The societal standard for what's considered attractive is still a rigid one.
How rigid? Buyer's guide site TreadmillReviews.net sought to find that out by asking 1,000 Americans to construct their "ideal" partner's body down to the inch — and here are the sad, unrealistic Frankenstein monsters they created.
What is the perfect size for a woman and a man? These are the very specific measurements Americans said they prefer.
What is the perfect size for a woman? The ideal woman, according to them, is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 128 pounds, with 36-26-36 measurements; the ideal man is 6 feet tall, 187 pounds, with 41-33-40 measurements.
Celebrities that come close to the ideal (close, but not all the way) include Elizabeth Banks, Drake, and Javier Bardem.
Those who participated in this project also specified how much they would want their ideal man or woman to work out: six hours a week for women, and eight hours a week for men.
And that's not all…
The ideals across generations haven't changed all that much between baby boomers and millennials.
Ideal weight for men fluctuated by a few pounds intergenerationally, while height and other measurements stayed largely the same. The biggest difference, one would argue, is the desired amount of exercise, which baby boomers listed as six hours a week and gen-Xers listed as seven — but for men, there seems to be more lenience about weight as it correlates to exercise.
For women, however, there's less lenience.
Baby boomers said their ideal woman is still 5 feet 5 inches, but only weighs 121 pounds while exercising one hour less per week than the millennials' ideal woman does. Baby boomers also say they want smaller waists and hips — but the same 36-inch chest size.
How unrealistic is this?
Well, given that the average American woman today has a 37.5-inch waist and wears a size 16-18, it's safe to say… pretty unrealistic.
The ideal for most Americans is also pretty whitewashed.
Men and women prioritize brown hair, blue eyes, and a fair (desired by men) or medium (desired by women) complexion.
Seems like America still has a bit of a way to go in how we define beauty.
You can find more data from this project by visiting TreadmillReviews.net.
