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Sexy Women Make Everyone Feel Bad

It’s no shock that the portrayal of women in magazines makes women feel like dirt. But did you know images of hot chicks make men feel worse, too? Everyone knows that the way women are portrayed in our culture – sexy, skinny, tall – makes the average woman feel a bit like the gum I had to peel off my shoe this morning. When we look at magazine ads or watch TV shows, we women feel inadequate – and it’s no wonder, when the average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20% below what is considered healthy for her age and height. But the 40,000 or so ads the average American is exposed to a year aren’t just affecting the girls. A new study coming out of the University of Missouri found that men react negatively to unrealistic ads, too. What’s interesting is it wasn’t images of hot men that got the guys feeling self conscious – it was images of hot women.

The research began by trying to see if men were as negatively affected by men’s magazines as women are by Cosmo and the like. Men that were given men’s magazines like Maxim had lower self image, which got the researchers to question exactly what about the magazines cause the drop in self esteem. So they showed men just the pictures of objectified women, men, and the articles and again checked their esteem levels. They found that, surprisingly, it wasn’t the images of idealized men that made the guys feel inadequate – it was the women. Even more surprising was that the male fashion group reported the least amount of body self-consciousness among the three groups – the guys couldn’t care less what the other men looked like.

If you’ve ever been in high school, it’s obvious why seeing a hot woman would make a less than ideal looking guy feel bad. I mean, what guy hasn’t choked when trying to talk to the head cheerleader? Attractive women are intimidating, and the mere sight of one is enough to cause any average joe to give themselves a quick once-over.

The theory is that a beautiful women makes a man self conscious because the he’s reminded that he’s not in her league – that is, they take one look at a hot girl and quickly realize there’s no way they’re good-looking enough to bang her. Since women have the larger investment in offspring, they tend to be considered the ‘picky’ ones, evolutionarily speaking. The men and their billions of sperm have to compete with other guys to convince a girl that they’ve got the genes to be worth it.

To test this theory, the researchers performed one more experiment. They broke the men into two groups – one received magazine layouts of sexually idealized females and the other received the same layouts with average-looking ‘boyfriends’ added to the photos, with captions about how the female models are attracted to the average-looking men. The men who looked at just the model were more self-conscious, presumably because when the other men saw the bombshells liked ‘normal guys,’ they no longer felt she was out of reach.

Personally, I’d like to see if images of hot men have the same effect on women. Despite the evolutionary argument, I think that women would have the same reaction to male models as men do to female ones. After all, you don’t hear a girl say “oh crap! I gotta go fix my hair!” when this guy walks in the room:

I want you. I need you. Oh baby – oh baby. Read more of my stuff over at Observations of a Nerd




The material in this press release comes from the originating research organization. Content may be edited for style and length. Want more? Sign up for our daily email.

215 thoughts on “Sexy Women Make Everyone Feel Bad”

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  2. Im glad to know the results of this study has it has changed the way i feel about this whole issue. Before i resented objectifyed women in the media and all around because i thought it was a tool the male dominated media used against women. But now im over joyed to know that the male ego is being fractured in the process. Maybe women dont spend all this time on themselves to piss other women off after all.

    Its now time to say keep up the adds.

  3. Every time I read an article about the science of attraction and the real nature of men and women I feel closer to suicide.

  4. Hi! Dear,
    I am Jana I want to be a special friend in your life, and would like to
    know more about you. You’ll know more about me as time goes bye, but
    please let it be something real and not fake. Thanks and God bless you, as
    I await your response. I can be reached via my private email address at
    ([email protected]),i Will be glad if you can send me your
    pictures through the above mentioned addresses and i will also send mine
    when i receive your mail.

    ([email protected])

    Jana

    • hi jana this is samir zala frm ahmedabad i m a graduate student & working in international bpo from last 3 yrs i m a very hardworking, shy & romantic kind of a person & want a friend like u. plz rep me wen u read this email. thnx. samir

  5. a) I love that there’s an ad next to the article for men who want to meet “hot Chinese girls” and
    b) I’m sexy. I feel good about that. Get over it.
    c) I’m 5ft 4″, at this point I weigh over 150 pounds, my hair does strange things without my consent, and on most week days my uniform will be sneakers, jeans and a hoodie. But I *like* myself.
    Sexy is a state of mind.

  6. I hate seeing the perfect chicks I’ve had three babies but i definatly don’t have the perfect body I’m not fatty by anymeans but I hate my body for sure how do I get over this crap??????

  7. In my opinion I agree with the statement that looking to perfect women make both men and women feel worse because it is lile looking to a mirror of a perfection that can´t be never reached.

  8. In my opinion it is tru that looking to perfect women is worse for our self steem because it is like looking to a perfection that anybody can`t reach.

  9. Its an exceptional blog,what it says is really true and people like same opinion.This one blogs made ma a regular follower of the author .

  10. it is a amazing article there is no words to say about this article because it’s amazing
    Some brilliant points made here in these article
    thank you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.

  11. People depending upon there looks or wealth have nothing left when that goes..The ultimate value is love, which is the only thing that lasts, as Shakespeare wrote

  12. Personally, I’d like to see if images of hot men have the same effect on women. I think that women would have the same reaction to male models as men do to female ones

  13. Some brilliant points made here in these posts, yet also I will agree that the original poster has an element of bitterness.

    To clarify on the “generalisations” I would like to say this it is all about inner vcalues ultimately, for example whether a person values outer appearance more than inner qualities.

    Also some people are high-maintenance and competetive than others (both male and female) (whether “hot” or “not”) and they often do this to give the impression that they are more desirable than they actually are.

    The ultimate value is love, which is the only thing that lasts, as Shakespeare wrote

    “Beauty is as a flower, it soon withers and dies.”.

    People depending upon there looks or wealth have nothing left when that goes.

    A person who makes the most of themselves and has the trues inner qualities of love is, I believe, I feel, the most attractive in both the short and the long term. Having love already on the inside also means you don’t “have” to get it from another person, you can give it.

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