Evolutionary psychologists have long argued that many of the physical features heterosexual men are drawn to in women reflect traits that signify female health and fertility status.
The basic argument is that our male ancestors developed an attraction to these traits because it enhanced their odds of reproductive success.
These mating preferences are thought to have been passed down across generations and still influence what men are attracted to today on some primal level.
In a new study just published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, researchers examined whether men’s attraction to women with more prominent rear ends might represent one such evolved mating preference.
The researchers hypothesized that the shape of a woman’s buttocks is a meaningful cue to female fertility; however, it is not the overall mass of the buttocks that is important, but rather the degree to which it protrudes from the body in response to curvature of the spine.
They argue that women who have a very straight spinal column are at a reproductive disadvantage because, when pregnant, their center of mass shifts forward in a way that puts a lot of pressure on their muscles and lower back, thereby increasing pain and risk of injury.
In contrast, women with curving of the lower (i.e., lumbar) vertebrae would be able to maintain a center of mass over their hips during pregnancy, which would yield more stability and reduce the odds of injury.
Because the appearance of the buttocks can provide some clue as to the degree of curving or “wedging” of the lumbar spine, the researchers speculated that women with more prominent rear ends resulting from such curvature would be deemed more attractive.
They presented two studies supporting this idea.
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