Are All Men Universally Attracted to Attractive Women

Because sexual attraction is a key driver of human mate choice and reproduction, we descriptively assess relative sex differences in the level of attraction individuals expect in the aesthetic, resource, and personality characteristics of potential ...

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We also predict higher cross-cultural agreement for female than for male faces. Men value physical attractiveness in a partner more than women do, irrespective of their cultural background [31]. Women's attractiveness judgements of male faces might therefore also be influenced by other factors, such as apparent socio-economic status, which might weaken cross-cultural agreement for male faces. Furthermore, men show a robust preference for femininity in female faces, while women's preferences for male facial masculinity are variable (for review see [32]).

Theories of universal beauty propose that attractive faces comprise features that are closer to the population average3 while optimizing sexual dimorphism.4 However, emerging evidence questions this model as an accurate representation of facial attractiveness,5, 6, 7 including representing the diversity of beauty preferences within and across cultures.8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Here, we demonstrate that Western Europeans (WEs) and East Asians (EAs) evaluate facial beauty using culture-specific features, contradicting theories of universality. With a data-driven method, we modeled, at both the individual and group levels, the attractive face features of young females (25 years old) in two matched groups each of 40 young male WE and EA participants.

We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal.

It means that by knowing the principles which underlie sexual selection we gain the ability at least to pay attention to how our instinctive reactions and cultural programming form our preferences. Understanding why people are attracted to the way others look is where evolutionary psychology comes in handy but with the understanding that attraction is not universal.

But why are some traits, like an hourglass figure, seemingly universally preferred? Do these traits convey something about our reproductive quality? If so, how come there is such diversity in human appearance? The hourglass figure, some evolutionary biologists have reasoned, is attractive to men because it is linked to a woman's reproductive quality. They suggested that women with higher estrogen levels, and who were therefore more fertile, had wide hips and a narrow waist.

“We’ve found, for example, that exposure to cues of male-male competition, such as seeing men fight each other, increases women’s preferences for masculine male faces,” he says. ... Plastic surgery allows people to get closer to an ideal look - but whose ideal? (Credit: Getty Images) So although our concepts of beauty may seem ethereal and timeless, they may just be the direct product of our immediate circumstances. It’s also worth noting the effect of conformity: study after study has found that if you hear or see that someone else is attracted to someone, you are more likely to fancy them yourself.