Women with less money or financial security prefer to date feminine-looking men over the macho alpha male, according to a new study.
The study of almost 700 people by the University of Queensland's school of psychology showed that when the going gets tough, women choose gentler, more feminine-looking men, over more masculine-looking, macho ones.
Using online dating profiles morphed to create more masculine or more feminine facial features, the study showed that women with less money or financial security preferred to date men with more feminine looks, news.Com.Au reported.
Research co-author and evolutionary psychologist Dr Shelli Dubbs said the women perceived the softer-looking men to be less likely to stray, kinder and more willing to share their money and assets with them and their children.
"Often women prefer that whole cute, fresh-faced, boy-next-door look," Dubbs was quoted as saying by The Sunday Mail (Queensland).
Dubbs said the study supported the findings of other similar international studies and defied the old adage that nice guys always finish last.
"The women of lower socio-economic status, whose career prospects weren't as good, and had less financial security overall, had very different mate preferences," she said.
"The fact they went for more feminine-looking men is an indication of how they see them as more kind, more caring, more likely to remain faithful, how good a father they might be, and while they may not be as well off as the more masculine-looking guys, they are more likely to share their resources with the women," she said.
Dubbs said while men with more masculine looks are arguably seen as having better genes, stronger, being more dominant and potentially commanding bigger incomes, women also saw them as bad-boy, Peter Pan types more likely to cheat on them.
"We always say that nice guys finish last, but this shows more masculine guys aren't always preferred by women," she said.
