Study What ?!?!?

From the you-have-to-be-kidding-me department comes this "interesting" study from the University of Bath in the U.K. :

A preliminary investigation into the potential role of waist hip ratio (WHR) preference within the assortative mating hypothesis of autistic spectrum disorders.

According the the authors of the study apparently fathers of children with autism show a preference for women who have a larger waist-hip ratio.  A larger WHR is thought to imply a higher level of testosterone in women.  This ties back into the extreme male brain theory of autism that has been put forth by Simon Baron-Cohen.  So the idea is that men who are likely to father children with autism are more attracted to women who have higher levels of testosterone (and quite possibly beards).

I am not sure what to be more surprised about - the fact that someone took the time to study this or that someone was willing to pay for the study to be done.  

If the theory that you are testing is that parents of children with autism and the children themselves have higher than normal levels of testosterone, why wouldn't you just measure the level directly?  Wouldn't that give you a better set of data to base your conclusions on?

I think the purpose of this study was an excuse for a bunch of men to sit around and stare at pictures of women.