When it comes to bedroom benefits, corporate accomplishments, and diamonds worth more than $100 million, we’ve seen that to some degree, size does matter.
As far as sex goes, length, girth, and duration are metrics many of us have come to respect (or at least cry about). As a recent study from Chapman University reminds us, however, that aside from six and nine, we mustn’t forget about two other important numbers:
Height and Body Mass Index.
In the study, over 60,000 participants – 52/48 split of men to women – were asked to fill out an extensive survey in an effort to uncover certain “predictors” of sexual history as well as health, social status, and heritable fitness. As with so many informal night club studies and slam dunk competitions in the past, the numbers suggested that when it comes to sex, shorter people tend to, well, come up short.
“These findings confirm that height is relevant on the mating market,” said David Frederick, one of the study authors. “It is possible that for most women there is a certain minimal threshold of height, after which they will consider a male as a potential sex partner, and thus men above that height will end up with similar numbers of sex partners.”
What exactly that height may be, the study didn’t specify, but it did conclude that “very short men” had a median of five past sexual partners, while men of taller statures had a median of seven past sexual partners. Men who were taller also ended up with between one and three more average partners than their stubbier counterparts.
With the study finding a median of eight partners across both men and women ages 30 to 44, that means that men who are taller usually rosters that are longer by anywhere from 12% to well over 30%.
It’s not just a guy thing though; “very short women” had similarly low numbers relative to “tall” ones. Which is interesting when you consider that taller women are more likely to meet relatively “shorter” men…
Compared to many people’s instincts, the tables are slightly turned when it comes to BMI; for both men and women, being “underweight” was tied to the least number of past sexual partners.
“Normal weight men and overweight men reported the most sex partners, and underweight men reported the least,” said Dr. Frederick. “Men who appear somewhat larger, more powerful, or more athletic generally report more sexual experiences than other men.”
With women, theories were mixed on why the underweight population posted lighter numbers on sex scales as well; things like physical insecurities and management of serious health issues were suggested, but nothing was formally concluded.
So when it comes to physical preferences, is it fair to say, “Bigger is better”? In a way, ya, it kind of is. It’s no guarantee, but it looks like a few extra pounds on bones and a few extra inches on heads gets you a few extra evenings with tail. If NBA Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain were still around, he’d probably agree – as would the 20,000 women with whom he allegedly had sex..
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