Do Girls Like Skinny Guys? (Survey Results)

I surveyed a thousand women to see if they like skinny guys. In the first survey, I used photos. In the second, I used my own illustrations.

I’ve also been through all the research, including speaking with the lead researcher on the most influential paper that studied this.

And I’m a naturally skinny guy who’s bulking up. I have my own experience of dating hundreds of girls (online and in person) while skinny and then while in great shape.

Let’s go through all of it.

The First Survey (Using Photos)

In the first survey, I used photos of different bodies (with the heads cropped off), seeing which levels of muscularity and leanness women found the most attractive. I surveyed about 500 women, most of them in their twenties.

Here’s the first spread, comparing guys with different amounts of muscle and body fat:

Most women found Brad Pitt’s Fight Club physique the most attractive. Henry Rollins came in second, with 12% of the vote. I would call that a lean and athletic physique. The skinny guy (Ville Valo) was rated near the bottom, with only 2% of women finding his physique the most attractive. He did better than the steroid bodybuilder, though.

I made another spread with guys in a different pose:

Similar to the first spread, the lean and athletic physique did best. Then came the dad bods. And then the skinny guys at the bottom.

I made another spread, this time only using photos of guys who look fit and healthy:

I thought the skinny physique (Adrien Brody’s modelling photo) would do better, but again, women preferred the guy with a more athletic, healthy, and natural sort of look.

Next, I found photos of guys in bathing suits at the beach:

Almost all the women chose the natural bodybuilder with the more natural build. The skinny guy (Mick Jagger) fared relatively poorly. But again, he bested the professional bodybuilder.

I wanted to confirm these findings, so I ran a second survey.

The Second Survey (Using My Illustrations)

In the second survey, I wanted to remove as many confounding factors as possible, factoring out fame, status, bone structure, muscle insertions, skin health (and colour), and any subtle changes in body fat. I thought the best way to do that would be to draw the different bodies, adjusting only the variable I was testing.

So, I drew a bunch of different body types, and then I surveyed another 400 women. Here’s the first spread:

Again, women consistently chose the bodies of the guys who looked strong, lean, and athletic in a natural and healthy way. Being on the thinner side was perfectly fine, but being skinny wasn’t.

This time, though, more women preferred the most muscular guy over the skinny guy. I suspect that’s because his body is still within the realm of what’s naturally achievable, and also because he isn’t unhealthfully lean.

In the next spread, I compared a skinny guy against a skinny-fat guy:

To my surprise, most women preferred the skinny-fat guy to the skinny guy. At first, I thought that was because he looked out of shape in a more normal way. After going through the research, though, I think it’s because the skinny-fat guy is bigger, heavier, and looks stronger. I think the skinny guy is being penalized for looking too weak.

The Research on Skinniness & Attraction

The main study looking at how skinniness affects attraction is this one conducted by Dr. Aaron Sell. I read through it and then spoke with him, just to make sure I had a good grasp on it.

Dr. Sell started by testing the strength of college guys on four different upper-body exercises: biceps curls, overhead presses, pull-ups, push-ups, and rows. Then he took photos of them with their shirts off, and he cropped off their heads, like so:

He presented those photos to women, and he had them rank the guys from least attractive to most attractive.

The women had no idea how much the men could lift, yet they wound up ranking the guys from weakest to strongest:

You can see that the skinniest guys were always rated near the bottom, and the strongest guys were always rated near the top.

My Experience Dating As A Skinny Guy

In my teens and early twenties, when I was very skinny, most women didn’t like my body. I know this because they told me about it all the time, even when I was just casually going about my day.

To be fair, I wasn’t taking care of myself. I spent my time painting Warhammer figurines, drawing, and playing video games. I was weak, underweight, and my posture was curling in on itself. I had a funny way of walking. And I was clumsy.

People did like me, though. My body wasn’t in good shape, but I was kind and creative. My friends, family, and girlfriends were the ones teasing me about being bony and weak. Some of them urged me to gain weight in a nice way. Others ribbed me about it. My girlfriends joked that they would protect me.

When I started bulking up at 22 years old, it made such an enormous difference that it’s hard to put into words. The girls who found my personality attractive started finding my body attractive, and they told me about it, and I could feel the difference.

I also started getting interest from a far wider variety of women. And instead of them joking about protecting me, they started telling me they felt safe around me.

It wasn’t just my body that changed. My acne cleared up, my posture improved, and my insomnia went away. I had more energy, I felt better, I was moving better, and I had more confidence.

I didn’t need to get very big to start getting all of those benefits, either. By the time I’d gone from 130 to 150 pounds (which took me 3 months), all the teasing had stopped, and people were congratulating me for having gotten into shape.

When I bulked up to 170 pounds the next year (which took another 4 months of rigorous bulking), people—male and female—started asking me for fitness advice. I got to take on the role of being a mentor.

I did another bulk every year or two, and I eventually made it up to 205 pounds (naturally). But by then, most of the benefits had plateaued. Going from a 225 bench to a 315 bench didn’t really change how people treated me. By that point, I was bulking up because I liked the idea of getting bigger and stronger. There wasn’t any problem I was trying to fix anymore.

Summary

In every survey and every study, women greatly preferred the physiques of guys who were strong, athletic, and healthy. The skinny guys fared almost as poorly as the guys on steroids. Being thin was perfectly fine, though, as long as the guys looked strong, athletic, and healthy.

If you’re skinny, this might seem discouraging. I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it, though. If you start doing what’s best for your health—working out, eating well, and living a healthy lifestyle—then women will like your physique just fine. And you don’t need to get massive. You just need to get strong and fit.

Here’s an example:

That lines up with my own experience. Most women found my body unattractive when I was skinny. Gaining 20 pounds helped tremendously. Gaining 40 helped a little bit more. Gaining 70 pounds didn’t hurt, but the attractiveness benefits had already plateaued.

The biggest benefits are during those early stages, as you go from skinny to fit. Here’s another example:

It takes most skinny guys about 5 months to go from being skinny to looking fit and athletic, which is enough to look great to women. It usually takes about 2–3 years to start looking strong, bringing you to peak attractiveness (and also earning more respect from other men).

I have some more articles you might find helpful:

• How fast can skinny guys build muscle?
• What are newbie gains?
• How to bulk
• How to build an attractive physique

I also send out a weekly-ish newsletter with muscle-building, health, and aesthetics tips for naturally skinny guys. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

And if you want help with any of this, check out our Bony to Beastly Program. We’ll walk you through the entire process of bulking up, from the training to the nutrition to the lifestyle. We’ll also support you through the entire process, tracking your progress, answering all your questions, and giving you advice along the way. Most skinny guys gain 20–25 pounds within 20 weeks.