Financially Stressed Men Prefer Chubby Women

In the latest edition of “throw a big girl a bone” news, a new study recently released by researchers from the University of Westminster in London has found that our tanking economy is actually good news for plus-size women. Apparently when men are stressed, they seem to be attracted to chubbier women, making this prime time for big girls to catch themselves a good man. *Insert sarcasm here*

The study, lead by Viren Swami, rounded up 81 young men whose ages ranged from 18 to 42 and raised the stress levels of 41 of the men by having them do some tough math and to participate in a simulated job interview — a situation that has been proven to significantly increase tension and anxiety, while the rest of the group got to relax in a quiet room. Afterwards, all of the participants were shown 10 photos of women whose weight ranged from emaciated to obese and were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the women on a scale of 1 to 10.
According to Swami:

“Our results showed that men who were stressed rated female body sizes at higher BMI categories as more attractive than their control group counterparts. That is, men in the [stressed] condition rated women of normal weight, overweight, and partially, at least, obese BMI categories as more attractive than the control group.”

However, few are shocked by the results of the study because men running to the arms of chubby women is apparently ingrained in our history. Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, a research professor and member of the Center for Human Evolution Studies in the department of anthropology at Rutgers University, says what we’re seeing in the study is “the result of man’s early struggles to survive.” Fisher says:

“It certainly would have been adaptive for ancestral man to have a chubby wife during stressful times of famine. Not only would she have had more calories to burn, and thus more energy and endurance, but since fat stores estrogen, she would have remained fertile for longer.”

Guess big women everywhere better burn those calories and snatch them a man now before the economy bounces back and they’re back to being unattractive again. Really? Is this study really suggesting big women are only attractive in times of trouble because they can cook and breed?

Do you agree with the study results?

 Courtesy of www.frugivoremag.com