Mate preferences and choices for facial and body hair in heterosexual women and homosexual men: influence of sex, population, homogamy, and imprinting-like effect

Recent research has reported that male body and facial hair influence women's mate preferences. However, it is not clear whether such preferences are typical for women or for individuals who prefer males as sexual partners. Here we explored body and facial hair in preferred and actual partners among men and women who prefer men as sexual partners. Including homosexual individuals provides a unique opportunity to investigate whether evolved mating psychologies are specific to the sex of the individual or sex of the partner. Based on an online survey of 1577 participants from Brazil and the Czech Republic, we found that, on average, homosexual men preferred hairier stimuli than heterosexual women, supporting past findings that homosexual men have strong preferences for masculine traits. Preferences for facial and body hair appear to be influenced less by sex of the preferred partner than sex of the individual, pointing to a possible sex-specific mating psychology. Further, Brazilians preferred bigger beards than Czechs, which was positively associated with the self-reported amount of beardedness in Brazil, suggesting that familiarity effects underpin cross-cultural differences in preferences for facial hair. Moreover, homosexual men preferred a self-similar degree of beardedness, and Czech women preferred a similar degree of beardedness as their fathers had during their childhood. However, these effects were not associated with the level of facial hair in their actual partners; in general, mate preferences and actual mate choices for facial and body hair differed. Thus, individual differences in some self-reported characteristics, cultural factors, and aspects of personal experience may modulate differences in preferences for masculine traits

Men’s preferences for women’s breast size and shape in four cultures

The morphology of human female breasts typical for their permanent fat deposits appears to be unique among primates. It has been previously suggested that female breast morphology arose as a result of sexual selection. This is supported by evidence showing that women with larger breasts tend to have higher estrogen levels; breast size may therefore serve as an indicator of potential fertility. However, breasts become less firm with age and parity, and breast shape could thus also serve as a marker of residual fertility. Therefore, cross-culturally, males are hypothesized to prefer breast morphology that indicates both high potential and residual fertility. To test this, we performed a survey on men´s preferences for breast morphology in four different cultures (Brazil, Cameroon, the Czech Republic, Namibia). As stimuli, we used two sets of images varying in breast size (marker of potential fertility) and level of breast firmness (marker of residual fertility). Individual preferences for breast size were variable, but the majority of raters preferred medium sized, followed by large sized breasts. In contrast, we found systematic directional preferences for firm breasts across all four samples. This pattern supports the idea that breast morphology may serve as a residual fertility indicator, but offers more limited support for the potential fertility indicator hypothesis. Future studies should focus on a potential interaction between the two parameters, breast size and firmness, which, taken together, may help to explain the relatively large variation in women's breast sizes

Cross-modal associations of human body odour attractiveness with facial and vocal attractiveness provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Potential mating partners are typically assessed for their attractiveness by integrating multiple sensory modalities, including olfactory, visual, and auditory cues. There have been diverging predictions on how the individual modalities should relate to each other. According to the backup signals hypothesis, the assessment of multimodal cues provides redundant information, whereas the multiple messages hypothesis suggests that different modalities provide independent and non-redundant information about an individual’s mating-related quality. The backup signals hypothesis predicts a positive association between assessments of different modalities, whereas no substantial correlation across modalities is expected under the ‘multiple messages‘ hypothesis. Previous studies testing the two hypotheses have provided mixed results, but a systematic evaluation is currently missing. We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies to examine the congruence in assessments between body odour and facial attractiveness, and body odour and vocal attractiveness, in humans. We found positive but weak associations between attractiveness ratings of body odours and faces ( r = 0.1, k = 25), and between body odours and voices ( r = 0.1, k = 9). No sex differences were observed in the magnitudes of effects. Our results suggest that assessments of human body odour and facial and vocal attractiveness may provide independent and non-redundant information about mating-related qualities. The findings of the resent study provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis and may be better explained by the multiple messages hypothesis