Abstract
Women show cyclical shifts in preferences for physical male traits. Here we investigated how fertility status influences women’s facial masculinity preference in men by analyzing a large sample of heterosexual women (N = 3720). Women were regularly either cycling (in both low- and high-conception probability groups), lactating or were currently in a non-fertile state (pregnant or post-menopausal). Analyses simultaneously controlled for women’s age and sexual openness. Participants via two alternative forced choice questions judged attractiveness of masculinized and feminized men’s faces. After controlling for the effect of age and sociosexuality, regularly cycling and pregnant women showed a stronger preference for masculinity than lactating and post-menopausal women. However, there was no significant difference in masculinity preference between women in the low- and high-conception probability groups. Women’s sociosexuality showed a positive, but very weak association with men’s facial masculinity preference. We suggest that women’s overall, long-term hormonal state (cycling, post-menopausal) is a stronger predictor of preference for sexual dimorphism than changes in hormonal levels through the cycle.
Highlights
Facial MasculinityMen’s facial sexual dimorphism is related to their perceived attractiveness (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005)
Planned comparisons showed that the overall high-fertility group had significantly stronger preferences for masculinity compared with the overall low-fertility group, F(1, 3715) = 4.26, p\
Consistent with previous studies, our results showed that current fertility status of women influenced their preference for sexual dimorphism in men’s faces, the effect sizes were low
Summary
Facial MasculinityMen’s facial sexual dimorphism is related to their perceived attractiveness (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005). There is no agreement on whether women prefer more feminine or more masculine men, or show enhanced preference for either (Burriss, Marcinkowska, & Lyons, 2014; Perrett et al, 1998; Peters, Simmons, & Rhodes, 2008; Zietsch, Lee, Sherlock, & Jern, 2015). It is clear, that there is no stable, common preference shared by all women throughout their lifetimes. Preferences for facial masculinity increase when rating men for short-term relationships rather than long-term (Little, Connely, Feinberg, Jones, & Roberts, 2011) or when women judge putative partners for extra-pair sexual relations (Penton-Voak et al, 1999)
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