Why do women prefer tall men?

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

Tall men attract the ladies because they remind them of our violent ape-like ancestors, according to a new theory.
A study shows men hit harder when they stand on two legs than when they kneel down, and when directing punches downwards.
This might explain why early humans began walking upright, and also why women prefer tall men, say US researchers.

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"The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that our ancestors adopted bipedal posture so that males would be better at beating and killing each other when competing for females," said Professor David Carrier, from the University of Utah.
"Standing up on their hind legs allowed our ancestors to fight with the strength of their forelimbs, making punching much more dangerous.
"It also provides a functional explanation for why women find tall men attractive.
"Early in human evolution, an enhanced capacity to strike downward on an opponent may have given tall males a greater capacity to compete for mates and to defend their resources and offspring. If this were true, females who chose to mate with tall males would have had greater fitness for survival."
The findings are reported in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.
Professor Carrier's team measured the force of punches delivered by male boxers and martial arts experts as they hit in four different directions, forwards, sideways, down and up.
A punch bag fitted with a sensor recorded the force of the forward and sideways blows.
For strikes downward and upward, the men struck a heavy padded block on the end of a swinging lever.
The men hit the targets as hard as they could, both from a standing posture and on their hands and knees.
For all punching angles, the blows were much harder when delivered standing up rather than kneeling down. From a standing position, side-strikes were 64 per cent harder, forward and upward strikes were 48 per cent harder, and downward strikes were 44 per cent harder.
And whether standing up or kneeling down, the men could hit three times harder punching downward.
The switch to walking on two legs was a defining point in human evolution, but the reason it happened is still unclear.
Charles Darwin, the "father" of evolution, thought human ancestors stood up so they could handle tools and weapons.
Later a host of other reasons for bipedalism were suggested, including carrying food, dissipating heat, efficient running, and reaching high branches.
Today, one of the most popular theories to explain the upright human posture is locomotor advantage. Standing on two legs is said to increase the efficiency of walking and running.
But Professor Carrier said this was not born out by research showing that bipedal walking is "energetically more expensive".
Nearly all mammals, including chimpanzees and gorillas, move on all fours when running or covering long distances on the ground, he pointed out.
On the other hand, many four-legged animals stood up and used their forelegs to fight, including anteaters, lions, wolves, bears, horses and rabbits.
Many studies have shown that women find tall men more attractive. But Professor Carrier disagrees with the theory that this is chiefly because height indicates "good genes" which may be passed onto offspring.
"If that were the whole story, I would expect the same to be true for men - that men would be attracted to tall women," he said. "But it turns out they're not. Men are attracted to women of average height or even shorter."
The alternative explanation may be that among human ancestors, tall males were better able to defend their resources, partners and offspring, Professor Carrier believes.
He stressed this did not imply that women are attracted to physically abusive men.
"From the perspective of sexual selection theory, women are attracted to powerful males, not because powerful males can beat them up, but because powerful males can protect them and their children from other males," Professor Carrier said.
"In a world of automatic weapons and guided missiles, male physical strength has little relevance to most conflicts between males. But guns have been common weapons for less than 15 human generations. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that modern females are still attracted to physical traits that predict how their mates would fare in a fight."


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/style/why-do-women-prefer-tall-men-20110520-1evrk.html#ixzz1U83aXO8Q