For decades, the hourglass figure has been held up as the ultimate symbol of female beauty – but scientists now claim we’ve been focusing on the wrong measurement all along.
A new study suggests that a woman’s waist–to–bust ratio plays a much bigger role in perceived attractiveness.
Researchers asked 398 Japanese men aged 20 to 59 to rate computer–generated female silhouettes in which these two body proportions varied while keeping other features the same.
They found that women with a lower waist–to–bust ratio – meaning they had larger breasts comparative to their waist – were consistently rated as more attractive.
Meanwhile changes in waist–to–hip ratio had little effect on the men’s preferences.
The most attractive silhouettes had a waist–to–bust ratio of between 0.6 and 0.7, they found. Celebrities such as Sabrina Carpenter, Sydney Sweeney and Katy Perry fit this general silhouette.
‘In this study, waist–to–bust ratio had a greater impact on attractiveness ratings than did waist–to–hip ratio,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Japanese Psychological Research.
This could be because a larger bust is a sexual signal, the team said, indicating it represents fertility or reproductive health.
This silhouette figure – with a waist–to–hip ratio of 0.9 and waist–to–bust ratio of 0.7 – was deemed highly attractive by the men taking part in the study
The most attractive silhouettes had a waist–to–bust ratio of around 0.7, they found. Celebrities such as Sabrina Carpenter and Sydney Sweeney fit this general silhouette
The findings challenge decades of research suggesting that the waist–to–hip ratio is the key feature men use when judging female attractiveness.
Instead, the researchers argue that previous studies may have overestimated the importance of hips because women with larger breasts often also have smaller–looking waists.
They noted that the computer–generated figure judged most attractive is extremely uncommon in real life, meaning few women naturally possess the exact proportions preferred by the volunteers.
‘It is known that, to varying degrees, larger bust sizes are evaluated as more attractive overseas, which is also the case in Japan,’ the scientists, from Wayo Women’s University, wrote.
‘However, the bust size for a body shape with a waist–to–bust ratio of 0.6 is quite large, and these individuals are rare.
‘It is possible that the standard of attractiveness has become distorted because of exposure to stimuli such as biased media images.’
The researchers cautioned that the study only involved Japanese men and that preferences could differ in other cultures.
‘I hope people realize that what’s considered an ‘attractive’ body shape varies widely across cultures,’ lead author Tomohiro Suzuki told PsyPost. ‘In fact, ideal beauty is largely shaped by cultural context rather than a fixed universal rule.’
The most attractive silhouettes had a waist–to–bust ratio of between 0.6 and 0.7, the researchers found
The findings also specifically apply to body shapes within an average weight range.
This means that attractiveness ratings for different proportions might shift if the silhouettes depicted heavier or thinner body types.
In a separate study, researchers recently revealed the most attractive facial features in both men and women.
Scientists captured the faces of hundreds of people using 3D scans and asked an independent set of judges to rate them for attractiveness.
Analysis revealed the highest–rated women tended to have slimmer faces, fuller lips and more defined features.
These are characteristics shared by celebrities such as Margot Robbie and Elsa Hosk, who are widely regarded as some of the world’s most beautiful women.
The most attractive men, meanwhile, were more likely to have prominent chins and angular profiles.
These traits are seen in heartthrobs such as David Gandy and Henry Cavill.
