Why do Australians seem more attractive than Britons? Forum debates the theories

Sun, diet and selection: why Australian attractiveness outshines the British

A recurring debate on history and society forums asks why Australians, largely descended from Britons and Irish, are perceived as more attractive than their European ancestors. The question, which has drawn 55 replies in two days, is no trivial matter: it rests on observations about climate, diet and genetic selection that would have shaped a distinct phenotype in barely two centuries.

The most frequently repeated hypothesis points to the environment. Sun, beach culture and outdoor sport would have acted as an aesthetic filter. "Sun and climate" are, for many, the main cause: the lack of light in the British Isles would cause health problems such as rickets or vitamin D deficiency, affecting teeth and height. Add to that a diet with nearly double the per capita meat consumption of the United Kingdom, which translates into greater muscle mass and lower body fat.

The genetic selection of convicts and later immigration

Another, more controversial theory holds that the first Australian settlers were convicts, and that this forced selection would have left a genetic imprint. However, the data cited in the discussion qualify this: most of the deportees were convicted of petty theft, not violent crimes, and descendants of convicts make up less than 20% of today's population. The bulk of the gene pool comes from later immigration: Italians, Greeks, Balkans peoples, Germans and Austro-Hungarians arrived in waves after the world wars, bringing traits that do not exist in the United Kingdom.

Spanish immigration also played its part. Between 1958 and 1963, Operación Canguro (Operation Kangaroo, a Spanish assisted-migration scheme) brought some 7,816 Spaniards, many to work in Queensland's sugar cane fields. The Plan Marta, between 1960 and 1963, brought more than 700 Spanish women, mostly young and single, to work as domestic workers and start families with the already settled immigrants. Although the numbers were small compared with other flows, they left their mark.

British decline and reverse selection

The debate also addresses physical decline in the United Kingdom. It is argued that the Industrial Revolution and the two world wars triggered a reverse selection: the fittest died in combat or emigrated, while the less favoured reproduced to a greater extent. An extreme case would be the Prussians, who formed elite regiments with height requirements and were then sent to the biggest slaughters, thus decimating the best-endowed.

The discussion drifts towards the present day. Some participants argue that Australia has already peaked aesthetically and that recent immigration, from regions with different beauty standards, could dilute that supposed attractiveness. Others, however, maintain that mixing always improves the species, as Argentina's history would demonstrate. The consensus, if there is one, is that attractiveness is not just about genes, but about environment, diet and cultural selection.

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The unsettling fact: while the debate focuses on looks, one participant points out that eight out of ten Australian animals are lethal, which, jokes aside, suggests that natural selection in Australia has been anything but painless.