Macho Men Are Seen As Bad Choice For Long-term Love

[Pale Blue Dot]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070808082047.htm

Women see 'masculine' men as unsuitable long-term partners, new research suggests. Conversely, the psychologists from Durham and St Andrews Universities found that men with feminine facial features are seen as more committed and less likely to cheat on their partners.

The study, published recently in Personality and Individual Differences, asked over 400 British men and women to judge digitally altered pictures of male faces made to look more masculine or feminine. The participants were asked to predict personality traits including sexual behaviour and parenting skills based on what they saw.

Men with masculine faces, with features such as a square jaw, larger nose and smaller eyes, were classed as significantly more dominant, less faithful, worse parents and as having personalities that were less warm, compared to their 'feminine' counterparts, who had finer facial features with fuller lips, wide eyes and thinner, more curved eyebrows.

[supernova]

1. But is that really true in practice?

It's one thing to say what people percieve based on what our genes put on display, but in the day to day living? I don't know.

Both my Dad and my brother were considered "IT" boys around here in their day, macho good-looking, and both are/were extremely warm, generous and loyal men. :shrug: And there hasn't been a word about George Clooney being a disloyal mate/boyfriend.

The article seems to say that we should take it for a given to look for a teddy-bear face guy; he'll be the one who's loyal.

[Katina]

2. yeah but

I don't think that George Clooney is macho looking, just handsome. The males they describe sound more like the AHNOLD type.

[supernova]

5. Well, if the scuttlebutt is true

Ahhnuld definitely fits the prototype described here.

But yeah, I would describe GC as macho. Perhaps not to the degree as AS, but yeah macho. Or rather, simply just masculine.

Is there a difference between "macho" and "masculine?"

[MissMillie]

6. I think there is

though I'm not sure I could articulate it.

[Katina]

8. that's kind of the point though

I think of macho as very unflattering and picture the ahnold types (add stallone and segal to that) but just because a man is handsome doesn't mean he's got those small eyes, big nose, square jaw (neanderthal look IMVHO) that they describe in the article.
I don't know, maybe it's cause I just like GC that I don't want him in the same category as AS :hi:

[supernova]

9. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what

the researchers are calling "macho"

And I agree, GC is a different class than AS.

I'd have to put Sean Bean in the very masculine but still nice guy league too.

[idgiehkt]

16. me neither

George Clooney is a very pretty man. I think "macho" is an attitude, which doesn't describe just looks. So-called "masculine" features, maybe they mean hyper-masculine...for is 'masculine' really the furthest end of the spectrum, probably not.

[MissMillie]

3. Clooney keeps his love life pretty close to his chest

Who is to say he isn't loyal?

[supernova]

10. I'm certainly not!

Hey, you still gotta dream! :D

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. I think that the study is looking at perceptions, not reality

It's saying that women, in general, think macho men will be less faithful.

[idgiehkt]

18. yeah this is pretty extreme terminology

Women see 'masculine' men as unsuitable long-term partners, new research suggests. Conversely, the psychologists from Durham and St Andrews Universities found that men with feminine facial features are seen as more committed and less likely to cheat on their partners.

I'd like to see them use the terms 'more masculine', 'more feminine', not use such polarity.

I'm not sure that it is all based in perception, I'd bet it's encoded into DNA somehow...but also I wonder how this correlates with gay men who have on average more sex partners than straight men and who some perceive to have more stereotypically feminine features as a group.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

7. bet it has more to do with acting macho

than looking it

[supernova]

11. Certainly an important point

It's all about being easy to get along with and loyal.

[DS1]

12. softer chins leave fewer bruises

:yoiks:

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Reminds me of Lisa Simpson's "Non-Threatening Boys" magazine

;-)

Aren't actions more important than appearance? Substance over structure?

[PassingFair]

42. Women/Girls find different types of men/boys attractive at different times

of our lives.

Non-threatening big-eyed boys are a turn-on for MOST teen-age
girls, for instance.

I FREAKED my mother out with my preference for Robert Mitchum at this age.

:evilgrin:

In my 40's, I'm still attracted to "rugged" types
on the big screen, but I married a "pretty boy".


Go figure!

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

14. Then I'm screwed, because I'm so macho...

Chuck Norris washes my macho underwear

I'm so macho, the bulls of Pamplona run from ME

I'm so macho, George Clooney calls me for advice on how to score with women.

In fact, I'm so macho, Marylyn Monroe beats on the top of her coffin trying to get to me.

EDIT:
We regret to inform readers of this thread that the original author misspoke and is in fact a 175 pound liberal desk jockey cyclist quasi-vegetarian tofu eater. We apologize for the error.

[supernova]

15. Well, if you've got no plans to settle down

then it's perfect! :D

[nickgutierrez]

38. Post of the day.

:rofl:

[SarahB]

17. What are you?

:shrug:

You have a "manly jaw" :P, but a small nose (not too small though :yoiks:).


More manly than not I guess, but kind of sweet and boyish at the same time. Definitely not feminine.

[billyskank]

19. I'm certainly not macho but nobody cares over here.

:shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. There's a difference between masculine and macho

which is what a lot of guys don't get.

Macho is the swaggering, rude, crude dude with attitude, with the one whose emotions are all sublimated into anger and who believes that the only acceptable non-work interests for a man are sports, tinkering with machinery, other outdoor activities.

There's too much machismo and not enough true masculinity in American culture.

[idgiehkt]

21. yeah

didn't this start as a prison colony...or was that australia (american history always bored me to tears). Those two countries do have an excess of the machismo, I always think of it as over-compensation for fear, or self-hatred, or homosexuality, or something. And maybe women intuitively know that someone that filled with internal conflict might not be a good mate/parent.

[billyskank]

22. That was Australia

:hi:

[idgiehkt]

23. thanks

growing up in Virgina with a monument on every corner turned me into a rebel, lol. All my schools and county were named for Indians out of the John Smith legend.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. However, for many petty criminals in 17th and 18th century England, the

choice was sometimes seven years of prison in England or seven years of indentured servitude in the colonies. Petty criminals who took the first choice might not survive the disease, rotten food, and violence of prison, and if they did, there might have been no economic choices but begging, day labor, or more crime afterwards.

However, if they could survive seven years of indentured servitude, where they usually weren't treated any worse than any other servant, they were then free to take advantage of the greater economic opportunities in the colonies.

[idgiehkt]

40. thanks

I knew it was something like that. :hi:

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

43. There was a point however that in England they were running out of room for criminals,

and were merely hanging people even for some petty crimes, 7 years of indentured servitude sounded pretty good to alot of them over death :)

[supernova]

33. That explains Georgia

Georgia started out as a penal colony, just like Australia.

*Whistles* The Crown must have had a real prison overpopulation problem.

[Deja Q]

24. Yes, yes, and skiny nerdy dweeby men are a bad choice to date.

[SarahB]

26. Skinny depends on the guy.

I'll always take nerdy and geeky though.


:hide:

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. I fear, ma'am, that you may be surrounded.

:-)

[SarahB]

28. My taste is men combined with various aspects of myself

is probably why I've never been single for very long. :D

(the OP is my husband)

[Karenina]

29. And THAT says exactly WHAT about you???

:shrug::freak::shrug:

[SarahB]

30. I'm not sure.

Maybe I tend to attract the typical macho jerks and end up pursuing the men others think of as geeky who don't think I'm interested at first. Once they realize how I feel (and who I really am in ways I don't show to everyone unless I trust them), things usually work out nicely.

I was also referring to his original subject vs. who he is as a person. It was weird because I had no clue how to answer it without either saying he's macho or entirely not macho. He can take be so strong and protective, but at the same time be sweet and loving. He's no typical anything. He's just wonderful. That's all. :)

[Karenina]

44. It's really great when it works, eh?

But I do think macho and masculine are two different animals and ALSO that women are not as hooked into "looks" somehow tending more toward emotional availability be it jock or geek regardless of their "typecast."

I attract guys 25 years my junior and wonder what THAT says about ME, especially since I have no intention of going there. :silly:

[Deja Q]

31. Fortunately I ain't so skinny...

If I get your drift. :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. I read that as "Men Are Seen As Bad Choice For Long-term Love"

:rofl:

[supernova]

34. Go Lesbian for long-term commitment

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

35. That's right! All men are evil!

:wow:

And, yes, I know decent men are out there. Half the time, they get shot down too...

[supernova]

36. It was a joke sweetie

I was riffing on what KW said.

:hug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. I was wondering for a moment...

:rofl:

[treestar]

39. So they 've fallen for the sterotypes is all this study proves

And they are shallow! Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to shallowness. The British are as bad as we are!

[idgiehkt]

41. I think this defies stereotypes, actually

This flies in the face of the belief that women are attracted to hypermasculine men, the studs, the football players, the weight lifters, etc. I think this is some kind of hard-wired DNA thing going on here.

[Seashell Eyes]

45. I could have told them that.