Guess What? "A woman’s brain and personality really do matter..."

I'm going to hand you straight over to a senior LiS correspondent on the scene of yet another, truly horrendous PR pile-up...

There are so many things wrong with this press release, but I’m finding it difficult to articulate myself coherently because I’m so angry. I’ll try, though:

Firstly, it was released less than four hours after our economy took what is arguably its worst hit in recent history; secondly, I’m a business journalist, so why in god’s name would I give two shits about the subject matter; and thirdly, it is ridiculously, painfully, indescribably misogynistic. I don’t want to go on and on about the sisterhood but seriously, Penny Lukats? I would rather quit my job, cut out my own ovaries, fry them up, arrange them with some seasonal vegetables and present them to my boss with a little flag sticking out saying ‘Germaine Greer says NO’ than allow anyone to know that I had played any part in the compiling, writing up or sending out of this ‘survey’.

Anyway, sorry to seem ranty but there you go. I normally laugh at this kind of thing but it’s made me really angry.

Ps. Just realised I didn’t make any reference to the sentence ‘Great news for honest, funny and bright women of every shape and size’. Silly sentence.

----FORWARDED MESSAGE
From: Penny Lukats [Penny.Lukats@parship.co.uk]
Sent: 08 October 2008 10:54
To: Penny Lukats
Subject: ONE IN THREE BRITISH MEN FIND 34E TOO MUCH OF A HANDFUL

Hi,
Please find below our latest research press release on breast size. Apparently one third of men prefer women with smaller breasts. But it’s not naturally voluptuous woman who are turning off men in their thousands, men are running scared at the prospect of dating a woman with gravity-defying surgically enhanced breasts.

If you would like further information, comment from our expert Dr Thalasis, or case studies, just let me know.

Best,

Penny Lukats
PARSHIP.com

ONE IN THREE BRITISH MEN FIND 34E TOO MUCH OF A HANDFUL

Majority of men prefer the boyish figure of Keira Knightley to the over-enhanced curves of Pamela Anderson.

With the average bra-size now ballooning from a 34B (Anna Kournikova) ten years ago to a 34E (Kelly Brook) in 2008*, you’d think that most single men would be in seventh heaven – but not so according to a new survey by PARSHIP.com Europe’s largest serious online matchmaking service. When it comes to relationships, 31% of single men would prefer not to try getting closer to a busty woman, so anything above a “D” cup will reduce a woman’s chances of finding a partner by as much as a third.

A survey of 13,000 singles across Europe by the dating firm PARSHIP.com revealed that one in ten (9%) single British men find big breasts a real turn-off and one in five (22%) say they would just barely consider dating anyone above a “D” cup, so 34E is off their scale.


But it’s not naturally voluptuous woman who are turning off men in their thousands. Like George Clooney, who is rumored to have ended his relationship with Sarah Larson following her breast enlargement, men are running scared at the prospect of dating a woman with gravity-defying surgically enhanced breasts. So much so that 27% of men say they prefer the boyish figure and flat chest of a Keira Knightley to the over-enhanced curves of Pamela Anderson.

But British singles aren’t completely against all surgical ‘enhancement’, it’s just a matter of less is more. According to PARSHIP.com, 51% of men and 56% of women would not consider dating someone showing obvious evidence of plastic surgery. So while a nose job doesn’t necessarily have to be a date-stopper, an in-yer-face boob job could halve your chances of getting a date.

Dr Nafsika Thalassis, PARSHIP’s singles coach, commented:
“These results show that there is a considerable disparity between what women think men find attractive and the truth of the matter. We are often told that both men and women are spending increasing amounts of money on their appearance but, even though we expect our partners to be well-groomed, it seems that many of us draw the line at dating people with surgical implants. It also raises the question of why so many people opt for plastic surgery. Frequently, women say that they want to increase their breast size in order to improve their own self-confidence rather than because they want to attract men. In reality, however, would they go ahead with the procedure if they knew it was likely to turn off lots of men? After all there is nothing confidence-boosting about having a surgical procedure that makes you less attractive to the opposite sex.”

Bigger-breasted women would do well to go further towards the Arctic Circle where things really look up for DD-plus girls. Of the 6,500 men surveyed in 13 different countries for PARSHIP, the Norwegians proved readiest to embrace the larger breast, with just 1% finding it a turn-off. In neighbouring Sweden, 81% of single men would be happy to see their cup overflow, although – in typically egalitarian fashion – they are also most likely to go for small breasts, with 82% giving flatter contours the thumbs-up. Go West, however, and you’ll find that the Irish are modest in their expectations, with 15% of men saying they would never date a woman with breasts on the larger side.

It’s not all about fleshy appendages with British men, though. A woman’s brain and personality really do matter. Good looks are of course highly valued by the majority of men (52%) but they trail behind other qualities such as: honesty (91%), fidelity (79%), a sense of humour (79%) and intelligence (74%). Great news for honest, funny and bright women of every shape and size.