Here’s a question for you: have you ever seen married couples with drop-dead gorgeous women and, well, less attractive men? But they’re amazingly in love and happy with each, nevertheless?
How is this possible? Shouldn’t a gorgeous woman automatically be drawn to an equally, if not more, gorgeous man? Apparently not…
Is it true then? Less attractive men have happier wives?
Study Finds Women Are Happiest With Less Attractive Men
Research conducted by Florida State University discovered that women are happier when her husband is less attractive than she.
The study, published in the journal Body Image, examines 113 newly married couples. They all consented to be rated on their attractiveness.
Doctoral student Tania Reynolds and Assistant Professor of Psychology Andrea Meltzer found that women evaluated as “less attractive” than their husbands, suffered from more body image issues.
In other words, they feel pressured to diet and be thin if their husbands were deemed to be more attractive than them.
“The results reveal that having a physically attractive husband may have negative consequences for wives, especially if those wives are not particularly attractive,” Reynolds said.
But this added pressure to diet and “look pretty” was non-existent among those wives rated as more attractive than their husbands.
And what about the men? Regardless of their looks or those of their wives, their motivation to diet was anyway low!
Do looks really matter for a marriage to be successful?
So, Now What?
Of course, there are setbacks to the study, not limited to the cohort being primarily from the West and beauty being a subjective matter.
But still, the results raise some important issues.
The first, most obvious issue is linked to body image issues – especially in relation to women.
Why did the “less attractive” women in the study feel so compelled to “look good” for their gorgeous husbands?
Is it because they are worried their handsome spouses will not find them attractive enough? And eventually gravitate towards a more beautiful woman?
Would these “ugly” women go too far with extreme dieting, leading to psychological and physical issues?
In marriages with less attractive men, does it mean the wives will eventually not care at all about their weight, leading to obesity and other lifestyle diseases? Obviously, this also has serious health implications for women.
Oh, not to mention the health implications for men, who, regardless of how attractive they or their partners are, are not bothered about dieting anyway!
Winning in a World Obsessed with Looks
Mums and dads, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and also, it is just skin-deep.
Regardless of looks, what matters in a marriage is respect, kindness, honesty and trust.
Wives, take time to appreciate those gorgeous laughter lines that magically appear on your man’s face when he chuckles at your kids’ antics. What about those strong arms that held you when you were giving birth, or wrap around you every day in the best hug in the world?
Husbands, appreciate your wife’s sexiness, in all her curvaceous glory. After all, there is also a study that shows men are happier with curvy wives. In your eyes, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.
And when both of you love what you see in each other – both at surface level and deeper than that – rest assured that your kids will see this too. In you, in themselves, and someday, in their own partners.
Sources: Florida State University News, Body Image
Also read: Men with curvy wives are happier