Men with long legs more attractive

Women go weak at the knees for men with long legs, a study has found.

But lanky fellows, take note - they must not be too long, just a little longer than average. Looking like a giraffe is no advantage at all.

Arm length has no effect on male attractiveness, the same research showed.

Part of the reason might be that longer legs offer a balance between greater size and “averageness”, which is associated with good health, say the Cambridge University scientists. The attractiveness of different limb proportions was tested on 341 American womenwhowereaskedtogive computer generated male figures marks out of seven.

Participants, who were recruited online, ranged in age from 19 to 76. Leg length was measured from the hip to the top of the ankle.

The findings showed that the most attractive figures had legs roughly 0.5 standard deviations above baseline. Translated into non-statistical language, it meant they were slightly longer legged than average.

The research has been published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.