# Sceintific proof that women are also interested in looks



## Lifetimer (May 16, 2004)

I always read here in this forum (and hear from other places as well) about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male. Here is sceintific proof that it does. I, for one, am glad to see it because I had gotten tired of hearing people say that looks don't matter to women. It possibly may not matter to the EXACT degree that attractivess matters to a guy, but it DOES matter. *Especially notice the very last line of the article.* Here is the link to the article:

http://www.livescience.com/health/07091 ... eauty.html

Lifetimer


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## path0gen (Jun 28, 2006)

If only I'd known about this 20 years ago!

Seriously, though, without bothering to examine the contents and revolutionary data this link surely leads to, if you've been under the assumption that women don't care what you look like, I pity you for your misconceptions. What I want to see is a study of women who swear they value a good personality and empathetic, caring traits in a prospective significant other's personality. You know, the ones who continue to date assholes, despite having been both physically and emotionally beaten for years by various partners. 

Sometimes it's difficult for people to come to terms with what they truly want and/or need. But I think it's common sense to assume that every human being in existance places at least some value on the appearance of the gender to which they are sexually attracted. Unless, of course, they're blind and thus unsusceptable to that form of perception.


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## WineKitty (Nov 26, 2004)

> I always read here in this forum about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male....I had gotten tired of hearing people say that looks don't matter to women. It possibly may not matter to the EXACT degree that attractivess matters to a guy, but it DOES matter...


I dont get it...are you (the OP) saying that women on this board such as myself are lying about what we find attractive? It never ceases to amaze me that "RELATIONSHIPS" is constantly having this endless debate on looks....

I cannot speak for ALL women....I dont know how ALL women feel but I know how I do and I think I have a pretty good read on several fems here at SAS,if you dont want to believe what we post that is up to you...I am sure you can find many articles by bitter and jaded people to argue your point with... I am sorry if your life experience has shown you something else and I have no doubt that it has, but that doesnt mean that the women who have repeatedly responded to this type of nonsense here at SAS are less than truthful.

I am not trying to sound like a ***** although i know that is how I come across sometimes  (imagine, an SA sufferer not knowing how to communicate well!! :lol) but rather just saying its offensive to post one's thoughts or opinions on this subject and have others post how your thoughts or feelings arent logical, normal, real, or truthful.

I have said a MILLION TIMES on this board that you cannot go by sweeping generalizations about people. I am unlike any woman in the world, as is all the other unique women on this board, I will not and cannot be categorized and neatly filed away.

What one person considers "not attractive" another person finds attractive. What you consider attractive I might not. Its all subjective....

This is the last time that I ever post on a "looks" thread again....

:yawn


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## Airick10 (May 10, 2007)

That's the attitude!


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## path0gen (Jun 28, 2006)

That is one sexy post, Penny. 

So...what do you look like? oke


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## Disintegrate (Jun 28, 2006)

> http://www.livescience.com/health/070918_lockon_beauty.html


Who gives a ****?


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## Mayflower 2000 (Nov 11, 2003)

I'm kinda lost here. What is this about? That women are interested in looks? This is news???
Do some people actually think that women don't care at all about looks?
Caring about something doesn't mean it's important. 
And this study is about a very specific thing, that doesn't even necessarily have any real application in real life relationship behavior.


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## Stanley (May 11, 2007)

The article almost word for word repeats part of the chapter in Human Sexuality textbook, a course that I took last semester. It's a fact: women care about the looks just as much as men do, yet for some reason they try to deny it.
If I were given a quarter for every time I heard a girl saying: "I met this guy yesterday, he's so cute/hot/sexy"


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## Lyric Suite (Mar 16, 2006)

Stanley said:


> It's a fact: women care about the looks just as much as men do


Nonsense. If that was true there wouldn't be so many young beautiful girls marrying rich old guys now, wouldn't it?

Just another attempt from the feel-good liberal committee to brainwash us all to this myth of perfect 'equality' between men and women. There is no equality. Given the chance, a lot of women would trade looks for comfort in a nanosecond. Few men would ever even consider such a thing.


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## Stanley (May 11, 2007)

> If that was true there wouldn't be so many young beautiful girls marrying rich old guys now, wouldn't it?


The keyword is "rich". And how about poor old guys?


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## Zen Mechanics (Aug 3, 2007)

Lyric Suite said:


> Stanley said:
> 
> 
> > It's a fact: women care about the looks just as much as men do
> ...


who they then cheat on with the hot, young poolboy. it really is common sense that women are interested in looks as much as men.


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## archaic (Jan 16, 2006)

Penny said:


> > I always read here in this forum about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male....I had gotten tired of hearing people say that looks don't matter to women. It possibly may not matter to the EXACT degree that attractivess matters to a guy, but it DOES matter...
> 
> 
> I dont get it...are you (the OP) saying that women on this board such as myself are lying about what we find attractive? It never ceases to amaze me that "RELATIONSHIPS" is constantly having this endless debate on looks....
> ...


 :clap :clap :clap

I'll hold off on saying anything more...


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

archaic said:


> Penny said:
> 
> 
> > > I always read here in this forum about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male....I had gotten tired of hearing people say that looks don't matter to women. It possibly may not matter to the EXACT degree that attractivess matters to a guy, but it DOES matter...
> ...


I quite agree.


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## Lyric Suite (Mar 16, 2006)

Stanley said:


> The keyword is "rich".


You don't say.

For the record, i'm not saying that looks aren't a factor, only that most women simply don't care _as much as men do_. How is this not common sense?


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## Lifetimer (May 16, 2004)

Penny said:


> > I always read here in this forum about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male....I had gotten tired of hearing people say that looks don't matter to women. It possibly may not matter to the EXACT degree that attractivess matters to a guy, but it DOES matter...
> 
> 
> I dont get it...are you (the OP) saying that women on this board such as myself are lying about what we find attractive? It never ceases to amaze me that "RELATIONSHIPS" is constantly having this endless debate on looks....
> ...


Penny, how am I saying that you and the other women here are lying about what women find attractive? :con

My original post didn't mention anything at all in regards to WHAT women find physically attractive. However, it was saying that women DO find physical attractiveness important. Yes, one woman may consider a particular man "not physically attractive" while another woman WILL consider him physically attractive. But the same principle applies with men towards women as well. My point was that I have seen many times here and elsewhere in which I believe women try to make it sound as if looks don't matter at all. As if it's wrong for anyone to be attracted to someone because of their looks. As if we should *ONLY* go by personality and character when choosing a potential mate. For some reason many people, and seemingly women in particular, don't like the idea of men and women wanting a mate that is phyisically attractive. They just want us to only look at personality and character and to totally ignore whatever level of physical attractiveness the person has.

This article is not saying that attractiveness is the only thing that matters to men and women. It is saying that attractivess is an important part for both men and women. No matter HOW much evidence is given about a particular subject, there is always those that will ignore it and try to shoot it down. I don't choose to think this way. I like truth.

Penny, I couldn't figure out from your post... is physical attractiveness something you would like in a man? (whatever, ahem, your version of attactiveness is). Is it something that matters at all to you?

Lifetimer


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## path0gen (Jun 28, 2006)

> My point was that I have seen many times here and elsewhere in which I believe women try to make it sound as if looks don't matter at all. As if it's wrong for anyone to be attracted to someone because of their looks. As if we should ONLY go by personality and character when choosing a potential mate. No, nobody has actually said those exact words, but that's the impression that is given.


Though I have seen these sentiments echoed both on this board, others, offline, etc., I believe the overwhelming majority of women are perfectly open and quite clear about wanting a man of 'adequate' physical attributes. Emphasizing the word "only" is where you really went wrong here. I don't think you'll find anyone, man or woman, who will tell you they'd rather never, ever see a potential significant other before they have gained a thorough understanding of them, how they interract with other people, around you, in private, what their quirks are, their beliefs, aspirations, etc. and eveything else that defines an individual's personality, until after they've established social compatability.

To gain such a perspective requires that you know and interract with someone for an extended period of time. And for THAT to happen requires some sort of initial attraction which can only be obtained via superficial influences. A hypothetical for you:

Two men are sitting on opposite ends of a bar. A woman enters (a straight, single woman with perfect vision and a desire to meet someone nice that evening, to clarify) and has a choice to sit down next to the more attractive man to the right or the homely man to the left. In the interest of meeting someone both physically appealing AND with a good personality, it would be more logical to pursue the more attractive man because, well, two dimensions of compatability are better than one.

There are genetic and subconscious factors I could explore here but I don't think they're necessary. Suffice it to say that a good personality will always be welcome. But even moreso in the presence of a beautiful body.


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## scairy (Sep 18, 2005)

I think it is frustrating for some guys not that they are surprised by the fact that women are also in to looks but because women (Warning what i'm about to say is a generalization) tend to put feelings over being blunt with the truth. So by saying that looks don't matter or don't play a role causes men to get ticked because to some degree they do. That being said what is found attractive has consistencies and inconsistencies among culture. Example: there are faces that appear attractive to all cultures. Example of differences: there are cultures that value heavier people. cultures that value fair skinned vs. darker skin. So essentially there are subjective and objective factors within physical attraction or what is thought to be beautiful.

On an endnote I think us sa guys at least attempt to look for anything that explains why we're still single or why we shouldn't even attempt to find a relationship. Examples: Women want hot guys I'm not hot. Women want a guy with friends I don't have friends. Women want a guy that has his own house i live with my parents. women want a strong guy that can protect them, i'm skinny. women want a guy that is spontaneous i'm not spontaneous.

The funny truth about this is they are all true! There are women that like muscular guys. There are women that like skinny guys. There are women that want a guy with friends. * At the same time for every item listed in the paragraph above there are women that it's not a big deal to. *

Just like us guys. some guys like women with long legs. some like them with a smaller rack while others like a large rack. Some like women that have a rear. Some guys will take any of the above. Some guys want women that are quiet others want a women that is more outspoken.

I think the truth behind all this is having the guts to be persistent. If you approached 3 new girls everday tried to talk to them over the course of 10 years that's 10,950 girls you have to find one out there with those odds at least most of us would. If those odds aren't good enough make it 10 girls a day. Bottomline the cause of our singleness is ourselves.


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## Atticus (Nov 10, 2003)

I'm sorry to see that several thoughtful, opinionated women are opting out of these "looks" discussions. I'm twisted enough that I enjoy seeing them prevail in the one sided debates (beatings :afr ) that usually ensue.

I think these threads and this issue stays around because ordinary looking men are led to believe that they have a shot with any woman they see, if they can only be clever or suave enough. While its rare in my opinion, you do see more so-so looking men with quite attractive women than the other way around, so that may reinforce the flawed notion that this is common or likely to occur if he casts the right spell. 

This is actually sad, because these men walk past women they'd probably be quite happy with and head for the beauty everyone else is ogling.


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## path0gen (Jun 28, 2006)

scairy said:


> I think it is frustrating for some guys not that they are surprised by the fact that women are also in to looks but because women (Warning what i'm about to say is a generalization) tend to put feelings over being blunt with the truth. So by saying that looks don't matter or don't play a role causes men to get ticked because to some degree they do. That being said what is found attractive has consistencies and inconsistencies among culture. Example: there are faces that appear attractive to all cultures. Example of differences: there are cultures that value heavier people. cultures that value fair skinned vs. darker skin. So essentially there are subjective and objective factors within physical attraction or what is thought to be beautiful.
> 
> On an endnote I think us sa guys at least attempt to look for anything that explains why we're still single or why we shouldn't even attempt to find a relationship. Examples: Women want hot guys I'm not hot. Women want a guy with friends I don't have friends. Women want a guy that has his own house i live with my parents. women want a strong guy that can protect them, i'm skinny. women want a guy that is spontaneous i'm not spontaneous.
> 
> ...


The point of contention isn't what the individual woman perceives to be attractive but that ALL WOMEN value the appearance of a prospetive partner, rather than just his/her personality as the OP has implied. Your opion has never been argued to the contrary in this post.


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

> What one person considers "not attractive" another person finds attractive. What you consider attractive I might not. Its all subjective....


true. but i think that when people talk about this type of attractive, they mean the general idea of what an attractive person should be, not what an individual thinks.

although i believe that women care more about personality than looks.

edit: oops, it was mentioned above. sorry, i get lazy about reading all the posts


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## Lifetimer (May 16, 2004)

Atticus said:


> I'm sorry to see that several thoughtful, opinionated women are opting out of these "looks" discussions. I'm twisted enough that I enjoy seeing them prevail in the one sided debates (beatings :afr ) that usually ensue.


The fact that the women are not responding re-enforces what I said about how most women do not like the idea of looks being a major part of what people look for in a mate. I think one reason for this is that men tend to place a really high value on looks in a woman, and therefore women think men are only judging them by their looks. They therefore, understandably so, want to be judged by more than just their looks.

That is why women tend to want the "feels good - sounds good" thought that 99% of attraction is personality and character. Of course personality and character are important. That's obvious. What I am saying is that it is also obvious that looks - in the vast majority of the cases - is really the most important thing to men AND women. I say this because, as Path0gen basically has said, physical attractiveness is what first draws one person to another. It is what initially sparks interest. So, attractiveness is the first thing men and women look for. That's why it's the most important. Without that first interest, there is no way for the man and woman to get together. Now, men may put more value on looks (than women) in that they may be more likely to put up with a bad personality if the woman is very attractive, but the initial attraction for both men and women is how the person looks. As the scientific study proves, that is an important thing to everyone in what we first look for (however, as in anything in life, there are always the rare exceptions).

Lifetimer


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## Lifetimer (May 16, 2004)

path0gen said:


> scairy said:
> 
> 
> > I think it is frustrating for some guys not that they are surprised by the fact that women are also in to looks but because women (Warning what i'm about to say is a generalization) tend to put feelings over being blunt with the truth. So by saying that looks don't matter or don't play a role causes men to get ticked because to some degree they do. That being said what is found attractive has consistencies and inconsistencies among culture. Example: there are faces that appear attractive to all cultures. Example of differences: there are cultures that value heavier people. cultures that value fair skinned vs. darker skin. So essentially there are subjective and objective factors within physical attraction or what is thought to be beautiful.
> ...


Path0gen, thanks for pointing that out.

I don't understand why people here are not getting the main idea of my post, and instead are trying to make it sound as if I'm posting about what people find attractive in others. That is not what this thread is about. My original post was about how men and women, BOTH, look for attractiveness in the opposite sex. I pointed this out because, as I have said, I have seen (many, but not all) women post here in the "Relationships" section that looks just don't matter. I believe they are saying this for the reason in my previous post. However, scientific evidence has proven that looks DO matter - to both men and women. That's all I'm trying to say.

Lifetimer


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## Mayflower 2000 (Nov 11, 2003)

Lyric Suite said:


> Stanley said:
> 
> 
> > The keyword is "rich".
> ...


How IS it common sense? And if it is, why does it matter? "Common sense" sometimes is BS.


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## Atticus (Nov 10, 2003)

This study examined what people's eyes were drawn to. The most you can take from that is that all people enjoy looking at what THEY find attractive. In this kind of scenario, what's attractive is pretty consistent from person to person. 

The thing is, the vast majority of us can't have the person we'd choose to gaze at. When we're trying to find someone to date or marry, better adjusted people accept this and accentuate the aesthetically pleasing qualities the person they're interested in does have. That's why in happy couples, people tend to rate their partner's looks higher than a stranger would.

Some people can't accept the looks they've been blessed with, and maybe more importantly, what their looks at least partly determine about who will be interested in them. I think that when a woman says all the good men are married, or goes on about how all men are (insert stock derisive term for men), I think she's often incapable of accepting that the handsome doctor/lawyer/medicine chief has other options besides her. 

And when a man plays the "nice guy" card, I think he's often demanding that his relatively harmless character must attract beautiful women, and more and more these days, beautiful successful women. Again, those women have a lot to choose from., including handsome MD, JD, MC above.


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## Lyric Suite (Mar 16, 2006)

Mayflower 2000 said:


> How IS it common sense?


How many attractive men have you seen with an unattractive partner (as opposed to _vice-versa_)? How many girls do you know with large collections of nude male magazines or porno films?

Come on.



Mayflower 2000 said:


> And if it is, why does it matter?


You don't think truth matters?


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## Atticus (Nov 10, 2003)

Lyric Suite said:


> You don't think truth matters?


Is this kind of truth absolute? Not just what you're discussing with Mayflower, but your take on women, feelings, and so on.

Your truth is kind of an unhappy one, and bathing in it isn't going to make you very happy.

And as for your truth, how can men, with their intellectual and emotional depth, be so manipulated by "mere" women?


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

Atticus said:


> I'm sorry to see that several thoughtful, opinionated women are opting out of these "looks" discussions. I'm twisted enough that I enjoy seeing them prevail in the one sided debates (beatings :afr ) that usually ensue.
> 
> I think these threads and this issue stays around because ordinary looking men are led to believe that they have a shot with any woman they see, if they can only be clever or suave enough. While its rare in my opinion, you do see more so-so looking men with quite attractive women than the other way around, so that may reinforce the flawed notion that this is common or likely to occur if he casts the right spell.
> 
> This is actually sad, because these men walk past women they'd probably be quite happy with and head for the beauty everyone else is ogling.


I wish more men were like you.


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## Lyric Suite (Mar 16, 2006)

Atticus said:


> Lyric Suite said:
> 
> 
> > You don't think truth matters?
> ...


Well, you arguing against two things here, so i'm going to bring this reply to the other thread.

Regarding the issue discussed here, it might be important to know where women preferences stand when trying to start a relationship. It's obvious that looks are important on both sides, but the fact males might care a bit more then women do isn't something to be ignored.


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## Mayflower 2000 (Nov 11, 2003)

Atticus said:


> The thing is, the vast majority of us can't have the person we'd choose to gaze at.


Also wanting a person is different from finding them physically pretty. My eye wanders at women every day, but if I don't know the person at all I have no particular interest in dating them. Since it takes a lot more than looks to be a good partner. I'm sure everyone is like this to an extent, except of course people who are 100% only interested in sexuality when it comes to relationships.



Lyric Suite said:


> How many attractive men have you seen with an unattractive partner (as opposed to _vice-versa_)? How many girls do you know with large collections of nude male magazines or porno films?


I haven't ever noticed a significant difference between the genders in those aspects. I don't see what sexuality has to do with this.



> You don't think truth matters?


The thing about "common sense" "facts" is that in reality, they're false sometimes.


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## Lyric Suite (Mar 16, 2006)

...


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## Cerberus (Feb 13, 2005)

You know what I find odd? I find it odd how hot girls are generally friends with hot girls and ugly girls are generally friends with ugly girls. It appears to me that how one looks plays a crucial part in finding even friends! There are exceptions to this, of course, but that's what I've seen for the most part. It is so weird! It shows just how shallow the majority of people are! I mean, what the fvck! Many girls tend to blather on about how important personality is, but they seem to place looks above personality even when finding friends of the same sex!


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

That is so very true.


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## leppardess (Nov 8, 2003)

Cerberus said:


> You know what I find odd? I find it odd how hot girls are generally friends with hot girls and ugly girls are generally friends with ugly girls.


Sorry but I disagree with you. In high school, I had a couple g/fs who were far more attractive than I was.


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## Cerberus (Feb 13, 2005)

leppardess said:


> Cerberus said:
> 
> 
> > You know what I find odd? I find it odd how hot girls are generally friends with hot girls and ugly girls are generally friends with ugly girls.
> ...


Yes, there are exceptions as I mentioned. However, my observations that I posted in my post above have been what I've generally seen.


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

It's that way with both genders. "Cool" people hang out with other "cool" people. For girls, due to society, attractiveness makes one higher on the social ladder.


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## Cerberus (Feb 13, 2005)

LostInReverie said:


> It's that way with both genders. "Cool" people hang out with other "cool" people. For girls, due to society, attractiveness makes one higher on the social ladder.


It's too bad most people don't have the depth of thought to see through or circumscribe that. This is the kind of s--t that adds to my misanthropy.


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## whiteclouds (Mar 18, 2004)

Cerberus said:


> You know what I find odd? I find it odd how hot girls are generally friends with hot girls and ugly girls are generally friends with ugly girls.


I noticed that too. I think most of it leads back to the "like attracts like" principle. People like to hang out with people who look and think like them.


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

I wouldn't necessarily say "like", I'd probably say are "more comfortable" due to how our society operates.


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## Dudleyville (Mar 25, 2007)

Most women will only date a man who they see as beneath them in the looks department if he has alot of money. If the below average looking guy does not have a bling bling bank account than most women will not give him the time of the day because most women in the world are shallow.

If both of these men were blue collar workers like plumbers or construction workers, who do you all think would get more women.

Guy number 1









Or guy number 2









When the playing field is even when it comes to money, the overwhelming majority of women would pick guy number 1 over guy number 2 no doubt about it. When it comes to dating blue collar men, looks are the top priority for women. It's only when a man has a fat bank account that physical attraction takes a backseat and is thrown out the window. But if you are working at Walmart for example than you better pray that you are blessed with Orlando Bloom like good looks for women to give you the time of the day. But if you are the C.E.O of a fortune 500 company than you can be a cross eyed obese midget, and women will still be throwing themselves at you like as if you were Christian Bale.


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## Razorblade Kiss (Oct 29, 2006)

I seriously couldn't be arsed to read this thread, but just based on the first post alone, of course women are interested in looks!!!! Those who say "Only personality matters" are full of **** and I stand by that. Personality plays a major part, but I also have to be somewhat attracted to the person or it's not gonna work.


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## whiteclouds (Mar 18, 2004)

Strange Religion said:


> I seriously couldn't be arsed to read this thread, but just based on the first post alone, of course women are interested in looks!!!! Those who say "Only personality matters" are full of @#%$ and I stand by that. Personality plays a major part, but I also have to be somewhat attracted to the person or it's not gonna work.


 :agree Amen to that.


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## AJFA88 (Jun 16, 2007)

hmm I think looks do matter to girls as much as us do, well maybe not that much, but still


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Lifetimer said:


> I always read here in this forum (and hear from other places as well) about how women don't care about physical attractiveness in a male.


Yeah, that's why soap operas always have shirt-less hunks.


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