned woman most alluring,
while women are the polar opposite and
favour darker, brooding men. They said the
attraction is driven by preferences based on
moral assumptions. Scroll down for more ...
{4} Men are subconsciously attracted to
fairer-skinned icons such as Nicole Kidman or
Kylie Minogue because of the skin tone's
association with innocence, purity, modesty,
virginity, vulnerability and goodness. Women,
on the other hand, pick men with darker
complexions - such as film stars Johnny Depp,
Colin Farrell or Jamie Foxx - because these are
associated with sex, virility, mystery, villainy
and danger. The latter two actors were paired
together in the recent Miami Vice movie,
which topped the box office on both sides of
the Atlantic despite lukewarm reviews.
Academics at the University of Toronto in
Canada say their study proves the fair maiden
of myth has a basis in scientific reality. {1}
They studied more than 2,000 advertising
photographs - chosen on the basis the models
featured were considered among the most
attractive people of the races and sexes - and
found that the skin of white women was 15.2
per cent lighter than the skin of white males,
and the skin of black women 11.1 per cent
lighter than the skin of black men. Dr Shyon
Baumann, a sociologist involved in the study,
said: "What the research shows is that our
aesthetic preferences operate to reflect moral
preferences. "Within our cultures we have a
set of ideals about how women should look
and behave. "Lightness and darkness have
particular meanings attached to them and we
subconsciously relate those moral preferences
to women." In effect, men drawn to darker
looking women - such as actress Monica
Bellucci over rival Michelle Pfieffer - are
expressing a preference for danger. Dr
Baumann said this appreciation of a darker
complexion in women is "less common" but
"appears to coexist with a view of such
women as more overtly sexual. "In other
words, darker women are seen as more
promiscuous." Scroll down for more ... {3}
When the researchers analysed adverts
featuring white women only, they found that
women with the darkest complexions were
more likely to be in an advanced state of
UnCloth. They were also more likely to have a
bared midriff or provocatively dressed, and
only they were shown with bared feet or are
implied to be totally nude. Women with the
lightest complexion were more likely to be
conservatively dressed and portrayed as
friendly, happy and honest. Dr Baumann said
the scale of the differences between male and
female skin colour selected for their
attractiveness is too big to be explained by
pure biology and were the product of "deeply
rooted and enduring cultural values". He said:
"Physical lightness and darkness are aesthetic
characteristics that ... exemplify the link
between aesthetic and moral judgements. "On
average, fair complexions in women are the
dominant aesthetic ideal because sexual
modesty and conventional femininity are the
dominant behavioural ideal for women." But
there remain plenty of examples to confound
Dr Baumann's theory, including fair-skinned
actor Daniel Craig. Women were left drooling
over shots of him in his swimming shorts
during Craig's debut turn as James Bond in
Casino Royale. Two years ago, research from
St Andrews University in Fife found man's
attraction to blondes could date back to the
caveman era. Researchers said a rare
mutation of light-coloured hair heralded the
arrival of the blue-eyed blonde 10,000 years
ago. Until then, humans, who originated in
Africa, tended to have dark hair and eyes, so
blondes stood out from their brunette sisters.
Anthropologist Peter Frost said: "When an
individual is faced with potential mates of
equal value, it will tend to select the one that
stands out from the crowd."""""source:Dailymail uk.