Men ‘can’t handle beautiful women’

Few men could handle slipping between the sheets with a woman who has the “perfect” body, a poll found today.

A survey of 1,000 women and men for More magazine found that 88% believed the pressure would be “too much”.

A man’s ideal female body shape is a small waist and big bottom (56%), with actress Scarlett Johansson being listed the most ideal shape (44%) from all female celebrities.

However nine in 10 (88%) men said they would not want to take their own clothes off in her presence.

Women who are both big on the top and bottom are the second most attractive body shape (34%), with Beyonce’s body rated the second most desirable (16%) from the celebrities.

Only 6% of men said skinny women were the most desirable, with only 3% wanting to see Victoria Beckham in the buff.

Other findings from the survey were that only 2% of young women in the UK are “totally happy” with their body.

On average, young women think about their body shape every 12 minutes while eight out of 10 think their whole life would improve if they were happier with their body and looks.

The study found that 4% of men fancy muscly women the most, while other attractive attributes are a “flexible” body (40%), soft (41%), toned (51%) and curvy (90%).

More than a third of men (35%) said a rounded tummy was desirable.

One in 10 (11%) men described love handles as a turn-off, 16% were put off by a flat chest or stretch marks, 68% cited hairy armpits and 62% said hairy nipples.

Men are also turned off by hairy moles (87%) and piercings “where they shouldn’t be” (91%). Only 14% of men said they found a tattoo a turn-on.

When it came to the sexiest bit of a woman’s body, men rated breasts top (44%), followed by bottom (30%), waist (8%), smooth legs (7%), back (6%) and soft skin all over (5%).

Just over one in 10 (12%) preferred women “with a great body who’s dedicated to diet and exercise” while 88% would opt for a “woman with wobbly bits who’s up for a good time”.

A total of 13% think their own body has a passing resemblance to David Beckham while 87% think their body is closer to that of David Brent’s (from The Office) or Wayne Rooney’s.

Lisa Smosarski, editor of More magazine, said: “Men like curvy women who look after themselves and have sex appeal, women who know how to have a good time without worrying about their calorie intake.

“Some men feel intimidated by women with super bodies and find it hard to talk to a body-perfect woman, let alone take their clothes off in front of her.

“The truth is, men are happy with us the way we are – it’s women who point out our flaws. It’s time we did ourselves a favour and relaxed a bit.”