What's with the men's long legs fetish?

There is one thing about men I've been thinking about a lot and just can't understand:

Why is it that men fancy long legs?

In works of fiction and non-fiction, I have over many years (as we all have) read countless praising descriptions of one or another woman's looks. Time and again, I have seen a writer admiringly state that the woman had long legs. Long legs are without doubt applauded far more often than, say, smooth skin or firm buttocks. And whenever a man describes a woman's legs, it's almost never about how straight or curved they are, how thick or thin they are, how firm or flabby they are, how hairy or hairless they are. The focus is always on their length, as if that was more important than anything else.

Now, it is perfectly understandable why a man would prefer large breasts over small breasts, or small breasts over large breasts, or a slim figure, or a stout one, and so on. I'm sure most of us have a personal preference concerning women's skin color, hairstyle or pubic hair. Surely there are very few men in the world who don't dislike cellulitis. But, for the life of me, I can't see how the LENGTH of a woman's legs should influence her attractiveness one way or another. I mean, it makes perfect sense when a man doesn't like legs that are too thick, or too muscular, or too bony, or too scarred, or whatever. But what in Heaven's name has the legs' length got to do with anything?

I can understand pretty much everything else about men (and women, for that matter). That's why it's driving me crazy that I can't figure that long legs thing out. Every male writer seems to think that every male reader understand why long legs are better than short legs. This is a clear indication that the long legs fetish must be very widespread. The impossibility of finding even the slightest attempt of explanation to this phenomenon is therefore perplexing beyond words.

Some time ago I found a forum which seemed suitable for openly talking about such topics, and posted this question. In no time my thread was hijacked by complete and utter morons who began discussing the question whether or not the beauty standards "imposed by the society" were justified or not, posting photos of ancient statues to illustrate their points which I must say escaped me completely. In hindsight I realise I should have known that the overwhelming majority of men don't have the slightest capability of, nor interest in, putting themselves into another person's head. For them the question "what goes on in the mind of a man who likes long legs" could just as well have been written in Swahili. Such men are only able to discuss things like how much is the type of women generally held beatiful in this day and age different from that in Ancient Greece, Araby or China. What I need is something completely different. I want to be able to imagine what a man feels when he looks at a woman and finds her attractive because her legs are long.

I'm at the end of my wits. I no longer know whom to ask. So, on a remote chance that someone who reads this is able to help me even a tiny bit closer to the answer, I am posting this article.

Please resists your urge to tell me platitudes such as:

"I don't know why, I just find long legs sexy."

"Not all men like long legs."

"Men like many things, not just long legs."

I am asking you to share your insights as to what goes on in the heads of the men who are aroused by long legs.

To bring you an analogy, there are several possible reasons why some men find large breasts arousing and some men find small breasts arousing.

When a man prefers large breasts over small breasts, the most likely explanation is that we have genetically inherited the preference for large breasts because large breasts can produce more milk and thus increase the chances for our children's survival – meaning, men whose genes program them to get aroused by large breasts have, on average, slightly more surviving offspring, and thus the large-breasts-are-arousing gene spreads better. This is not the only possible reason, though. For some men large breasts might be subconsciously associated with the safety and closeness provided to us by our mother.

When a man prefers small breasts over large breasts, it may be because he generally preferes petite women – maybe because he is relatively short and weak and therefore doesn't feel confident around larger women. Or maybe he is repulsed by the whorish behaviour of women in our time, and petiteness associates in his subconscious mind with youth and youth associates with innocence. Or maybe he likes boyish-looking women because he subconsciously wishes to actually fuck a young man.

This is what I'm looking for here: an understanding of what inner motives might move a man to adore long legs or, for that matter, attribute any importance whatsoever to the length of a woman's legs.

I pray to God whom I don't believe that at least some of you will be intelligent enough to understand my question, because I can't explain it any more clearly than this.