Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Scientific Correspondence
  • Published:

The mystery of female beauty

Nature volume 399, pages 214–215 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Yu and Shepard1 have reported a preference for heavy women with high waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in a culturally isolated population in southeast Peru. Their findings are interesting because a preference for low WHR is widespread in westernized populations2,3,4,5. However, we disagree with their argument that cultural invariance is necessary for an adaptionist interpretation of WHR preference.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Relations between female body shape and the number of sons and testosterone levels in their children.

References

  1. Yu, D. W. & Shepard, G. H. Nature 396, 321–322 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Singh, D. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 65, 293–307 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Singh, D. Hum. Nat. 6, 51–68 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Furnham, A., Tan, T. & McManus, C. Pers. Indiv. Diff. 22, 539–549 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Henss, R. Pers. Indiv. Diff. 19, 479–488 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Evans, D. J., Hoffmann, R. G., Kalkhoff, R. K. & Kissebah, A. H. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 57, 304–310 (1983).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Manning, J. T., Anderton, R. & Washington, S. M. J. Hum. Evol. 31, 41–47 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Singh, D. & Zambarano, R. J. Hum. Biol. 69, 545–556 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Manning, J. T., Scutt, D., Wilson, J. & Lewis-Jones, D. I. Hum. Reprod. 13, 3000–3004 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Brown, J. E. et al. Epidemiology 7, 62–66 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    J. T. Manning

  2. Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 08901-1414, New Jersey, USA

    R. L. Trivers

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, 78712, Texas, USA

    D. Singh

  4. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 87131-1091, New Mexico, USA

    R. Thornhill

Authors
  1. J. T. Manning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. L. Trivers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. Thornhill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Manning, J., Trivers, R., Singh, D. et al. The mystery of female beauty. Nature 399, 214–215 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/20341

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/20341

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing