Health & Medicine

Women just as likely as Men to Ogle Female Body

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 29, 2013 05:16 PM EDT

A recent study shows that we can't just blame men for ogling at the female body before they wander up to facial features.

In fact, researchers found that women are just as likely as men to look at a female's body before coming up to meet them head on.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln tracked the eye movements of 65 college students from both genders as they looked at 30 photos of 10 college-aged women images with different body shapes.

The team found that both male and females' eyes scanned over the woman's breasts and other sexual organs before coming up to the face.

Researchers hope that this discovery can call attention to the objectification of women's bodies and potentially minimize harmful effects associated through advertising and other media related issues.

"Generally speaking, people are more positive towards a more attractive woman than a less attractive one," lead study author Sarah Gervais said of the University, via a press release. "However, attractiveness may also be a liability, because while evaluating them positively, 'gazers' still focus less on individuating and personalizing features, such as faces, and more on the bodies of attractive women."

AS there was little difference between male and female eye movements when looking at the female body, men overall tended to prefer curvier women to ones with less curves.

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Sex Roles

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