Avatars of varying shapes and sizes will help unlock the secrets of sexual attraction as part of an online experiment by Sydney academics.
Each month, half of the less-popular images will be culled and new body shapes will be "virtually bred" from parent avatars with features rated as most attractive by people taking part in the experiment.
Professor Rob Brooks, who heads the project, hopes the experiment will help people with body image problems see that there are different kinds of attractiveness.
"I think it's important to demonstrate to people that there are probably a number of different ways to be attractive and that there's not one stereotypical beauty queen or swimwear model type of attractive body," Prof Brooks said.
"If we find that there's one particular type of attractive body ... then we need to ask questions about why there are so many people that differ from those body types and what that means."
Prof Brooks predicts the experiment will probably confirm the commonly-held view that sexual attraction is based on the relative proportion of different body types to each other.
The results of the experiment may also have useful real-world applications, he says.
"It could help, for example, people to choose clothes that best complement their bodies," Prof Brooks said. "It will also help us understand the role of diversity and variation."
People interested in taking part in the experiment are asked to visit the research website - www.bodylab.biz
