Why Our Past Evolutionary Strategies Suggest That Women Are Attracted to the Bad Boy
Janet
Essay #3
What Do Women Want?
Why our past evolutionary strategies suggest that women are attracted to the “bad boy”
[1] You know the guy, the one stereotyped in every romance movie and book, the guy with the “who cares attitude, “ the strong guy with the sexy scruffy face plastered across every cologne and cigarette ad. He’s the mysterious man with the defined muscles, the strong jaw line, the brooding, “Lone Ranger” confidence that steals the girls heart and produces instant attraction. But why? Does he really always win out over the kind stable “nice guy”?
[2] Let’s take a trip back in time, maybe a few million years or so, to explore the evolution of the human race and examine the selective pressures that have formed the desirability of a mate (Buss 1994). Men can offer two basic things to women, better genes and better parenting (Little et al. 2002). Both increase the chances that their offspring will grow to maturity and be able to reproduce. In a short term purely sexual relationship, “niceness” doesn’t offer any benefits, as the transfer of desirable genes is the only long-term outcome of the affair, but in a longer relationship, the niceness are traits more desirable because they are conducive to the wellbeing of mother and child alike (Little et al. 2002) In order to attain the maximum benefit to successfully pass on her genes, women are more physically attracted to the “bad boy”, want to have sex with the “bad boy”, but value the “good guy” in a longer term context to help raise children.
[3] Although the terms “nice boy and “bad boy” are common stereotypes in our society it is important to define these characteristics in terms of more concrete ideas in order to scientifically evaluate the role of different types of men on the desirability for women. According to Herold &Milhausen (1999) “understanding, considerateness, kindness, dependability, and honest” (333) are all positive qualities that women associate with “nice guys,” while the negative qualities “needy, weak, predictable, [and] unattractive” (339) are also attributed to this stereotype. In analyzing “bad boy” characteristics, Bogaert &Fisher (1995) used the terms “dominance, hyper masculinity, phychotism/antisocial, sensation seeking, sexual affect, social intimacy, [and high levels of] testosterone” (122) to evaluate the effect of “bad boy” characteristics on attractiveness” Important to note is the stereotype that bad boys are thought of as more physically and sexually attractive as described by women (Herold &Milhausen) Under this context and definitions, the following paragraphs will address the needs of our ancestral mother and the ability of the “bad boy” and “good guy” to best meet these needs.
[4] From an evolutionary standpoint, clearly a primary concern of a women when choosing a man would be his health, both as to pass on advantageous genes to her child and to provide security that he will not die and leave her without any long term advantages (Buss 1994) Hence, it makes sense that attractive characteristics in men may be linked to health. Women don’t have preferences for things like specific bellybutton shape because such a difference in this characteristic has little advantage or disadvantage for women (Buss 1994) However, face shape and form is something to which humans are incredibly sensitive, and when it comes to women, Little et al. (2002) cites Grammer & Thornhill (1994) as suggesting that a more masculine face is widely perceived as more attractive to women across cultures and geographic location. Little et al. (2002) also cited (Wedekind 1992; Hillgarth & Wingfield 1997) as indicating that the high testosterone levels that lend themselves to creating a more masculine face are also linked to a better immune system. Producing testosterone is a costly process to the human body according to Folstad & Karter 1992 (Little et al. 2002). Just as the Peacock produces a large plumage of feathers that are detrimental to his wellbeing in order to prove his health (Buss 1994), the sexy strong face of a “bad boy” is attractive to women as assurance of good genes, while a man with lower testosterone levels, a more classic “nice guy would not provide such an advantage.”
[5] Further evidence supports this theory that bad boys do indeed have better genes and women are attracted to this quality. In a study by Gangestad et al. (2004), the desirability of masculinity was addressed in terms of a woman’s menstrual cycle. What they found was that the more likely a woman is to get pregnant, the more masculine a man is desired. Little et. al (2002) even provides evidence that women who are in a relationship find more masculine men attractive. This is consistent with previous evidence, as if women already have a stable man, the benefits of better genes are the only advantage of a potential second partner.
[6] Along with creating a more masculine face, testosterone has also been shown to affect behavior, “including an increase in dominance behaviors and the attainment of rank” (Sadalla et al. (1987) Thus, as the “bad boy” stereotype goes, men with the appealing masculine faces also are more likely to have a higher dominance, and this “bad boy” trait also has its evolutionary advantages. In a more traditional hunter-gatherer type society where the Homo sapiens spent most of its evolutionary history developing, the danger of attack by wild animal and other tribe was much higher, and hence the protection of a man was essential. A more dominant male would thus predictably, be more attractive. Sadalla et al. (1987) conducted separate experiments ranging from videotapes to written found that indeed high dominance in a man increases a woman’s attraction to him. Furthermore, Sadalla et al. (1987) calls attention to two studies of the male role by Maccoby & Jacklin (1994) claiming that “dominance appears to be an attribute of the male role in all human cultures” (737” and by Symonds (1979) and (Wilson 1975) claiming that females appear to be attracted to dominant males in the majority of primate species.
[7] Furthermore, Sadalla et al. (1987) also cites the example of Cicone and Ruble (1978) who found that on seven published studies on the role of the male in society the words “adventurous, ambitious, independent, logical, aggressive, dominant, assertive, stable, courageous, interested in sex, self-confident, competitive, leader, individualistic, active, unemotional, and strong” (731) were most common. Clearly, the description of the male role is much closer to that of our “bad boy” than that of our “nice guy” and this is a description very heavily based in dominance and in other skills that would be advantageous in acquiring resources for our ancestral female in a hunter/ gatherer society. This corresponds with evidence by Bogaert &Fisher (1995) that there is a positive relationship between both physical attractiveness and the number of sexual partners and sensation seeking. In order to both protect and gather resources in the potential presence of danger, a man has to be willing to enjoy taking some risks. Women across cultures indeed value economic resources in mates roughly twice as much as men do, desire men in a high social position, and value ambition and industry more than do men (Buss 1994). These are all goals that a “bad boy” is more likely to achieve , both because confidence and dominance is necessary to climb the social ranks, because in a hunter- gatherer society pure greater strength would be advantageous Hunter gatherer society to physically fight off competitors and achieve resources.
[8] Clearly the “bad boy” has the advantage in attraction. However, there are also downsides to the bad boy “Masculine male faces are perceived not only as more dominant but also as more likely to possess negative characteristics, such as lower honesty and lower warmth, and more likely to make bad parents than feminine male faces” (Perrett et al. 1998) According to (Little et al. 2002)., the benefits of a more stable relationship and better may outweigh the benefits of genetic fitness, meaning that in a long term relationship, women may choose the less masculine “nice guy.” As the saying goes you should “merry your best friend” and in fact Herold &Milhausen emphasize a study by Reagan (1998in which for a marriage partner , dominance was ranked least important. Like wise, in another study by Berscheid (1997) honesty, trustworthiness, and sensitivity were ranked as the most important characteristics for a husband and Urbaniak et al cited an example by Buss and Barnes (1994) in which married couples states that the most important characteristic in a partner was kindness Even some characteristics perceived as attractive, were not perceived as desirable in a longer relationship. In a study by Urbaniak et al. (2003)being physically attractive did not help if the man was portrayed as a jerk . This can be thought of in terms of resources because although a “nice guy may be worse at getting resources from an evolutionary viewpoint, it doesn’t matter if a male is better at getting resources if he not going to share them . Women may actually get more resources in the end from a generous man with fewer resources. Likewise, although Bogaert &Fisher (1995) showed a correlation between “bad boy characteristics and sex partners, in a long term relationship, with a higher number of sexual partners, your partner less likely to be your only sex partner, and be less likely to commit only to you and your kids .
[9] So, what do women want? Well of course, women want it all, good genes, good father, kind guy we dream of turning bad boy into a good guy, basis of so many movies and books. Yet, the perfect man is rare, and most women will have to settle for a man without all the good personality qualities of a “nice guy” and the good genes of the “bad boy” A woman from a study conducted by Urbaniak et al. (2003) put this paradox quite clearly when she said, “nice guys are generally not as attractive, and have a great personality to compensate for this shortcoming. Unfortunately, looks, not personality tend to get a woman into bed” (339)
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