Body Language of the Contrapposto Pose

Venus de Milo statue Musee du Lourve Paris France

Source: Alamy Limited. (2024). Venus de Milo statue Musee du Lourve Paris France R Rainford.

There is a popular saying that the camera adds ten pounds. There is some truth to that, because a camera lens can make us appear wider (Jirsa, 2024). While we often do not get to choose our lens preference for photos, we can adjust our body language posture to appear less wide.

Specifically, we can influence other people’s perceptions of our photos by taking the historically artful contrapposto pose. Contrapposto is Italian for counterpoint and was applied by 5th-century Greek sculptors to make their work appear more natural to human behavior (The Getty, 2023). Butkowski and Tajima (2017) explain that the pose appears natural, relaxed, and stable, while also accentuating the natural curves of the female body.

People often stand in photos with their feet parallel to each other balancing on each foot. This stance encompasses our entire width within the frame. Furthermore, the lens itself can make us appear even wider.

This 2017 post offers a few modern-day suggestions to overcome these widening obstacles. First, try standing with one foot slightly in front of the other putting your weight on your back foot. Your front leg should have a small curve while your back leg is straight. Optically, your front leg with a bend will appear larger because it is closer to the camera while your hips and waist are adjusted farther from the camera creating a slimming effect. Extending the front leg with a bend will slightly raise that hip and the weight on the back leg shifts the head, hips, and shoulders into slightly different directions on the vertical axes (Pazhoohi et al. 2020a).

Pazhoohi et al. (2020a) confirmed the slimming effect of the contrapposto pose for the female body. They performed a neurophysiological study by recording participants’ brain activity with an electroencephalogram (EEG) when viewing a female body with the contrapposto pose and a neutral standing pose. They found that body pose influences attention and ratings of attractiveness, with the contrapposto pose rated more attractive. The contrapposto pose had more brain activity for participants in the middle temporal gyrus and angular gyrus brain regions, which are associated with attractiveness judgments. Other research confirms more attractiveness in the contrapposto pose compared with a normal standing pose for a female body (Pazhoohi et al., 2020b).

Less research has been done to study the male contrapposto pose. One study found that the male body did not capture more attention in the contrapposto pose than a normal standing pose and that the male contrapposto pose was rated as less natural and masculine, likely because the pose highlights female body curves to increase attractiveness (Pazhoohi et al., 2024). This makes sense because wider shoulders are viewed as more attractive for males (Mautz et al., 2013; Sidari et al., 2021).

Contrapposto Posture Attention

If you are standing for a photo with a group of people, everyone in the picture with their feet at a parallel stance will blend in together from having their hips, shoulders, and head all vertically aligned in a straight line. In the contrapposto pose, yours will be slightly shifted into different angles enabling you to look different (Pazhoohi et al. 2020a). Not coincidently, the contrapposto pose has been found to capture more of our attention. It increases the likelihood of being looked at first, more often, and for longer periods of time (Pazhoohi et al., 2020b).

The contrapposto pose also captures more attention by highlighting female body curves. The female body is considered more attractive when the waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR)—waist measurement divided by the hips’ measurement—is about .70. Thus, the waist is much smaller than the hips (Del Zotto et al., 2018). For evolutionary reasons, the contrapposto pose captures more attention because it creates a ‘supernormal stimuli’ that exaggerates perceptions of the female body's waist-to-hip-ratio to even lower than .70; hence, a much smaller waist compared to hips than they actually measure. This activates brain areas responsible for perception and judgments of attractiveness, middle temporal gyrus as well as angular gyrus, that then increase attention and ratings of attraction (Pazhoohi et al., 2020a).

According to expectancy-violations theory, what stands out literally captures more attention because it takes more effort to understand (Dulebohn et al., 2012; Janssen & Van Yperen, 2004; Lannutti et al., 2001; Yuan & Woodman, 2010). Consider adding a triangle to your pose. Your bent front leg and straight back leg form one triangle, while placing your hand on your hip with your elbow pointed out creates a second triangle. Sharp corners, such as a triangle, are less common to us and take more mental effort and time to process (Anthony, 2011). Hence, a hand on a hip and elbow pointed outward fits nicely with expectancy-violations theory because it is a less common shape and takes more mental effort to process.

Taylor Swift at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City. July 23, 2012 Los Angeles, CA Picture

Source: Paul Smith | ID 27526325 © Featureflash | Dreamstime.

Having a slight twist in the contrapposto pose, hips and head turned in different directions, brings attention to female body curves (Pazhoohi et al., 2020a). This twist, along with the slight raise of the front leg hip, can create slight asymmetry for the body’s appearance. According to Gregory Buford, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, no one has absolute body symmetry and a little asymmetry in body appearance is actually more attractive than complete symmetry (Bottomley, 2021).

Sydney Sweeney at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards at Barker Hanger on June 5, 2022 in Santa Monica, CA

Source: Credit Image: © Kay Blake/ZUMA Press Wire | Image ID:2JCBRTR | Contributor: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

Conclusion

The contrapposto pose has been consistently found to have a slimming effect for photos. It is strongly correlated with attractiveness for the female body due to highlighting feminine physical attributes. For some of these same reasons, the male contrapposto pose does not capture more attention than an average pose and may even make them appear less masculine. The contrapposto pose seems to be a good option for females taking photos, especially for the upcoming holiday season. It can increase attractiveness and capture more attention.