The way you walk can make you more attractive

How do you break “sexiness“ down into its component parts? What made Sean Connery so widely regarded as the “sexiest man alive” for years when he was well into his 60s? What makes George Clooney the current yardstick for mature male sex appeal? What is it about Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johannson that makes them so sexy? According to new research at least one element of it is the way they walk.

The researchers in the new study started from a point of observing that most previous research on attractiveness has centred on isolated features but their intention was to test how important it is that features “fit” together.

Sexiness depends on internal consistency and congruency; body shape and walking style need to have an integrity and sense of belonging.

To do this they first of all established what ways of walking were regarded as attractive and then what body shapes were deemed attractive. This was done using 15 moving dots to depict a person’s shape and movement. They then combined the movement style of one person with the body shape of another and collected attractiveness ratings for these “hybrids”.

The question they were seeking to answer was whether body shape alone, or walking style alone was enough to predict the attractiveness of the hybrid walker. They found that it was not. In other words, the hybrid walkers were deemed less attractive than would be predicted by the shape and movement used to make them.

This tells us that sexiness depends on internal consistency and congruency; body shape and walking style need to have an integrity and sense of belonging. Apparently our sense of what is attractive is alert to deception and lies, so no wonder some plastic surgeries don’t equate to attraction.

In the end there is nothing so attractive as the genuine article and someone who is true to themselves.