The influence of men’s sexual strategies on perceptions of women’s bodily attractiveness, health and fertility

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of men’s sociosexual orientation on their perceptions of women’s physical attractiveness, health and fertility. Fifty British male participants were assigned to two groups (restricted versus unrestricted) based on their responses to items on the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. Participants rated the attractiveness, health and fertility of a series of 50 photographs of women varying in body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Results suggested that both groups of men based their judgements primarily on BMI rather than WHR. However, there were significant between-groups differences: unrestricted men judged women with a lower BMI as more attractive, healthy and fertile than restricted men. Unrestricted men also showed a stronger preference for women with a low WHR. The results support a dynamic psychological model of interpersonal attraction, which many earlier studies have neglected.