Do Women Prefer 'Manly' Faces?

The personality of a potential partner is an important factor in reproductive success, so it's not surprising that the personality people 'read' from a face influences their perception of how attractive that face is. Femininity in male faces may be attractive because it is associated with positive personality traits.

But the matter is not as simple as that. Other studies have shown that people find masculinity and dominance in male faces to be attractive. The contradictory findings may reflect the costs and benefits of masculine and feminine faced males. A high status/testosterone partner may offer good immunity genes but such a partner may possess negative personality traits and be more likely to desert the female who chooses him.

A resolution to this conflict could be that very attractive male faces possess a combination of both masculine and feminine features. The most attractive faces could indicate both a dominant and a co-operative partner.

Manly men and short-term relationships

We all know - often to our cost - that relationships are very variable in duration: some last for a long period time, while others are over in a single night. How long a relationship lasts is dependent on the choices of both the individuals involved in it - and that may be reflected in face shapes.

Masculine-faced males are thought to make poor parents but have high quality genes, so they may make bad long-term partners but be attractive in the short-term. Conversely, feminine-faced males are seen as better parents and more co-operative, and so we might expect that they would make attractive long-term partners.

PhotosToGo Women may choose caring men for long-term relationships and more dominant men for a quick affair

We recently tested this idea with an experiment conducted on British television, which involved over 18,000 participants. We presented images of a masculine-faced male and a feminine-faced male, along with two dating adverts. The viewers had to link each male with one of the adverts. The only difference in the adverts was the potential length of the relationship sought: short-term or long-term.

We found that people associated the masculine-faced male with this advert:
Attractive, young (single) professional, back in town for short period, likes pubbing, clubbing, being funny and plenty of sports, would like to meet someone for fun and laughter.