What Are Women Looking for in a Man?
You’ve heard the saying: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” According to a new study we read about in Psychology Today, that’s especially true when women are rating the attractiveness of men. In fact, physical beauty is nowhere near the top of the list of characteristics women look for when they’re choosing a man. In the study, researchers at Queens College in New York asked more than 4,000 men and women to rate the attractiveness of people they saw in photographs. Almost unanimously, men rated the most beautiful looking women as being the most attractive, but on the flipside, women didn’t always rate the most handsome men as being attractive. Some preferred the guys with six-pack abs, but some preferred scruffy looking guys, and others were drawn to men who had good taste in clothes.
Researchers say this only proves that men don’t necessarily need to be in great physical shape - or have Brad Pitt looks - to attract women. In fact, sometimes it’s better for a man to be average looking. When women are looking for a long-term relationship, they’d rather choose an average looking guy. The reasoning is that handsome men have more opportunities with women, so they're more likely to cheat. Whereas an average guy will be satisfied with the woman he has. In fact, in a poll of over 1,200 women, only 2% said good looks were the #1 quality they wanted in a man. If you’re thinking “yeah, that’s because they want a guy with boatloads of cash!” Nope. Just 3% of women said that financial and career success matters most in a relationship. So which qualities are women looking for? The top two attributes that float a woman’s boat are #1: A sense of humor and #2: Sweetness.
