I can see the reason why women are attracted to good looking, strong men. They are strong, that means they’ll be protective and can provide for the family and make sure the hierarchy of needs is fulfilled and all that jazz.
But why are men attracted to “attractive” women? Since men are the spreader of the seed, why do looks matter as long as the seed is spread? Is it genetic or a product of marketing?
Attractive female features are proxies for good health and good childbearing ability. There are also some people who insist it’s purely cultural, but they are not the mainstream.
By definition.
Attractive of course being the general concept of what society thinks is attractive, not what perhaps a single individual thinks is attractive.
Attractive women generally speaking are healthier, they get pregnant easier, they are more likely to carry a baby to term and they have more years of fertility ahead of them until menopause.
To expand on this, it’s not that men are attracted to attractive women because they’re attractive. These women are defined as attractive because men are attracted to them.
As long as men are attracted by appearance and not all women look alike, it would follow that some would have to be more attractive then others - these are the ones we call “attractive”.
Physical attractiveness itself is a desirable trait. It means the genes you pass on will continue to be passed on in subsequent generations. Think of good looks as a delivery system for transmitting genes.
But, attractiveness is not an objective quality. Women that you might call attractive might be women that I find to be unattractive.
I don’t think everything has to have a scientific reason (i.e., “attractiveness = better able to bear children.”)
Sometimes people just like certain traits. Why do some people love musicians? Music has absolutely nothing to do with childbearing. They just like music and musicians.
Some people try to boil everything down to some scientific “reason,” and really stretch it at times.
Of course. But there are inevitably going to be some that are attractive to more people and some to fewer. (And once that happens, the effect is magnified by social forces.)
Not all women are attracted to “strong” men (or men at all). Not all men are attracted to women whom YOU would consider attractive. Look at the women men found “attractive” in 1850. Some of them would be considered dogs, by today’s standards.
And do you consider this woman attractive? Apparently, some men do.
I am attracted to men who are tall, thin, with dark Mediterranean/Middle Eastern looks (my partner is Persian). Why? I have no idea. There’s nothing in my background that would support these characteristics, but I’ve had this preference since the age of 5, or earlier.
There’s no accounting for taste.
But I’d imagine culture does play a role in who you choose for sexual partners, because there’s a status aspect to it. If you can bag a very attractive woman (and that’s colored by that society’s standards), it’s something you can brag about and show off. On the other hand, you may be dissuaded from having sex with an unattractive women because you’re worried about what people will think about you. So this would probably incentivize going after attractive women disproportionately in modern society compared to a hypothetical “spread their seed” wild scenario.
Somehow, I’m missing all the science behind that statement.
Men just get bigger boners looking at attractive women. Men follow their boners.
Attractive (for a woman) is often a proxy for youth (= good for child bearing).
Sure, there are exceptions, and all sorts of ways for people in our society to fake it (we’ve got some old people who still look very, very good), but many traits just come down to youth.
I think it’s mainly women who are known to be attracted to musicians (yes I’m sure there are men that like women musician too - but it’s not the same).
The belief is that these men are attractive due to their social standing and prospects. The idea musician=starving artist is too new to be really engrained in evolution - while stuff like social standing wouldn’t have to be. To say they do it cause “they like music” I think is oversimplifying it.
I can’t prove it of course, but I don’t think most people that are attracted to people for physical reasons - think “I am doing it for the survival of my genes” or “she’s attractive so she’ll make a good mother” - they do it for the same reason you mention for musicians “I like attractive women”.
I don’t think there is anything wrong for looking for a scientific reason. Sure people like certain traits, but find a 200lb woman on OkCupid and she isn’t (in general) going to get as much attention as someone more fit and attractive.
The idea that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a nice saying, but I think most people agree on what is attractive - at least in their culture/time.
I haven’t looked into this in a while, but last time I did stuff like Waist to Hip Ratio and Symmetrical Facial features seemed more important than something like youth.
While guys definitely do prefer younger women (on average) - I think that is something different. The same type of women who were unattractive in highschool - and looked the same age as other girls in their class - are still considered unattractive as adults (more or less) if nothing changes.
Hey there, DataX!
This might be true in your case and maybe it would approach average, but it is definitely not true in my case. I find younger women to be merely decorative rather than attractive.
For example:
Mila Kunis Decorative, but not attractive.
Katey Sagal Very attractive
“spreader of the seed”?!?! Did you learn your basic biology from the Bible? Surely you’re aware that both parents contribute genetically to the offspring. As already noted, “attractiveness” is a sign of good genes.
Your cite seems to lack evidence of your claim that attractive women;
get pregnant easier,
are more likely to carry a baby to term,
have more years of fertility ahead.
(from your original post = #5)
Where did you come up with that?
