Is A Woman's Idea Of The Perfect Body Really That Much Different Than A Man's?

Men love Kim Kardashian's boobs and ScarJo's hair. Women idealise Cara Delevingne's face and Gwyneth Paltrow's abs. But their perfect people are actually pretty similar...

Gwyneth Paltrow bikini
Gwyneth Paltrow bikini
(Image credit: Rex)

Men love Kim Kardashian's boobs and ScarJo's hair. Women idealise Cara Delevingne's face and Gwyneth Paltrow's abs. But their perfect people are actually pretty similar...

A new survey asked women and men to choose the best body parts from various celebrities to make up their idea of the 'perfect' body.

There are certainly some significant differences between the male idea of perfection and the female viewpoint - but overall, they're pretty similar.

The survey of 1000 Brits (conducted by Bluebella) revealed that the women's idea of a perfect woman is a skinny brunette with average-sized breasts.

They chose Cara Delevingne's face and its 'supermodel features,' Jennifer Aniston's 'pert and perky' boobs, Gwyneth Paltrow's 'toned' stomach, Kate Middleton's 'long, luscious' brown hair, Emma Watson's 'boyish' hips and Elle MacPherson's long legs.

Perfect female body

Perfect female body

Meanwhile, men wanted a blonde woman with a slightly curvier figure.

They chose Megan Fox's 'softer' face, Kim Kardashian's 'fuller' boobs, Michelle Keegan's slim tummy, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's never-ending pins, Scarlett Johansson's blonde hair and Kelly Brook's 'fuller' hips.

The results show what we kind of already knew - that women put more value on thinness and men like big boobs. But both 'perfect women' are tall and slim and with long hair and supermodel legs. The most interesting difference is that the women value celebs of all ages (Elle MacPherson is 50, Jen Aniston is 45). But for the men, the oldest woman on their list is 34-year-old Kelly Brook.

When it comes to beautiful men, the ideal traits are even closer.

Women fancy Harry Styles' famous hair, Jamie Dornan's 'beautiful, open face' face, David Gandy's ripped torso, Brad Pitt's biceps and David Beckham's strong legs.

Perfect male body

Perfect male body

And the blokes weren't shy with picking their dream men. They'd choose Brad Pitt's hair (it's TBD whether they're referring to his current mini-hawk), the 'flawed but chiseled bone structure' of David Beckham's face, Ryan Gosling's 'rock-solid' torso, Hugh Jackman's 'rippling [bicep] muscles' and Frank Lampard's muscular legs.

Again, we can't help but notice the striking similarites. Both genders want sexy six-packs, footballers' legs and a bit of facial hair.

We can't argue with that...

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Ali Gray is an award-winning content director and digital strategist. Most recently she was the Director of Branded Content at Hearst, and helped to bridge the gap between the editorial and commercial worlds working across all Hearst brands, including ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Prior to that she worked as an editor contributing to several brands such as The Telegraph, iVillage UK.