Science of Sex

Scientists have now discovered that there are three separate sex drives that control the rules of the mating game.

First date excitement: is it lust, love or more?

You may have heard it all before: men are turned on visually and women are more interested in character. Perhaps this is the basis of attraction, but it's never that simple: both sexes want sex and love and often go to great lengths to get it. The primitive urge to have sex often gets more complicated as people wonder if casual sex is turning into a relationship, or whether they should break up with a long-term partner. Why do we want sex and love that badly and what determines attraction? Recent research shows that there are three different drives involved: lust, love and attachment.

First, there is lust…

To shed some light on the "visual stimuli" that fire-up a man's brain-cells, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin conducted a classic psychology experiment. They showed a group of men line drawings of female bodies. The size of the waist and the size of the hips were marginally different in every picture, sex researchers refer to this relationship as the 'waist-to-hip' ratio. A clear majority of the men preferred female C: a woman whose waist is precisely seven-tenths the size of her hips. It turns out that women with this waist-to-hip ratio get pregnant more easily, have fewer miscarriages and are more likely to give birth successfully. Hip and waist size, full lips, defined cheeks, and sizable breasts are all controlled by sex hormones.

The hip-to-waist ratio of female C is the most desirable to men.

The human body is a walking billboard for our hormones: in women oestrogen and in men testosterone. Secreted primarily by the ovaries, oestrogen influences not only the menstrual cycle but also the development of a woman's face and body shape when she goes through puberty. Scientists theorise that men are attracted to women whose features indicate high hormonal levels because it offers the promise of bearing healthy children. When a boy reaches puberty, testosterone promotes the growth of particular masculine features such as prominent cheekbones, a strong jaw and broad shoulders. These masculine features are markers for virility and health. For humans to survive and prosper, we need healthy offspring with favourable genes and a strong immune system.