Long arms, not cleavage, make women irresistible to men

Cleavage revealing shirts, short skirts and high heels might not really work if you want to catch your man’s attention, for if you want him to go weak in his knees show off a bit of arm, says a new study.

Long, shapely arms, sported by the likes of Christine Bleakley, Madonna or Courtney Cox, are considered more attractive than endless legs, a study has found.

The finding came after experts at the University of New South Wales, Sydney conducted tests on Australian and Chinese men and women.

During the research, volunteers were asked to watch videos of 96 women aged between 20 and 49 and then to rate each one according to her looks.

Results showed that ‘long-armed women’ were consistently considered the most attractive.

Hip and waist size were also regarded as important, along with a woman’s weight and age, but the length of her leg ‘did not contribute significantly to the ratings’.

“Attractive bodies have a suite of traits in the right combination,” the Daily Mail quoted Professor Robert Brooks, who led the study, as saying.

“The dimensions can tell observers if that person is suitable as a potential mate, a long term partner or perhaps the threat they pose as a sexual competitor,” he added.

Brokks said it showed how some features were important to evolution. But it was the overall look, which mattered most.

He added that the consistency of the results amongst both Australians and Chinese suggested that the features regarded as attractive ‘tend to be shared across cultural divides’.

The findings are published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.