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0 pointsvalarauko4y ago0 comments

There is some overlap between fitness & attractiveness, though there is also some cultural context to consider. For example, consider a panel of female shotput athletes to be rated on an attractiveness scale by a representative sample of straight men of different ages from around the world. How would they fare contrasted with a similar panel of female gymnasts?

My guess is that healthy people have a greater probability to also be considered attractive. On the flip side, there is likely a much smaller probability of 'attractive' people being objectively healthy, with the numbers changing from place to place and time period.

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WalterBright4y ago· 2 in thread

Female shotput athletes are extreme outliers.

valaraukoOP4y ago

Outliers in what way? Outliers in terms of healthiness and fitness? Are they more or less healthy than the gymnasts? Even if they are outliers, it's an illustrative example - gymnasts are extreme outliers as well even among athletes, so why isn't that an issue? I would suggest that while the lens of evaluating physical attractiveness in most of the western world currently largely aligns with physical fitness, this is a relatively recent development and far from universal. Even a few generations ago I would suspect that the majority of current female Olympic level athletes would have been graded far lower on the attractiveness scale than we currently might.

WalterBright4y ago

> Outliers in what way?

I've never met one in real life. Anyway you want to look at it, such levels of muscle development is highly unusual. I doubt it's healthy either.

> I would suggest that while the lens of evaluating physical attractiveness in most of the western world currently largely aligns with physical fitness, this is a relatively recent development and far from universal.

I don't believe that. I don't really have a choice as to what I find attractive. I don't believe you do, either.

For example, I am never going to find "heroin chic" attractive, no matter how much the fashion industry pushes it. Some women like bald men, some don't, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that.

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