Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it seems all the fitness influencers on Instagram have triggered a cultural shift.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City asked 78 female undergraduate students to rate the winners of the Miss USA beauty pageant, and the researchers discovered that women with toned or muscular figures are now seen as sexier as women who are very thin.

The students were asked to study photos of the women who were crowned Miss USA between 1999 and 2013 and rate them according to how muscular, thin and attractive they were.
The study found more of the recent winners were muscular and toned rather than thin, which showed that attitudes toward physical beauty have shifted.