科学:女人喜欢高个男人的原因

Women prefer taller men because they are better at fighting, scientists claimed May 18.

A study has shown men hit hardest when striking downwards and the blows of a taller man are more powerful than the thumps of a short man。

In evolutionary terms, that makes them more useful for women, said researcher David Carrier。

He added: "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."

"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 Carrier。

Carrier studied the power of punches by male martial arts experts and boxers as they struck out in four directions – upwards, down, sideways and forwards。

Men hit with more force when they were standing – and could punch twice as hard when they were striking downwards, he found。

Some scientists have argued that women prefer tall men because their height indicates they have "good genes"。

However, Carrier, of Utah University, disagrees. "If that were the whole story, I would expect that men would be attracted to tall women," he said. "But they're not. Men are attracted to women of average height or even shorter."

科学家18日宣称，女人喜欢高个子男人是因为他们更善于打斗。

一项研究显示，男人从上向下出手时攻击力最强，故而高个男人的攻击比矮个男人来得更猛烈。

研究人员大卫卡里尔称，从进化角度来讲，这一优势使得高个男人对女人更有用。

他补充道：“从两性选择理论的角度看，女人更青睐强大的男人，并非因为自己能被打倒，而是因为强大的男人可以保护她们和子女免受其他男性的伤害。”

“之前假设认为，我们祖先在求偶决斗时采用直立姿势是为了更好攻击消灭对方，这一研究结果同这一假设不谋而合，”卡里尔说道。

卡里尔此前研究了武术家和拳击手在四个方向——向上、向下、向两边以及向前——出手时的攻击力度。

他发现男人在站立时可以使出更多力气——而向下出手时的攻击力可以达到普通力度的两倍。

一些科学家反驳称女人喜欢高个男人是因为他们的高度代表了“良好的遗传基因”。

但是，来自犹他大学的卡里尔并不赞同。“如果仅是出于这种原因，我想男人也会被高个女人吸引，”他说。“但事实并非如此。男人更喜欢普通身高的女子，甚至矮一点更好。”