ABSTRACT-Women prefer both the scent of symmetrical men and masculine male faces more during the fertile (late follicular and ovulatory) phases of their menstrual cycles than during their infertile (e.g., luteal) phases. Men's behavioral displays in social settings may convey signals that affect women's attraction to men even more strongly. This study examined shifts in women's preferences for these behavioral displays. A sample of 237 normally ovulating women viewed 36 or 40 videotaped men who were competing for a potential lunch date and then rated each man's attractiveness as a short-term and a long-term mate. As predicted, women's preference for men who displayed social presence and direct intrasexual competitiveness increased on high-fertility days relative to low-fertility days, but only in a short-term, not a long-term, mating context. These findings add to the growing literature indicating that women's mate preferences systematically vary across the reproductive cycle.Two recent lines of research have shown that the criteria women use to evaluate men's attractiveness shift across the menstrual cycle. First, women prefer the scent of men who evince high developmental stability (as measured by fluctuating asymmetry) particularly during fertile days of their cycles (Gangestad & Thornhill, 1998;Rikowski & Grammer, 1999;Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999b;Thornhill et al., 2003). Second, women prefer masculine faces more on fertile days than on nonfertile days (Johnston, Hagel, Franklin, Fink, & Grammer, 2001;Penton-Voak & Perrett, 2000;Penton-Voak et al., 1999). These findings are believed to reflect evolved adaptations for women to choose sires who can provide genetic benefits to offspring. Heightened attraction to men who possess putative indicators of genetic benefits (e.g., symmetry and facial masculinity, which covary positively; Gangestad & Thornhill, in press) may increase the probability that women have sex with them when fertile, even if such men are not their primary partners. This interpretation is supported by the finding that women's attraction to masculine facial features is heightened midcycle when they evaluate men as short-term partners (i.e., as sex partners), but not when they evaluate men as long-term, stable partners (PentonVoak et al., 1999). These preference shifts may explain why women report increased sexual attraction to men other than primary partners when fertile (Gangestad, Thornhill, & Garver, 2002).Although scent and facial attractiveness may importantly affect women's attraction to men (Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Herz & Cahill, 1997;Regan & Berscheid, 1995), men's behavior-how they interact with women and other men-may be even more important determinants of attraction. Women prefer men who display self-assurance and stand up for themselves with other men, but who exhibit warmth and agreeableness (e.g., Cunningham, Druen, & Barbee, 1997;Graziano, Jensen-Campbell, Todd, & Finch, 1997;Jensen-Campbell, Graziano, & West, 1995). The former attributes, which reflect intrasexual competitiveness, m...

Previous research has shown that women's mate preferences change across the ovulatory cycle in a number of ways. The leading explanation for these changes--the good genes hypothesis--predicts that women should prefer presumed markers of genetic benefits ("good genes") most strongly when they are fertile and evaluating men as possible short-term mates. Research testing this hypothesis has almost exclusively examined preferences for purported markers of good genes. Little is known about how preferences for men who display traits valued in long-term, investing mates (e.g., warmth and faithfulness) change across the cycle. The authors had women at different points in their ovulatory cycle rate videotapes of men in terms of how attractive they found each man as a short-term and long-term mate. The authors then examined how women's preferences for traits typically valued in long-term and/or short-term mates varied according to women's fertility status. The results supported the good genes hypothesis. Implications of these findings for models of human mating are discussed.

We conducted a review of literature regarding sexual attitudes and double standards, focusing on participant gender and ethnic background. We found that men had more permissive sexual attitudes than women, and that African Americans had the most permissive sexual attitudes, followed by White Americans, then by Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. The literature regarding sexual double standards was mixed; some studies showed evidence of continued sexual double standards and some studies showed the absence of sexual double standards. In some studies, men were more likely to endorse the sexual double standard than women. We found only one article addressing sexual double standards using ethnic background as a quasi-independent variable; this research revealed that non-North American (Russian and Japanese) samples were more likely to endorse the traditional double standard, that sex is more acceptable for men than for women.Keywords Sexual attitudes Á Double standard Á Ethnicity Á Gender According to Billy Crystal ''women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place'' (Moncur 2007). This quote illustrates the common perception that sexual attitudes differ by gender; specifically, that men have more permissive attitudes towards sex while women have (relatively) more conservative attitudes toward sex. Research supports this common perception, showing that men do indeed have more

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