Friday 9 October 2009

Quick hit: Have women gone off manly men?

Dita de Boni looks at this in her Keeping Mum blog on the Herald site:
There's evidence, according to this report, to suggest that when women are more fertile, they are attracted to masculine men and those with 'dissimilar' genetics, while when they are not fertile they like the caring, sharing type of man with boyish features.

The millions of women currently taking the contraceptive pill worldwide do not have fertile days, and are therefore - the theory goes - rejecting Neanderthal man as a potential mate at an alarming rate.

Conversely, it has also been shown that a woman is more attractive to men during her fertile time, and so, if she's never fertile, she is 'restricting' her ability to be attractive to the type of man that also wants a real "opposite" as a mate.

Result: men and women really are becoming more alike.

It would be amazing to think the contraceptive pill had that much of an impact on our evolution as a species (though of course it's had a monumental effect on our social life and culture).

But perhaps there are other factors at play?
Click through for the whole thing.

10 comments:

scrubone said...

I'd be more worried about the fact the thing causes cancer.

Trouble said...

Oh, are we doing The Pill Kills now? It does raise the chances of some kinds of cancer but protects against others. Many things in life increase cancer risks - barbecued meat, say. Compared to the physical risks of pregnancy, it's nothing.

Anonymous said...

The pill causes cancer now?

I heard the same *research* states that equal pay, abortion, the right to vote etc etc also cause cancer.

Lucy said...

Instead of the Pill, think about regulating your dihydrogen monoxide intake. It's a source of free radicals and found in all tumours. Got to be a concern.

Anonymous said...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17934-secrets-of-sexual-attraction.html?page=1

Cactus Kate said...

Nonsense.

Zac is gorgeous but then so is Richie McCaw all covered in mud.

Truth is, women like men who like them.

Men like women who like them.

The rest is pretty fucking easy if you don't analyse it to death.

katy said...

Not sure this is a totally new thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Brummell

Grace Dalley said...

With such sweeping and unlikely-seeming conclusions, I would like to examine the research methodology and results in detail.

To me it sounds like rather wild wishful thinking.

verbis ardens said...

Well let's see, I've been on the Pill for over a decade, and with my caring sport-hating geek husband for less than a decade. Once I go off it in order to have his child, I'll let y'all know if I'm struck with the urge to cuckold him with some meathead jock!

Anonymous said...

Verbis - nice stereotype of a sports fan don't you think?

It would be like me saying you associate with limp wristed half-men weaklings :) Now we know it aint true but that's the same as saying all sports fans ate meatheads.