Women take very attractive strangers to bed; men aren't so picky

In a never-ending quest to plumb the mysteries of men, women and sex, the journal Human Nature has published a study that minces no words in concluding that women "have higher standards" when engaging in a one-night stand.

Sure, sure, we've all heard the evolutionary argument: With the dangers of prospective childbirth and years of child care hanging in the balance, women would be expected to be choosier than men about whom they will mate with. Bound by no such commitments and keen to maximize the propagation of their DNA, men will mate, shall we say, more indiscriminately.

But do we ever tire of hearing the details? We do not.

So here's how they play out in the latest study. A total of 427 men and 433 females from universities in the United States, Germany and Italy were asked to imagine their response to a request by a member of the opposite sex to: a) go out on a date; b) go home with the requestor; and c) go to bed with him or her.

The person making the invitation could be "moderately unattractive," "somewhat attractive" or "exceptionally attractive," and the research participant was asked for his or her answer under each of these permutations.

Across the board, men were more likely to accept any and all of the invitations than were women. There were a few national differences among the men: the German men were most reticent about going out or going home with any of the imagined women, and Italians were least discriminate about doing anything with anyone. American men were more likely than their German counterparts to go to bed with a woman. But they weren't quite as randy as the Italians.

As a group, the men also showed a preference for a somewhat or exceedingly attractive woman over a moderately unappealing one. But as long as a woman was at least somewhat attractive, then men were equally ready to go off with her. Extraordinary beauty was not required to secure their willingness to go out, go home or go to bed with a woman extending the invitation.

Not so women. For female respondents who agreed they would go to bed with a man, only the best would do. While they were equally likely to go out with a moderately handsome man than with an exceptionally handsome specimen, the women respondents were far more likely to accept only the exceptionally attractive man's invitation to his home or his bed.

"While men are not entirely insensitive to their requestor's attractiveness, women have higher standards and are more likely to engage in casual sex with an exceptionally attractive man than with a less attractive man," said the study's author, psychologist Achim Schuetzwohl of Britain's Brunel University. The differences among men appear to reflect "culural differences in sexual morals and preferences," he added.

But the difference between men and women when it came to a roll in the hay? Human Nature, apparently.

Still not tired of reading about sexual differences between men and women? You couldn't do better than the latest Kinsey report, published in the April 2008 Archives of Sexual Behavior.

-- Melissa Healy

Comments

[Mark]

I recall a crass saying amongst my college peers, something to the effect of just putting a paper bag over her head.

[Ed]

You mean there ARE differences between men and women? What a shock!

Next they will discover that it is important for families to have both a man and a woman.

[paul]

"Duh."

Seriously, who among us couldn't predict the results of this turkey?

[ovphoto]

do guys really care if shes coyote ugly-after a pint of tequila-NO

[JayC]

Gotta love these studies that tell us what we already know. I suppose it's useful to confirm the obvious empirically, but don't expect many gasps.

[Sam]

"Italians were least discriminate about doing anything with anyone."

I. Love. Italians.

[Kimberly]

So differences in sexual morals and preferences are not part of the explanation for the gender differences, only for differences between men. Here we are in 2009 and we still attribute differences between men and women purely to biology? I gotta read that stud's paper!!

[Jhon]

1. It depends if there are friends around who can see you if you take home a less attractive woman. If so, i'll never do it.

2. When I go out, I go out to have fun. and at the end of the evening, I only want to spend about 1 hour MAX on finding a nightbunny. That means, I avoid the attitude woman and mostly go for the 6 or 7 on the scale of 10 kind of woman.
And after a few beers, those get pimped to 8 or 9 scale woman (only remember to get them out before dawn)

3. There is also always the mystery about the fact that even if she's only a 6 points of girl, that she might be able to give good head. So if he has nice hear, thats also already good because you only have to look down on her.

4. In case nobody noticed: there is a crisis going on! I say that because 9 or 10 grade woman are more costly to get into your bed.

5. This is also the reason that man invented the light switch and the paper bag

[jad]

This has much more to do with how men and women respond to a ridiculous questionnaire than with behavior. The only way to interpret what it means is to "know" beforehand what it "must" mean.

[JRG]

Men are always more interested in sex than women; hence the results.

[Kenneth Barrett]

Can it now be said that still, men are more superficial than women?

[ediz]

The old adage that "confidence wins over women" is clearly debunked...You got to be good looking too in order to win over women, if not sleep with them right away. That's why when you go to places where couples like to hang out e.g. 3rd street promenade, the movie theatres, etc., it's rare that you see a gorgeous woman with an unattractive man. People "naturally" date or are attracted to those who are commensurate to their own physical appearance.

Now for the women out there, if you want me, you better be at least a 7 out of a 10 (10 being best) if you think I have live up to your standards...'cause I'm selective too.

[Da Maverick]

yeah, but what about money? Will women go to bed with a man who is moderately attractive but apparently very wealthy? From what I've seen, the guy doesn't even have to be moderately attractive.

[Mark]

Wow, what a shock. I hope my tax dollars weren't spent to reach such a common sense conclusion. As far as the Italians vs Americans vs Germans, that is relatively interesting but somewhat predictable.

[Josh]

Hey everyone - it's psuedo-science! Spurious conclusions drawn from dubious and incomplete research!

This is a fun little oddity to read however. But it's certainly worth noting that personality - or 'game' in layman's parlance - has more impact on successful hook-ups for either sex than a cute face ever will.

[Greg Johnson]

Wow! This is what they do in university these days? State the bleeding obvious!!!!

[Ronin]

Obviously a woman wrote this article. Hey honey, how many beers until he looks exceedingly good?

[Ben Straub]

I hope this study was not funded via tax dollars since we are broke.

[Mike DelSesto]

I think it has something to do with the basic principle of supply and demand.

[the truth]

perhaps this explains why men are from mars and women are from uranus.

[AM]

Does the questionnaire also include a statement regarding the potential amount of alcohol in the bloodstream?

[el guapo]

Getting laid is a piece of cake for me...but then I'm "el guapo".

[GDG]

Conclusions: "Duh."

[HaHa]

Since attractiveness is more important to women than men, this just says that woman may be more superficial than men are.

[Melissa]

"Next they will discover that it is important for families to have both a man and a woman."

Wow, Ed. Uneducated comments like yours remind me everyday why children don't need a mother and a father if either of those said parties are going ignorant and dated.

I think my partner and I will do just fine raising a family without the help of a regressive father figure like you.