Women in both experiments rated the male faces with feminine traits as more attractive than the distinctly masculine faces.
If you think your macho-look can make you a hit among girls, think again - women find men with feminine faces more attractive.
Participants were asked to select which face in each pair they found more sexually attractive. While men across all cultures generally preferred a more feminine face, the strength of that preference varied between countries.
More studies report an overall preference for 'feminine' male faces than for 'masculine' ones. It seems that women vary in how attractive they find masculine faces. Women at the fertile peak of their cycle favour more masculine faces, or at least less-feminine ones, than women not at the fertile peak or on the pill.
What makes a face more masculine or feminine? The bony structures of the face differ between the sexes. Subtle differences of the forehead, cheeks, nose, chin, and jawline work together to cue the world to view a face as masculine or feminine.
For male faces, researchers have found that a square jawline and an oval-shaped face were the most attractive. This is especially true if they were paired with blue eyes, medium-thick eyebrows, brown hair, average lips, straight eyebrows and a straight, slim nose.
Male-specific factors. Women, on average, tend to be more attracted to men who have a relatively narrow waist, a V-shaped torso, and broad shoulders. Women also tend to be more attracted to men who are taller than they are, and display a high degree of facial symmetry, as well as relatively masculine facial dimorphism.
Oval: Your face is often longer than wide, with the forehead standing out as the largest area of your face. According to Papanikolas, this form is typically regarded as the most attractive facial shape.
Most typically, a feminine face is oval or heart shaped, with a narrower, more pointed chin which accentuates this shape. Features are softer with more rounded contours. Dermal Fillers are one of the best ways to achieve changes in facial shape and contour.
"Women prefer great degrees of masculinity for short-term partners, but for long-term relationships what we are finding is that they prefer more feminine and definitely more healthy men," said David Perrett at the University of St Andrews, who led the research.
Standards of manliness or masculinity vary across different cultures, subcultures, ethnic groups and historical periods. Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western society include strength, courage, independence, leadership, and assertiveness.
While men seem to be genetically predisposed to be attracted to women in their mid-to-late-20s, women tend to be attracted to men around their ages, if not older; this means men in their 30s have the best of both worlds. Men in their 30s are attractive to a wide range of women, from 20-somethings to women in their 40s.
The diamond shaped face is the rarest of face shapes, and is defined by a narrow forehead, wide cheekbones and a narrow chin. Diamond shaped faces are usually narrower at the eye line and jaw line, with high and often dramatic cheekbones.
The ideal height for a woman, according to the average man, is 5'6”. Notably, this excludes 10% of men who say there is no such thing as too short and 9% who say no height is too tall. Similarly, there is no "too short" for 4% of women and no "too tall" for 7%.
Research shows that humor and kindness are also characteristics which women find attractive in a man. Clear skin and masculine features are often cited as two physical characteristics which women find desirable in men.
One of the most important characteristics that most women seek is modesty. Outspokenness, charity, and honesty are further feminine appeal traits that are always observed, along with humility. Nothing appeals to a woman more than a man with a great sense of self.
Diamond. The rarest of face shapes in male-identifying individuals according to Grawe, a diamond-shaped face is narrow at the forehead and jawline but widest at the cheeks, which gives it that diamond shape. Diamond-shaped faces also tend to have narrower hairlines that lend the illusion of a smaller forehead.
Typical masculine characteristics of the top half of the face: The hairline sits further back on the skull and makes the forehead appear higher– a receding hairline further enhances this effect. The forehead frontal bones protrude more and create a sense of deeper set eyes – female foreheads are more rounded or convex.
It's a strongly-held belief that the macho, masculine-looking guys are the ones wholand the girls… but I always knew better. According to a soon to be published study in the journal Psychological Science, most women prefer men with more feminine shaped faces and darker skin.