[sallyfrieldam]

Our attraction to the opposite sex seems to be partially conditioned into us by society trends, hence why small breasts were sexually attractive in the 20's, big strong women considered fat by western society are attractive in places like Gambia etc etc.

As laws change around the world and women can legally become independent of men (it is no longer illegal to get divorced, it is legal for her to earn and keep money) study after study reveals that women want physical beauty, youth and health in men.

Psychology Today's November/December 1993 issue, was a survey of 1,500 readers, twice as many womem answered than men. The results were analyzed in depth by psychiatrist Michael Pertschuk, M.D.


The women that were financially independent and rated themselves as physically attractive placed a high value on male appearance. They had a strong preference for better-looking men. They also care more about penis size, both width and length.


Historian Thomas Laqueur, Ph.D., says "It wasn't until the rise of capitalism and the bourgeoisie that men renounced flagrant beauty and adopted the plain suit as a uniform. During the so-called "great masculine renunciation" men began to associate masculinity with usefulness. Then, notes Laqueur, "gradually women became the bearers of the science of splendor."


In most cultures, women seem to choose sexual partners on the basis of a male's ability to protect and provide for a mate and offspring--whether that is a big salary, hunting game, or achievement as a warrior. And when women have gained political power, they have responded powerfully to male looks. Freed from economic worries, Queen Elizabeth I flirted shamelessly with
the handsome Raleigh; Catherine the Great took a long list of comely, but otherwise ordinary, lovers."

Traditionally, beautiful women have been able to leverage their looks to snare a wealthy and powerful man. Now that some women have greater financial independence, they may use that power to seek a stunning mate.

Women also love a tall man--Hatfield and Sprecher found that women prefer a man at least six inches taller than themselves

Both men and women in the survey rated a trimmer, taller male as more attractive.

Hair, in turn, is another highly valued masculine signpost. Hair is a traditional signal of youth and power, an index of male virility.

Last month, Stephen T. Emlen, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell University, reported in a study that people basically want partners with qualities they attribute to themselves. The desire for similar mates, Emlen found, was five to six times more powerful than the desire for beautiful or wealthy partners. Emlen's study was published in the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences. Beautiful attractive women wanted beautiful atttractive men, rich money wanted rich men Despite all their differences, men and women place high value on one trait: fidelity.

Cornell University's Stephen Emlen and colleagues asked nearly 1,000 people age 18 to 24 to rank several attributes, including physical attractiveness, health, social status, ambition, and faithfulness, on a desirability scale. People who rated themselves favorably as long-term partners were more particular about the attributes of potential mates. After fidelity, the most important attributes were physical appearance, family commitment, and wealth and status.


The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, found women may judge potential mates by how masculine their facial features are before getting to know them.

Researchers tested about 850 male and female undergraduates usually digitally altered pictures of male faces and found women viewed men with "masculine features" like prominent brow ridges and large jaws, as good short-term partners – but saw them as more likely to cheat on a spouse and get into fights.

"She will prefer a highly masculine face for a short-term relationship where the potential genetic investment would be most important, and a more feminine face for a long-term relationship, where a stable, supportive relationship and ability and willingness to care for children would be more important."


Confidence is a sign of being secure in yourself. According to studies Women (and men) want sexual fidelity. No society exists in the world where a woman is encouraged to have many sexual partners (in european countries a highly sexual woman is prized but she is punished i.e. labelled a slut if she acts out on her sexual nature) whereas in almost every society in the world a man is rewarded if he has lots of sexual partners (i.e. labelled a stud) Insecure people tend to need positive strokes from society rather than have the ability to self reference, so women know that a truly confident man will not bow to the pressure from society to prove to the world he is a stud by cheating on her and lieing about it.