Variation in women's preferences for male facial masculinity may reflect variation in attraction to immunocompetence or to maturity. This paper reports two studies on (a) the interrelationships between women's preferences for masculinity, apparent health, and age in male faces and (b) the extent to which manipulating each of these characteristics affects women's attributions of the remaining characteristics. Both studies were carried out with a large sample of the general public (Studies 1a and 2a) and independently in a laboratory environment with smaller undergraduate samples (Studies 1b and 2b). In both samples, masculinity and age preferences were positively related, and masculinity preferences were not associated with preferences for apparent health. There was also a positive relationship between perceived age and perceived masculinity in both samples, but evidence for a link between perceptions of masculinity and health was equivocal. Collectively, these findings suggest that variation in women's preferences for masculine proportions in male faces reflect variation in attraction to male age and do not support a strict immunocompetence explanation of preferences for facial masculinity.
Facial masculinity is due to the sexual dimorphism in facial features that emerges at puberty when boys' cranial bones grow, producing heavier brow-ridges, and larger jaws, while girls' faces grow less and retain small brows (leading to a perception of larger eyes), jaws, and noses (Enlow & Hans, 1996 and Penton-Voak et al., 2001). Research has shown varying preferences for masculinity in male faces, with some studies finding a female preference for feminine-looking males (e.g., Perrett et al., 1998 and Rhodes et al., 2000) and some a preference for masculine-looking males (e.g., Johnston, Hagel, Franklin, Fink, & Grammer, 2001). Rather than being arbitrary, however, women's preferences for masculinity in male faces vary systematically as a result of their own attractiveness (Little et al., 2001 and Penton-Voak et al., 2003), the phase of their menstrual cycle (Johnston et al., 2001 and Penton-Voak et al., 1999), and whether they have a partner (Little, Jones, Penton-Voak, Burt, & Perrett, 2002).
Two different explanations for the possible benefits of masculinity and femininity in male faces have been proposed. The “immunocompetence” explanation rests on a possible direct link between sex hormones and facial features, while the “neoteny” explanation rests upon the link between facial growth and age
