"PHOARRR!!" ? Let me guess, you're a Brit? :-) I love the differences in even idiomatic language. Down here in the southern USofA, it'd probably be "Hot Damn!" or "Gawd A Mighty!" I don't think the appeal is only to "macho" men. IN my experience, such things appeal to milquetoasts as much as to their more scruffy brethren. Sex - or more to the point, sexual fantasy, has, of course always sold. Women, in general may be inclined toward less visual representations, but at the same time, I doubt those romance novels would sell as well without the muscled Fabio types on the covers. I do think that all of this stuff operates on multiple levels and there can be multiple "myths" involved. The "boy conquers universe" myth is certainly one of the more obvious in "Star Wars." You have to dig deeper to reach the more spiritual motives Lucas has talked about. By the same token, beneath the obvious male conquest fantasies of erotic imagery, you get the old "nurturing mother" unconscious appeal of humongous tatas. At any rate, it's always fun trying to analyze it all. I mean, Vicky may have big breasts and be half (or fully) naked, but she's got a freakin' sword, and maybe a tiger who looks ready to do her bidding. Talk about approach-avoidance conflict - what's up with that?

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken