Men and women ‘don’t understand’ what the opposite sex finds attractive

A new study has found that straight men and women don’t understand what the opposite sex finds attractive.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews recently published research in the journal PLOS One which found that men often believe that women are attracted to hypermasculine features like big muscles, while women often believe that men are attracted to hyperfeminine, girlish features.

However, these assumptions are wrong; as the report put it: “women exaggerate the thinness that men like and men exaggerate the muscularity that women like.”

The research team, led by St Andrews psychology professor David Perett, showed 153 straight people, evenly split between cisgender men and women, 3D modeled faces. Using a program that could tweak the facial characteristics of the faces, Perett asked the participants to adjust the faces to look like their own, then to look like what they thought the opposite sex would find attractive, and then finally to depict what they would be most attracted to.

Guys with abs- uncomfy to lay on, spend time at the gym instead of w u, pressure for u to look flawless, pecks bigger than ur boobs
Guys with dad bods- make a good pillow, always down for a burger, binge drink on the regular, usually funnier than the average male #teamdadbod
— grace fisher (@_gracellen) June 4, 2018

After analysing the results, the researchers found that men and women misunderstand what the opposite sex finds attractive. The findings chime with previous research into this phenomenon. “Women overestimated the facial femininity that men prefer in a partner and men overestimated the facial masculinity that women prefer in a partner,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers wrote that the results are concerning in that they appear to suggest that both men and women are likely to be dissatisfied with their appearances if they (wrongly) believe they are unattractive to the opposite sex.

“In Western countries, the ideal female figure is thin while the ideal male figure is lean and muscular. The drive to attain an ideal body shape leads to unhealthy behaviour including excessive dieting to lose weight in women and use of anabolic steroids to develop muscles in men,” the researchers wrote. “These results indicate misperception of opposite-sex facial preferences and that mistaken perceptions may contribute to dissatisfaction with [one’s] own appearance.”