Looking at and Longing for Male and Female “Swimsuit Models”: Men Are Much More Category Specific Than Women

• Published in: Social psychological & personality science 2010-07, Vol.1 (3), p.238-245
• Main Authors: Lippa, Richard A., Patterson, Travis M., Marelich, William D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attraction; Attractiveness; Heterosexuals; Men; Sexual attraction; Women
• ISSN: 1948-5506; 1948-5514
• DOI: 10.1177/1948550609359814

Men’s sexual attractions tend to be more category specific than women’s—that is, men tend to be attracted to either women or men, whereas women are more likely to show some degree of attraction to both sexes. To explore this phenomenon further, the authors assessed 62 heterosexual men and 79 heterosexual women on their time spent viewing and self-reported sexual attraction to photographed male and female “swimsuit models” who varied in attractiveness. Consistent with theoretical predictions, men showed stronger category specificity than women. Specifically, men were more sexually attracted to female than male models and men spent more time viewing female than male models, particularly when models were highly attractive. In contrast, women were sexually attracted to both female and male models—with sexual attraction to both sexes increasing with models’ attractiveness—and women’s viewing time was better predicted by model attractiveness than by model sex.