Sex Differences in Physical Attractiveness Preferences

Feinman, Saul; Gill, George W.

doi:10.1080/00224545.1978.9924089

Cited by 69 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Consistent with this explanation, breast size interacted with BMI such that the linear effects of breast size on self-rated attractiveness were greater among women with larger bodies. Second, previous research had also found that men find blonds more attractive than women with other hair colors (Cunningham et al, 1997;Feinman & Gill, 1978;Jones, 1996;Miller, 2006). However, the blond waitresses in this study did not perceive themselves to be more attractive than the waitresses with other hair colors.…”

Section: Self-reported Attractivenessmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The existing research on the effects of women's hair color on rated attractiveness has used men as subjects. Women find dark hair color more attractive than blond hair in males (Feinman & Gill, 1978), so perhaps women prefer dark hair in females as well. However, 24% of the current sample of waitresses reported being blond, which is much larger than the 14% of a similar sample of U.S. waiters who reported being blond in another unpublished online survey (Lynn, 2007).…”

Section: Self-reported Attractivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2) women with moderately large breasts are perceived as more attractive than those with either small or extremely large breasts (Jones, 1996;Tantleff-Dunn, 2001, 2002; (3) blonds are perceived by men of European descent as more attractive than brunettes (Cunningham et al, 1997;Feinman & Gill, 1978;Jones, 1996;Miller, 2006); (4) women with low WHRs of around .70 are perceived as more attractive than those with higher WHRs (Henss, 2000;Marlowe, Apicella, & Reed, 2005;Singh, 2004;Weeden & Sabini, 2005), and (5) slender women with a body mass index (BMI) around 20 are perceived as more attractive than women with smaller and larger bodies (Singh, 2004;Smith, Cornelissen, & Tovee, 2007;Swami, Capario, Tovee, & Furnham, 2006;Weeden & Sabini, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is possible that the effects of these physical characteristics are strong enough to impact attractiveness ratings but not more consequential, overt behaviors. For example, while researchers have found that men rate blonds as more attractive than brunettes (Cunningham et al, 1997;Feinman & Gill, 1978;Jones, 1996;Miller, 2006), other researchers have failed to find hair color effects on men's helping behavior toward women (Juni & Roth, 1985) or their responses to women's personal ads (Lynn & Shurgot, 1984). Thus, there is a need for research to examine the effects of breast size, hair color, and waist-to-hip ratio on behaviors more overt and consequential than simple ratings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Lynn

2008

Arch Sex Behav

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Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses' self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses' tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty.

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Section: Self-reported Attractivenessmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Self-reported Attractivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Lynn

2008

Arch Sex Behav

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“…Blond waitresses received more tips because male customers respond directly to their appearance. Several studies (Feinman and Gill, 1978;Guéguen and Lamy, 2009;Swami and Barrett, 2011) found that men reported a preference for women with light color and previous research on tipping behavior found that factors associated with employees' appearance such as breast size or cosmetics influence male customers' tipping behavior (Lynn, 2009;Guéguen and Jacob, 2011;Jacob et al, 2009). This study has shown that one other factor associated with waitresses' physical appearance (hair color) is associated with variation in the amount of tips left by the customers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Hair color and wages: Waitresses with blond hair have more fun

Guéguen

2012

The Journal of Socio-Economics

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The constraints of racialization: How classification and valuation hinder scientific research on human variation

Lasisi

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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Human biological variation has historically been studied through the lens of racialization. Despite a general shift away from the use of overt racial terminologies, the underlying racialized frameworks used to describe and understand human variation still remain. Even in relatively recent anthropological and biomedical work, we can observe clear manifestations of such racial thinking. This paper shows how classification and valuation are two specific processes which facilitate racialization and hinder attempts to move beyond such frameworks. The bias induced by classification distorts descriptions of phenotypic variation in a way that erroneously portrays European populations as more variable than others. Implicit valuation occurs in tandem with classification and produces narratives of superiority/inferiority for certain phenotypic variants without an objective biological basis. The bias of racialization is a persistent impediment stemming from the inheritance of scientific knowledge developed under explicitly racial paradigms. It is also an internalized cognitive distortion cultivated through socialization in a world where racialization is inescapable. Though undeniably challenging, this does not present an insurmountable barrier, and this bias can be mitigated through the critical evaluation of past work, the active inclusion of marginalized perspectives, and the direct confrontation of institutional structures enforcing racialized paradigms.

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Sex Differences in Physical Attractiveness Preferences

Cited by 69 publications

References 15 publications

Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Hair color and wages: Waitresses with blond hair have more fun

The constraints of racialization: How classification and valuation hinder scientific research on human variation

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