Media release

From: The Royal Society

'Sexy and formidable male body' - The sexy and formidable male body: men's height and weight as condition-dependent sexually selected traits

Men are on average taller and more muscular than women, traits that confer advantages in female choice and male competition. These size dimorphisms come with higher developmental costs, aligning with evolutionary theory that larger, sexually selected traits signal health and vitality but are more vulnerable to stressors like disease. Our large-scale analysis shows that with cross-national improvements in living conditions, men’s height and weight increase more than double that of women, amplifying size dimorphism. This study bridges evolutionary biology and human health, offering insights into how socio-ecological factors and sexual selection shape key physical traits. Contact: Dr David Giofrè, University of Genoa, david.giofre@unige.it

'Sexy and formidable male body' – Increases in men’s height and weight with improved living standards are more than double women’s. A large-scale, cross-national analysis using WHO data and other reports showed increases in average height and weight as disease burden have decreased over the past century. Increases were faster in men, where height and muscularity are sexually-selected traits and indicators of health and vitality which may be compromised by stressors like disease.