These are the raw numbers for the female body image survey.

1. Which of these physical qualities do you value most highly in a woman?

A.) Pretty face 68
B.) Great breasts 8
C.) Nice legs 8
D.) Perfect fat-free figure 16

2. Overall, which qualities matter most to you in a woman?

A.) Appearance 0
B.) Personality 24
C.) Appearance and personality are roughly equal 76


3. Your wife/girlfriend has just had her hair cut or bought a new outfit. You notice…

A.) Immediately 56
B.) Eventually 38
C.) Sometimes never 6

4. This photograph of Sarah Murdoch featured on the cover of this month’s Womens Weekly. If you did not know otherwise, would you have realised that the photograph had not been retouched?

A.) Yes 46
B.) No 54

5. Which term do you think best describes the above image of plus-size model Laura Wells?

A.) Really hot 16
B.) Normal looking 58
C.) Overweight 26 
 
6. Do you think women worry about their appearance…

A.) Excessively 62
B.) Enough 34
C.) Not enough 4

7. Your wife/girlfriend asks if she looks fat in a certain outfit. Do you tell the truth?

A.) Yes 48
B.)  No 52

8. Which physical qualities do you think women value most highly in you?

A.) Handsome face 41
B.) Good physique 36
C.) Good head of hair 18
D.) Well-endowed 1
E.) None of above 4

9. Overall, which qualities do you think women most value in men?

A.) Appearance 2
B.) Personality 52
C.) Appearance and personality are roughly equal 46

 
10. How do you rate your own appearance?

A.) Fair to shithouse 58
B.) Pretty good actually 28
C.) Don’t really care 14
 
11. How much time do you spend on personal grooming per day

A.) Less than 15 minutes 88
B.) Less than half an hour 8
C.) More than half an hour 4

12. Do you think pornography is…

A.) Demeaning to women 26
B.) Harmless provided the women are of age and have not been coerced into participating 74
 
13. Do you ever look at pornography?

A.) Yes 78
B.) No 22

12 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • sambo says:

      06:17am | 16/11/09

      Well there’s 22 liars in the survey! Can you spot them?!

    • Dan says:

      07:19am | 16/11/09

      What’s interesting is that 26% think that porn is demeaning to women, while 22% don’t look at it. That means there are 4% who think it’s demeaning yet look at it anyway.

    • Ash says:

      09:52am | 16/11/09

      Is Laura Wells actually overweight despite the ‘plus size model’ moniker?  She looks normal to me, and perhaps that’s why 58 percent agree.  Yet our standards have been skewed, thanks to the media and fashion industries, to the point where she is considered a ‘plus size model’. What if you had used a plus size model from the higher end of the weight spectrum though?  I’m sure the survey results would have been different.  People seem to have a point of acceptability with weight… they consider her curvy, but 10 kg more and she might be facing a lot more scorn.  I also think there’s a big discrepancy between what most people consider overweight, and hence unhealthy, and the BMI-based statistics used to whip the media and public into a frenzy over the obesity crisis.  Someone with a body like Laura’s are the people your policy makers are freaking out about as being ‘overweight’ and hence a massive dangerous threat to our taxpayer funded health system and only a box of krispy kreme away from being obese.  She looks pretty healthy to me, and she’s obviously gorgeous, but people should keep in mind that this kind of ‘normal’ body shape is part of those statistics used to frame the policy debate around weight.

    • KM says:

      09:53am | 16/11/09

      Dan - who says it’s the same 22% Maybe lots of guys think it’s hot BECAUSE it demeans women - I doubt it - I’m just being a statisical nazi to make a point.

    • Jonesy says:

      10:05am | 16/11/09

      I agree with Ash. She’s hardly a real tubster is she? Add 20kg to her and I don’t think men would think the same. She is still young and firm and taut, not like the lard buckets you see lined up at KFC. I don’t find obese men attractive and I don’t imagine men feel the same way about true ‘obese’ women, not these so called ‘plus size’ models. Let’s see someone like Mimi from the Drew Carey show walking down a catwalk and see how opinions change ....

    • Walshy says:

      10:22am | 16/11/09

      this girl is SMOKING!!

      Girls, take note…

    • smclennan@lycos.com says:

      10:25am | 16/11/09

      Gorgeous.  Sexier than any regular size model I’ve seen

    • Stephen Quinn says:

      10:54am | 16/11/09

      I hope this is a pisstake. Because if you call it a survey, and only survey 100 people on a population of about 8 million (approximate number of males aged 18+ in Australia), then the margin of error is huge. About + or - 10%

      And not all males in this country have email ... so the population is distorted as well. As I said, I hope this is a pisstake.

    • James says:

      11:52am | 16/11/09

      Now thats a real woman!!!!

      Take note you skinny wannabe’s….this babe has it all.

      Can I have her number please?

    • Paul says:

      12:49pm | 16/11/09

      I am attracted to many kinds of women in many different body shapes - but for me it’s not so much about physical appearance as it is about something else intangible. I met a woman a little while ago who was very large but she was very sexy, very attractive.

      But I think Australian women and Western women in general have become much more like men in their attitude and persona. And that’s not sexy.

    • Lisa says:

      09:18am | 17/11/09

      The thing about models is that they are not selected to represent ‘sexual woman’. They are, like jockeys, selected to do a job: show the clothes off properly. IRL they can look rather peculiar, being incredibly tall and even odd-looking.
      Like Francis, who wrote on Mia’s blog:

      I think Penbo’s article is sort of revolting. Women’s body image should not - SHOULD NOT - be tethered to what men find attractive. 
      I wrote about it on my blog: http://corpulent.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/guys-talk-about-female-body-image/

      I also agree that it IS a little weird to be discussing women in terms ot a collection of ‘bits’. We’re not cows being sold in pieces to market.
      The fetishisation of women seems to be of the ‘weakest link’ scenario, guy beauty is not allowed to be fetished culturally because that would make our society ‘gay’ . *sigh* Men’s perspective being dominant, and all.

      But the intentions of this story are right, the execution of the idea is warm and I’m with you on that.

    • Lisa says:

      06:31pm | 23/11/09

      I agree that this girl is gorgeous. I would much rather look like her than the way I do, I am one of those “skinny wannabes” I am skinny, slim hipped, flat chested and and there is nothing I can do about it. it’s how I’m built. I feel pressure to get a boob job, not to lose weight. No matter who the woman is, she will never feel like the ideal, shapely sexy woman that is pushed as society’s ideal. It should be about being healthy, not about looking a certain way. Women will always have body image issues, and to those 74% who think it’s harmless, pornography definitely makes it worse by sexualizing, dehumanizing and creating an unachievable standard for women to live up to!

 

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