Why Women Don’t Want Macho Men

1. Why Women Don’t Want Macho Men • Article written by Jena Pincott By: Molly Graydon, Caitlin Higgins & Bill Neidinger

2. More Feminine Looking Men? • New research suggests women from countries with healthier populations prefer more feminine-looking men • Nearly 4,800 women participated in an experiment at faceresearch.org • Young women • Early to mid-twenties • All ethnicities identified as white • Country of origin particularly important part

3. Experiment • The women clicked through a listing of psycology experiments including “face preferences” and “attractiveness at different ages” • After those selections were made, they were told they would be presented with pairs of men’s faces • Would select the face they considered more attractive • Faces looked very alike but had suble differences

4. Example from the experiment • Picture on the left is more masculine than the picture on the right which is more feminine.

5. Results • After looking at the data which included: • women’s facial preferences • country of origin • their country’s national health index • Researchers could conclude: • could predict how masculine a women likes men based on her nation’s statistics for mortality rates, life expectancy, and impact of disease

6. Country Results • Countries with poor health as a particular threat: • Women leaned toward “manlier” men • Mexico, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Argentina • Countries with good health: • Leaned more toward feminine men • Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Romania, Greece, and New Zealand • Lowest masculinity preferences: Belgium

7. United States and Masculinity Choices • 5th out of 30 countries in study in preferring more masculine men • Home of James Dean and Clint Eastwood (?) • Health care rating: • 20th out of 30 • one of least healthy countries in the experiment

8. Why? • How is it possible to link a woman’s masculinity preferences to health of her country? • Begins with theory of sexual selection • Women are the choosier sex because they take more risk and burden of reproduction and child rearing • In best interest to choose high quality male • Good health

9. Health and Masculinity • Testosterone is the link: • Immunosuppressive: must be healthy and in good condition to withstand its effect on a man’s development • Also linked to traits related to strength

10. Is Being a “Macho Man” Worth It? • Women tend to think of high-testosterone types as uncooperative, unsympathetic, philandering, aggressive and disinterested in parenting • The men who were rated as the most masculine generally had higher testosterone levels • 43% more likely to get divorced than men with normal levels • 31% more likely to leave home because of marital problems • 38% more likely to cheat on their wives • 13% more likely to admit that they hit or hurled things at them.

11. How Much Does Masculinity Matter? • Apparently not so much: • If you’re living in a country with good health care and low levels of disease • Generally speaking, the experiment showed that a nation's health index explained more of the variation in women's masculinity preferences than did many culture-specific female norms identified in previous studies. • Women’s equality • Crime rates • Control of resources

12. Is Modern Masculinity Being Devalued? • Possibly... but: • Given American women's apparently strong masculinity preferences, the answer is no • Some signals may suggest change is just over the horizon: • Promise of improved health care • Women’s financial freedom • Being secure socially