why do women prefer hairless torsos?

The seduction researchers are very passionate about it. After those who try to understand why the female breasts men like it so much, others are interested in the effects of male hairy torsos or not on female attraction. A theory, called ectoparasite avoidance, is called into question by a work by researchers from theuniversity of Trnava, in Slovakia. Even if their results are questionable …

The context: hairs, nest of ectoparasites

The zoologist British Desmond Morris describes Man as "the naked monkey" according to the title of one of his works. Why are we the only one primate not to wear a full fleece over the whole body? Curious question.

Biologists Look For The Answer In The Laws Ofevolution. For which'species little by little has lost its hair, this should provide an advantage. The dominant hypothesis therefore consists in thinking that the fur, even if they heat up, favor the installation of parasites such as lice, degrading living conditions. Very little for ladies who would have had a preference for men with bare chests, less likely to contaminate them. This is the hypothesis of avoiding ectoparasites.

But this vision of things is more empiricism than scientific validation. So Pavol Prokop and his team wanted to Review the theory. Their idea: if the attraction for hairless torsos is guided by the desire not to catch parasites, then it must be even more prevalent among women living in territories with many parasitic diseases. Their analysis published in 2012 in Archives of Sexual Behavior has shown that this is not entirely the case.

Study: women prefer hairless torsos

The protocol appealed to 344 female students: 161 of them were Turkish and the 183 others were Slovak nationals. Turkey has a rate of parasitic diseases (dengue, malaria or schistosomiasis) higher than Slovakia. Scientists can Review the hypothesis, assuming that women in Anatolia show more interest in a hairless male body than those in Central Europe.

The mission of these volunteers was to note the attraction aroused in them by pictures of torsos ofmen hairy or not. To avoid experimental bias, the authors asked the "models" to photograph themselves before and after shaving their breasts, so that the only parameter that changes is the pectoral and abdominal fur.

Their original predictions have not been verified. Turks and Slovaks prefer less hairy men in very similar rates (almost 80%). Regardless of the rates of parasitic disease, women don't like hairs!

The outside eye: points to be clarified

The authors intended to expand their study and include other peoples to verify the universality of their discovery. Previous work had, for example, shown that Cameroonians preferred well-trimmed torsos, unlike Chinese, New Zealanders or Californians. But it could be even more complex: the period of menstrual cycle would be taken into account. During its fertility phase, a women would like bearded men more while she would show more interest in hair the rest of the time.

But before continuing their experience further, it is worth noting a somewhat shaky point. As noted, scientists see hair loss as an adaptive advantage against parasitic diseases. And mainly against ectoparasites, those like lice, live at our expense on the surface of our body. Now, if indeed parasitosis are more prevalent in Turkey than in Slovakia, the three diseases they specify in their work (malaria, dengue and schistosomiasis) are caused by endo-, due to vectors found inside the body. It is difficult to see how they can invalidate the hypothesis of avoiding ectoparasites if they are not interested …