Science has given us many gifts: a vaccine for smallpox, bionic limbs and life-saving organ transplants, but let’s just say that this latest discovery is far from on par with those breakthroughs.
Considering there are only so many hours in the day to, you know, live our lives (read: binge Netflix), we tend to pick our battles wisely – and this, friends, is one of them.
Researchers from Prague’s Charles University embarked upon a very important pursuit to pin-point what men believe to be the perfect breast size and shape, because, apparently, our worth as women is clearly about how attractive we are to the opposite sex!
In findings that surprised no-one at all, it turns out men want medium-sized, perky, firm and shapely, rather than bigger, smaller or saggier breasts when looking for a reproductive mate.
Why? Because larger breasts tend to suggest higher estrogen levels, which are said to act as an indicator for fertility.
OK, at this point, we can’t help but question why scientists are focusing their efforts on this while more than 3,000 Australian women died last year from breast cancer.
This is what else we just don’t quite get…
Pretty sure this can’t be the most pressing issue in modern science
Not to say that breast research isn’t incredibly important – one in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime – it’s just that we hardly feel determining a man’s ideal size, shape and perkiness to be worthy of taking up more time than finding a cure for said cancer.
Unsurprisingly, women aren’t alone in this instance; we were equally disappointed to learn that studies based on what a man looks like beneath his clothes are also being carried out.
Researchers from the University of California and the University of New Mexico studied a women’s ideal penis size, and no matter the results, this notion of fitting a mould to appease the opposite sex can having damaging effect on how a man perceives his physical self.
Breasts play a far more important role than just being visually pleasing
Here’s the thing: every body is beautiful, just the way it is. Because it was designed not only to keep you alive, but another human being as well.
Breasts have the unfathomable power to sustain a newborn baby in its most critical stage of life, providing a child with the necessary nutrients it requires for them to grow happily and healthily.
This study is isolating and perhaps damaging
Singling out one particular breast size as the be-all-and-end-all just doesn’t sit well with us.
While the Western world’s perception of body image is slowly but surely changing, embracing both fuller and more petite figures, studies like this one perhaps prove we still have a long way to go.
This story had every intention of outlining why we didn’t care about this study, but hey, as it happens, we actually do…