On a planet of seven billion people with a range of tastes, beliefs and political views, it’s quite endearing to know that all heterosexual men can agree on one thing: boobs are pretty awesome. Humans are the only mammals to have fully-functional mammary glands all year round, and we’re incredibly grateful for that. Breasts come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but which one is the best?
The quick answer is to say that they’re all beautiful in their own way, and they are, but the reason we’re so enamoured with breasts as a species is a quest into the very evolutionary preferences of man. Some very, very brave researchers at Charles University in Prague are looking into the female figure and its appeal to men on an instinctive, primal level, and in their noble quest, they’ve come up with an idea of the perfect breast size. Which size of chest is the best? Turn to the next page to find out what the optimal boob size is.
Have you ever wondered what kind of breasts our ancestors preferred? Well, researchers at Prague’s Charles University had the same question, and you’re in luck! They’ve come up with an answer.
If someone put a gun to your head and asked you to explain why we’re so naturally attracted to larger breasts, the chances are you’d refer to the indicator of high fertility that a larger bosom would imply. Human evolution researchers at Charles University wanted to test that. The researchers found 267 participants from Brazil, Cameroon, Czech Republic and Namibia, and presented to them two sets of images, checking for preferences in size and firmness, which would indicate potential fertility as well as residual fertility. Imagine yourself in that situation (like you already aren’t): surely the biggest, firmest boobs would be the most preferred?
Well, you’re half right. Researchers found data that reflected an all-round preference for firmness regardless of size, creed or colour, but medium-sized boobs won out over their more voluminous competitors. Why? Researchers believe it’s to do with the idea of residual fertility over potential fertility, and bigger boobs would accentuate any drop in firmness a lot more prominently than someone with a smaller set. Your partner’s big breasts are, of course, less attractive when she’s tripping over them on her way to answer the door, and it’s this idea of potential fertility against the here and now which might cause us to prefer medium-sized breasts over massive ones. In the future, the researchers at the University of Charles want to run the test again, but this time, focus on “a potential interaction between the two parameters, breast size and firmness, which, taken together, may help to explain the relatively large variation in women’s breast sizes.”
