There is some consolation for the men who can’t go shirtless. A well-designed global study has challenged the popular belief that extreme muscularity defines male attractiveness. The recent survey involving participants from China, Lithuania and the United Kingdom has deduced that many women rate slightly plump men as more attractive than those who are slim or gym-sculpted. The reason ascribed is the warmth and maturity of such men. Come on, ladies! Have some consideration for the “tapasya” of the gym-goers. After reading this study, men with abdominal six-packs must be rueing that they missed out on mouth-watering burgers as well as on romantic liaisons.
The first reaction of a vigilant reader like me is to find flaws in any study. The attractiveness of men was assessed by showing pictures of male bodies to a sample of women. But this is an oversimplification. Many thinkers have opined for ages that there is no algorithm, logic or formula to predict the interaction of women with men. Of course, that is the key factor in their mystique.
The concept of “love at first sight” survives only in fiction books and movies. For modern ladies, the feeling of fondness usually happens after gentle interrogation and keen observation of the guy over a period that can vary from a few days to a few years. A slightly plump man who says something that reeks of male chauvinism would get the Trump treatment by the lady: instant deportation from her heart.
Clever men know that they can override their looks quotient with the help of tactics tailored to her. Foremost amongst them is flattery in combination with sycophancy. There are countless others, including arousal of her motherly instinct with sob stories, feigning identical hobbies and pastimes and impressing her with power or prosperity. But the most successful men in the game of love have a trait in common with the beggars: an ability to take refusal and rebuttal in their stride.
Also, in the survey, the profile of females who were selected for the study hasn’t been specified. The muscled men might be preferred by the ladies with well-toned bodies.
The study doesn’t seem to be covertly funded, like many others. The fast food lobby would have vouched for heavily obese men, while the gym lobby would have made us believe in the supremacy of the chiselled body. However, the findings do have some practical utility, unlike most of the research in the world. The males who have been making phoney new year resolutions of joining the gym can take it easy. They will gain more confidence to have a shot at the goal- proposing to the lady they covet.
Is this research relevant to Indian men? Here, the body form in most of the males follows a set pattern because of excessive carbohydrate intake. They are more or less slim in their twenties and become slightly plump in their thirties. In the forties and fifties, the abdomen grows at a gentle pace until it resembles the shape of the earthen water pot. So, Indian guys in their thirties should have a self-belief that they are as much “ishq” material as the younger guys.
What would be the findings of a similar survey about the choices of men? Probably, there would be no surprises in such a study, as men would go for the cliched choice: shapely females.
(Dr Jas Kohli is a cosmetic surgeon, a humour writer and poet)
