Date post: | 01-Jan-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | pamela-campbell |
View: | 28 times |
Download: | 3 times |
By: Molly Graydon, Caitlin Higgins & Bill
Neidinger
Why Women Don’t Want Macho Men
Article written by Jena Pincott
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
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
Example from the experimentPicture on the left is more masculine than the picture on the right which is more feminine.
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
Country ResultsCountries 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
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
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
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
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.
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
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