Science Answers Why Men Like Big Butts

March 6, 2015
JACK-BLACKBUSH

If you’ve ever wondered why most men love a nice round rear end, science has answered that question.

In a study conducted at Bilkent University in Turkey in conjunction with University of Texas at Arlington, it’s not so much the rear end, but the curve of the spine that creates that rounded rump that drives men crazy.

"Over the course of human history, women faced the adaptive problem of a forwarded-shifted center of mass during pregnancy," study co-author Eric Russell, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington, told The Huffington Post in an email. "Women with a greater degree of lumbar curvature ... were able to redistribute this center of mass to reduce the strain of pregnancy. Thus, we hypothesized that men should have a psychological adaptation to prefer these women as mating partners."

Basically it comes from our evolution and what we believe is the best form for a woman to have so she can have multiple births. It’s like instead of saying she’s got great birthing hips, she’s got a great birthing curve to her spine.

Participants in this study looked at pictures of female silhouettes that had lumbar curvatures ranging from 26 to 61 degrees and picked the ones they found attractive. The average curvature was around 45.5 degrees. Also researches discovered the structure of the spine was important and not just how fat and/or muscular the rear end was.

"Men may be directing their attention to the butt and obtaining information about women's spines, even if they are unaware that that is what their minds are doing," Dr. David Lewis, a psychologist at Bilkent University in Turkey and the study's lead author, told the Daily Mail. "Alternatively, men may have preferences for both lumbar curvature and buttock size. Future research is needed to better understand the latter."

So, there you have it folks, the science about why we can’t lie about liking big butts. Here I thought it was because of the rise in popularity of yoga pants.