Okay, my two cents’ worth: I have to disagree with what the women wrote up top. I know, I know, who am I to disagree with a woman on a subject that concerns a woman’s POV? Well, consider this. “…some people like fat people, some skinny, some short, some tall, some are ‘ass’ people, some are ‘shoulder’ people.” No flame intended, but how true is this, really? Who do you know who says, “I really prefer men who are grossly obese”? Or “I like men who look anorexic”? Pretty much every woman I’ve ever met wants a guy who’s taller than she is, so “short” and “tall” are very relative - but they go for relatively tall. (Has anyone on this forum ever known a woman who exclusively dates men who are shorter than she is?) As for ass women, shoulder women, etc., okay. Personal preferences and all that. But my point here is that I think that probably over 99% of the women out there - from a purely physical perspective, mind you - would prefer someone who’s in shape w/some muscle to someone who’s not, all other things being equal. Who wouldn’t? To argue against this is like saying that some women prefer guys who are sick to guys who are healthy… and I just don’t believe that’s true.
That they often end up with the fat guy or whoever indicates to me that there’s something else at work, a la the psychological considerations mentioned above, or, of course, that the fat guy’s income is better, dick is longer or whatever. And thus, I basically agree with D-Man’s original post.
Personal anecdote: When I started lifting weights waaaay back in high school, the verbal reaction I got was “Ewww, yuck!” The physical reaction was different (of course). Girls actually occasionally carressed my biceps, all the while going on about how “gross” my arms were. Yeah, okay. Now, I’m not a huge freakish-looking guy by any means, and I do see where an Olympia-calibre physique could be off-putting. No argument there. But I have yet to see a woman be turned off by a large, non-weightlifting guy who looked at all presentable, whereas a lot of them say that they’re turned off by BBs (who are often about the same size). So what’s the deal? As stated above, it’s the lifestyle/mindset, not the body itself that gives them problems.
Finally, I'd just like to ask geeknweightgirl how it is, exactly, that having a PhD (in any field) is more important than having a great body. You make more money with the PhD, granted, so if that's all you're worried about, fine. But for any of the myriad other aspects of life, I ask you: by what measure is it better? And BTW, if I have to be humble enough to listen to a woman rant about how men all have their collective heads up their asses in order to get laid...well, I'll take that stroke mag, thanks.