Don’t Be Too Perfect, It Scares the Men
I just returned from my trip to Florence and Paris, and while I didn’t actually “work” during my vacation, I seem to view everything through the lens of relationships these days. Everywhere I turned I seemed to find myself observing something that I could hardly wait to share with you. Today’s post is inspired by a story about Sandro Boticelli, a true superstar of the Renaissance.
There are two schools of thought around the question of whether men are intimidated by women that they are extremely attracted to. The prevailing view is that if a guy is very attracted to a woman, he will do everything in his power to get her. It takes on the feeling of a quest. No matter how beautiful or unattainable she may seem, he will risk his pride to take a shot. This is the HJNTIY School, as laid out by Justin Long’s character in the movie.
The other view is that men will actually avoid the object of their longing if they perceive that she is unattainable. They will not risk getting dumped later by a woman who they believe is hotter than they are. I call this the You Scare the Shit Out of Me School (YSTSOOM). Boticelli fell into the second camp.
Sandro Botticelli fell in love with Simonetta Vespucci, “la bella Simonetta,” the moment he laid eyes on her upon her arrival in Florence. She was the only woman he ever painted after that (and he painted many female figures), even after her death at age 22 in 1476. She was married, though she was probably also mistress to one of the Medicis. The Birth of Venus, a bit of which is shown here, was painted nine years after her death. It is believed that Sandro and Simonetta never actually met. This self-portrait of Boticelli (below) has such a haughty and arrogant expression I could swear he’s president of Kappa Sig. I’m surprised he didn’t arrange at least one occasion to spit game.

However, Boticelli requested to be buried at her feet in the Church of Ognissanti in Florence, and was interred there when he died in 1510. Now, how romantic is that? That means, lovely ladies, that you are going to have to provide some encouragement if you don’t want guys to wait until they’re dead before getting close.
It turns out there’s some research to support the YSTSOOM School. Science Blog’s Sexy Women Make Everyone Feel Bad highlights a study from the University of Missouri which shows that men feel worse about themselves after looking at pics of hot women:
“The theory is that a beautiful women makes a man self conscious because the he’s reminded that he’s not in her league – that is, they take one look at a hot girl and quickly realize there’s no way they’re good-looking enough to bang her. Since women have the larger investment in offspring, they tend to be considered the ‘picky’ ones, evolutionarily speaking. The men and their billions of sperm have to compete with other guys to convince a girl that they’ve got the genes to be worth it.
To test this theory, the researchers performed one more experiment. They broke the men into two groups – one received magazine layouts of sexually idealized females and the other received the same layouts with average-looking ‘boyfriends’ added to the photos, with captions about how the female models are attracted to the average-looking men. The men who looked at just the model were more self-conscious, presumably because when the other men saw the bombshells liked ‘normal guys,’ they no longer felt she was out of reach.”
In addition, The Daily Telegraph featured a survey that revealed that perfect women scare men. More magazine asked 1,000 men how they would feel about having sex with a perfect worman. Scarlett Johanssen’s body type was the most preferred with 44% of the vote. However, 88% of the respondents felt that the experience would be “too much,” and that they would not want to take their clothes off in her presence. Some other interesting facts were revealed in this survey, which asked men to identify what they find most attractive about women’s bodies (these men are Brits, not sure if it matters):
- The ideal body shape for 56% of men is a small waist with a big bottom.
- Only 6% of men felt that skinny women are the most desirable.
- Only 3% of men would like to see Victoria Beckham in the nude.
- 90% of men prefer a curvy body.
- 51% of men appreciate a toned body.
- More than a third of the men said a rounded tummy was desirable.
- Just 12% preferred women “with a great body who’s dedicated to diet and exercise” while 88 per cent would opt for a “woman with wobbly bits who’s up for a good time.’
The way I read it, you don’t have to be perfect. In fact, you’re better off with a couple of recognizable flaws. I’m not encouraging you to load up on the Twinkies. But the next time you’re whining and whingeing about that nice, rounded, womanly tummy, be thankful that you don’t scare the shit out of people.
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