A cultural judgment, not an inherent fact. One I happen to agree with, BTW, but then I'm part of this culture.
Just finished a book on ancient Greek culture. During the height of their culture, not the declining Hellenistic period, artistic impressions of adolescent boys in settings where they were obviously intended to represent an esthetic ideal outnumber those of young women by about 25:1. About the same proportion (reversed) in which young women show up on today's magazine covers.
Quite obviously the ancient Greeks thought the young male form far more esthetically pleasing than that of the young female. And they've been considered ever since to be darn good judges of beauty.
Which book did you read? I’m about half-way through “Gates of Fire”, Pressman’s novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.
For what its worth, lots of Ancient Greeks were also at least a little gay.
SnakeDoc
I don’t find men to be an aesthetic train wreck at all!