According to new research, women stare at boobs just as much as men. Why do women stare at boobs as much as men? And does this mean both genders are guilty of an "objectifying gaze"?

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study published in the journal "Sex Roles" concluded that women look at boobs just as much as men, CBS News reports.

Using eye-tracking technology, psychologists Sarah Gervais and Michael Dodd found that among 29 female and 36 male college students, the women were just as guilty of the "objectifying gaze" as the men, according to CBS News.

The eye-tracker measures how long the eyes are fixed on certain spots. The subjects of the study were shown three images of each woman -- one regular, one curvaceous, and one less curvaceous, CBS News reports. The study participants were then asked to rate the women in the photos on personality or appearance.

When asked to rate the women on appearance, the males and females equally focused on the waists and chests especially; they spent more time looking there than at the women's faces. The images showing larger breasts, narrower waists and bigger hips prompted the longest looks, CBS News reports.

"We do have a slightly different pattern for men than women, but when we looked at their overall dwell times -- how long they focused on each body part -- we find the exact same effects for both groups," Gervais said in a statement. "Women, we think, do it often for social comparison purposes."

Men, on the other hand, stare for different reasons: based on evolution, they are more drawn to curves because they imply better childbearing abilities, according to CBS News.

The study also shows that the men rated the curvier women more positively, even in personality.

According to CBS News, Gervais and Dodd hope the study will help to better understand why people objectify women, so that the behavior can be controlled.

"By characterizing the manner in which people fixate on the body when engaging in objectifying behavior, it also becomes possible to determine methods of reducing this behavior. That's what the personality manipulation part of the study did -- that's a huge positive," Dodd said. "It's not as though looking at the body of someone has to be, or is, a default behavior. It just may be the case that cognitive control is required to engage in more appropriate, and less damaging, visual behavior."