This research examined whether individual differences in women’s sexual attitudes and behaviors are associated with men’s ratings of them as desirable long-term mates when men were exposed to only pictures of women’s faces. Links between sexual attitudes and behaviors with the presence of more masculine facial features were also assessed. Women completed the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI; Simpson & Gangestad, 1991) and had their faces photographed (without make-up). Facial markers of masculinity were measured, and female raters then independently rated the perceived masculinity of each face. Following this, male raters independently evaluated each woman’s face on two dimensions: desirability as a long-term mate and trustworthiness. More sexually unrestricted women, who pose a greater threat of future infidelity, had more masculine facial features, and were evaluated as being both less desirable long-term mates and less trustworthy in relationships. Exploratory analyses suggested that men rated women with higher SOI scores less positively partly because these women had a more masculine facial appearance.
From an evolutionary perspective, adopting a long-term mating strategy should be beneficial for some and perhaps most men (Gangestad & Simpson, 2000). Adopting a long-term strategy can allow men to gain greater control over a mate’s lifetime reproductive potential, to attract women of higher mate value, to increase the survival of a man’s children, and to increase the probability of paternity (see Buss, 2004). One major problem that ancestral men had to solve to be reproductively successful, however, was to increase the probability of paternity. Because women give birth, maternity is never in question; paternity, in contrast, is less certain. Thus, increasing the likelihood of paternity should have been important, particularly considering that the costs of cuckoldry are severe when paternal investment is high and exclusive (Buss & Schmitt, 1993).
One way that cuckoldry can be reduced is to prefer long-term mates who are chaste, sexually faithful, and likely to remain faithful in the future. Most men value sexual loyalty highly in potential mates (Buss & Schmitt, 1993), and most become extremely distressed if their partners are unfaithful (Daly & Wilson, 1988). Moreover, men report being less attracted to women who have had more sexual partners (Kenrick, Sundie, Nicastle, & Stone, 2001). This effect could be partly attributable to the perceived increased risk of future infidelity. Consequently, most men should be sensitive to cues that signal a heightened risk of future infidelity in potential long-term mates.
