Myth about 'dirty old men' supported by science
December 4th, 2008Middle-aged men want younger women, often touting their intelligence and their high income. This is shown in research at Gothenburg University and Oxford University that studied 400 lonely hearts ads to see how men and women choose partners.
Research in the theory of evolution includes a number of accepted theories about how men and women choose their partners. Among the more established ones is that men place more emphasis on attractive appearance, whereas resources and social status are more important to women.
By examining lonely hearts advertisements, researchers at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Oxford have now tested how valid these presumed preferences are when modern individuals choose partners.
In the study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, the researchers looked at 400 lonely hearts ads in the Swedish newspapers Göteborgs-Posten and Aftonbladet and on the Websites Spraydate and match.com.
To some extent, the findings support established theories:
-- Women, more than men, look for solid resources and social status. As a result men also offer this in their ads, through formulations like 'large house' and 'economically independent.'
-- Men in all categories prefer younger partners. Of a total of 97 men who mentioned age in their ads, only three were looking for an older partner – among men aged 40 to 59, only one out of 67.
-- Younger women, on the other hand, prefer older men: fully 14 of 16 women aged 20-39 were looking for an older partner. Among women over 60, however, the majority were looking for a younger man.
Another point of departure for the study was that men are more fixated on appearance than women are. This turned out not to be the case.
"When it comes to physical characteristics, it turned out that men and women were the same. Both used words like, 'athletic,' 'beautiful,' 'pretty,' 'tall,' 'handsome,' and 'trim' to the same extent, and this goes both for their descriptions of themselves and for the characteristics they were looking for in a partner," says Jörgen Johnsson at the Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, one of the researchers behind the study.
"This might indicate that men have learned to respond to women's interest in looks, therefore stressing to the same extent their attractiveness in the ads. The fact that both sexes focus on looks may also be influenced by our times, with the great fixation on appearance in the media."
Source: Swedish Research Council
Jun 07, 2009 |
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However, it should be noted that according to a 'currently active' and well accredited/respected geneticist..that older men having sex with younger women..that is... older productive and successful men, -IS- a priority for the creation of a stable and growing human population. This, with regards to generation of children with skill and intellect, in whatever shape it may take. Ye olde 'Lion King' scenario in action (in varying degrees and ways) in the human sphere.
The idea of random and generally supported society on a large and diverse scale is also a good thing, but it defeats the natural selection issue to some degree, ie, humanity changing itself.
Pick one or both. Whatever works for you.
However, Older men-younger women IS a natural order aspect that is as old as the hills and for mankind to move forward, I'm not sure it's one that should be eliminated-likely the exact opposite is true.. A serious and solid one, however a given group or individual may feel on the subject.
As we can see, the rule of natural selection still comes through..and as an older guy..there's hope for me yet!!!
This reminds me of Brigham Young's famous words:
"I don't care where you get 'em, just bring 'em young."
Bob B might burn in a Mormon hell if he doesn't provide a source for his unlikely infamous 'quote'.
Um, no. It's pretty clear that men and women look the way they do because of prior generation's attractions. What we perceive as "attractive" turns out to be healthy and childbearing for women's looks and healthy and provider for men's looks. Evolution created this and we are a product of that.
-Lesbians like younger women too
-Women find men faces more attractive when men are between 30 and 40 years old
-Couples of similar age are more likely to divorce (no surprise the media urge people to find partners of the same age, so they will get divorce and the lawyers will make money, as well as psychologists, doctors, etc...)