The Definitive Book of Body Language (48 page)

The Leg Twine: men's number one female sitting position

Most men agree that the Leg Twine is the most appealing sitting position a woman can take. It's a gesture that women consciously use to draw attention to their legs. Albert Scheflen states that one leg is pressed firmly against the other to give the appearance of high muscle tone, which, as previously mentioned, is a condition that the body takes when a person is ready for sexual performance.

Other leg signals used by women include crossing and uncrossing the legs slowly in front of the man and gently stroking the thighs with her hand, indicating a desire to be touched.

Without referring back to what you have just read, how many courting signals and gestures can you see?

In
Why Men Lie and Women Cry
(Orion) we summarized the research about which body parts men and women look at on each other. The research was clear—men's brains are wired to be attracted to women who show the most healthy reproductive ability and sexual availability. When it comes to body shape,
both men and women prefer someone with an athletic body shape. To men, this signals high levels of health and a woman's ability to successfully reproduce his genes.

Evidence shows that men are more attracted to women with a childlike face—large eyes, small noses, full lips and cheeks— because these signals evoke paternal, protective feelings in most men. This is why most advertising for cosmetic surgery places so much emphasis on these features. Women, conversely, prefer men with adult faces that show the ability to defend—strong jaws, larger brows, and strong nose.

The good news is that a woman doesn't need to be naturally beautiful to attract a man—beauty certainly gives her an initial edge over competitors—she mainly needs to be able to display the signs that she
could
be available. This is why some women who are not particularly physically attractive always seem to have plenty of suitors. Overall, a man is more attracted to a woman by the signs of her availability than by her physical attractiveness, and you can learn and practice availability signals. Some women are appalled at the idea of modern men being initially attracted to a woman based on her appearance and availability instead of wanting her for her ability to nurture, communicate, be a domestic goddess, or play the piano. They see discussions on this subject as degrading to modern women.

But almost every study into attraction conducted over the last sixty years reached the same conclusions as the painters, poets, and writers over the past six thousand years—a woman's appearance and body and what she can do with it is more attractive to men than her intelligence or assets, even in the politically correct twenty-first century. The twenty-first-century man wants the same immediate things in a woman as his forefathers did at first sight, but, as we said in
Why Men Lie and Women Cry
, he has different criteria for a long-term partner.

The reality is that you need to attract a man first before he can find out about all your inner virtues. When you go fishing you bait the hook with what the fish likes, not with what you like. Have you ever tasted a worm? You might be repulsed by the thought but, for a fish, it's his favorite dish.

Most people are tempted to believe that physical appearance is the key to attracting a potential partner, but this is largely an idea promoted by television, films, and the media. Extremely attractive people are rare, and are erroneously promoted as the standard to which we should all aspire, but studies show that most of us are skeptical about beautiful people. The studies found that we prefer to find mates who are roughly as attractive as we are, which means they are more likely to stay and not look for a better offer. This preference appears to be inborn, as babies show a preference for looking at average faces rather than at beautiful ones.

When it comes to a man's favorite female body part, men are universally split into three fairly even groups—boobs, butts, and legs.

In this section, we will be analyzing only the physical characteristics of the female body and why each part has such an impact on the male senses. A woman's body has evolved as a permanent, portable sexual signaling system that is purpose-built to attract male attention for reproduction, and butts, breasts, and legs play the most significant part in this process. This may not be politically correct, but it is biologically correct.

Men find rounded, peach-shaped buttocks the most attractive. Female human buttocks differ from other primates in that other primate females display enlarged, protruding buttocks only when they are ready for mating. Human females display enlarged buttocks permanently and are almost always sexually available to males. This is because one of the main purposes of regular human sexual activity is to encourage long-term pair-bonding for the successful rearing of children.

Humans are the only primates that mate face-to-face —in other primate species, the males approach females from the rear and use her swollen red buttocks as a signal that she's ready for mating. And therein lies the key to men's attraction to women's butts—they always give the impression that she's available for him. Women's buttocks also have two other purposes: they store fat for breastfeeding and act as an emergency food storage in lean times, similar to a camel's hump.

Female humans are the only primates with permanently enlarged buttocks

Wearing designer jeans has also become popular because they highlight the buttocks and give them a firm, rounded look. High-heeled shoes make the wearer arch her back, push out her buttocks, and make her wiggle when she walks, which invariably draws male attention. Marilyn Monroe reputedly chopped three-quarters of an inch off the heel of her left shoe to emphasize her wiggle. The females of several species of beetle also wiggle their rears in front of potential mates to attract attention.

Most of the world has developed an obsession with breasts in recent years and cleavage and cosmetic breast enhancement is now a multibillion-dollar business. This is remarkable considering that human breasts are little more than enlarged sweat glands.

Most of the breast consists of fat tissue. This gives them their rounded shape and most of this tissue is not involved in milk production.

Overall, breasts serve one clear purpose—sexual signaling. Breasts mimic a woman's rear view—a relic from the days when humans walked on all fours. If a monkey or chimp walked toward you on two legs you'd be unable to tell whether it was male or female. Humans walk upright on two legs and enlarged female breasts evolved as a mimic of the female rear. Tests conducted with pictures of butt cracks and breast cleavage convincingly show that most men are unable to differentiate one crack from the other.

Tests show that most men can't tell the difference between a butt crack and cleavage

Low-cut dresses and push-up bras emphasize this signal by creating cleavage. Fortunately, nearly all sex research surveys show that men love breasts in most shapes and sizes—it's the cleavage that stimulates men the most. It doesn't matter whether a woman's breasts are the size of a small lemon or look like watermelons—most men are keenly interested in them all and love a cleavage. A woman who is attracted to a man is likely to lean forward and bring her arms closer to her body, which presses her breasts together and makes a cleavage.

Mona Lisa after two weeks in the U.S.A.

Men's favorite breasts are those of a woman at her sexual and reproductive peak—in her late teens and early twenties. These are typical of the breasts seen in men's magazine centerfolds, on erotic dancers, and in advertisements that trade on sex appeal. Researchers at Purdue University in America found that a woman hitchhiker can double the number of lifts she is offered by increasing her bust size by adding two inches of padding.