The Top 7 Things That Really Attract Men (and Why!)

I have read many articles about what men really want. I was highly intrigued after reading a study by two neuroscience PhDs from Boston University, Sai Gaddam and Ogi Ogas. It is considered to be the world’s largest experiment on human desire. The duo analyzed a billion web searches, a million websites, a million erotic videos, millions of personal ads and thousands of digital romance novels, and then combined it all with cutting-edge neuroscience. As Jay-Z said, “numbers don’t lie,” and this study is all about them. Some findings may simply validate what you know while others could surprise you. Read on to find out!

Age dominates searches by men online, especially on adult websites. Research shows more men search for women 41 to 55 years old than those 21 to 35 years old. Moreover, “mom” is one of the top search terms associated with age. The thought behind this concept is more mature women are experienced and know exactly what they want (and don’t have time to play “games”.) That must be why the terms “aggressive” and “seduction” frequently appear alongside most age searches by men. 

Foot erotica among men continues to grow in popularity. This is different from men liking shoes, which Freud thought reflected a submissive personality. The Alexa Adult Site List features more than 300 different foot specific sites. Interest in foot size from an evolutionary perspective is best learned by understanding when women are pregnant, their feet can grow up to a full shoe size. In many cultures, like the Chinese and Persian, they historically practiced foot binding to make feet physically smaller. I've seen my wife and her girlfriends wear shoes that were too small for their feet. Well, congratulations ladies. Men are watching!

This figure is the circumference of your waist against that of your hips. It’s widely known by scientists that this figure is a universal sexual driver of men around the world. This measurement has stood the test of time, with statues dating back thousands of years designed with this calculation. I give a visual demonstration about the measurement and why it’s considered important in this video.

Men get this desire honestly. Research shows that as babies, we spend more time staring at pictures of symmetric individuals than asymmetric ones. Attractiveness based on an exact mirroring of the left to right side of a face is a highly-evolved trait not just seen in humans, but in many different animals as well, scientists say. Aside from symmetry, men generally prefer women with a small jaw, large eyes and defined cheekbones.

A friend once said “big butts win championships.” Everyone in the room nodded in agreement but, let me clarify one very important point: When you go to the data, or Ray-Ray on the street, you’ll quickly learn not all big butts yield the same result. Review the most popular search terms used with “butt” on adult sites, and you’ll see words such as “bubble” and “onion” dominate the top spots. The key is not absolute size nor is it firmness. My friend would be more accurate if he said, “Round butts win championships!” 

“Boobs” is one of the most commonly searched terms on any search engine. Not all guys are “breast men” but overwhelming evidence suggests bigger breasts attract the greatest amount of attention. Psychologist Nicholas Gueguen conducted a study that best sums up this point. He asked women to use bra padding to fabricate various breast sizes. He then had them stand in a nightclub to see how many times men approached them. Bra Size A yielded 18 approaches; Bra Size B yielded 28 approaches; and Bra Size C yielded 60 approaches. However, size is not the only important characteristic. In every culture (including remote Amazonian) the desire is grounded in youthfulness, with the want being for firm and round looking breasts. That helps explain why breast augmentation is now a $1 billion industry in the U.S. 

Let’s face it. Willowy, toothpick-thin women are what fashion photogs want but not what most men desire. Research illustrates in several ways that guys want BBW (Big Beautiful Women). First, the sheer number of dating as well as adult sites dedicated to heavier women versus skinny ones is substantially lopsided (at about 10 to 1). Secondly, adult female BMI (Body Mass Index) has continued to increase over years (argued by many scientists as a result of men’s desires). Lastly, it just makes sense; heavier women have curvier hips, rounder butts and bigger breasts. As researchers Gaddam and Ogas mention “the overall impression is one of super-sized visual cues of femininity.”

Comments, concerns or questions about my advice? Tell me about it below! Paul Carrick Brunson is a 2012 NAACP Image Award nominee and a 2012 iDate Matchmaker & Relationship Coach Of The Year nominee. His bestselling book It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have to Be) is in stores now. Contact him directly on Facebook or Twitter anytime or visit his website.