Factors of Attraction Towards Women: A Replication

This factor indicates a preference for curvier physiques over more slender physiques. Though, it’s not just a preference for an hourglass figure, but also for greater body fat and overall body mass, as demonstrated by items such as ‘Heavyset’, ‘Comfortably Overweight’, and ‘Big Bellies’. There doesn’t appear to be a corresponding preference for excess muscle mass, as suggested by the fact that ‘Athletic’ loads negatively, albeit fairly weakly. All in all, this is a pretty straightforward factor.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for an extraverted, passionate, adventurous personality. This is obvious from the items that deal directly with personality, such as ‘Adventurous’ and ‘Enthusiastic’ (which load positively) and ‘Shy’ (which loads negatively), but we can learn more by looking at the other items. This is a very embodied, dare I say, Dionysian personality, as evidenced by items such as ‘A Good Dancer’, ‘Artistic’, ‘The Life of the Party’, ‘Extremely Amorous’, and ‘Athletic’. There is a strong emphasis here on physicality, expressiveness, and social energy. Possibly because of this embodied aspect, with its emphasis on movement and physical activity, ‘Comfortably Overweight’ loads negatively. The negative loading of ‘Fair skin’ is especially interesting: it may reflect cultural stereotypes associating darker-skinned women with heat, sensuality, emotional expressiveness, dance, and danger. Why ‘Dark skin’ itself does not show up on this factor, however, is less clear.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for intelligence in all its forms: education, wit, humor, independent thought, etc. This is extremely obvious when we look at item pairs such as ‘Educated’ (positive loading) vs. ‘Uneducated’ (negative loading), or ‘Brilliant’ (positive loading) vs. ‘Not so bright’ (negative loading). Beyond book smarts, there’s also a focus on verbal intelligence, as indicated by items such as ‘Witty’, ‘Humorous’, and ‘Simple Spoken’ (negative loading). It’s not just about being smart, but about sounding smart as well.

‘Wealthy’ doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence per se, but given the correlation between wealth and education, as well as the popular association of wealth with refinement and sophistication, the loading makes sense. Interestingly, ‘Glasses’ doesn’t show up despite being one of the symbols of intelligence. I’m not sure why this is, especially since it does load on Masculinity.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for masculinity, or at least for a cluster of masculine-coded traits. There’s a behavioral aspect, as indicated by items such as ‘Dominant’ and ‘Submissive’ (negative loading); a physical aspect, as indicated by items such as ‘Broad shoulders’, ‘Extremely Tall’, and ‘Heavyset’; and a presentation aspect, as indicated by items such as ‘Short hair’ and ‘T-Shirt & Jeans’. Taken together, the factor seems to capture a preference for women who are more physically imposing, dominant, and masculine in presentation. ‘Glasses’ also loads onto this factor, albeit fairly weakly, and I’m not sure why.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for traits associated with being a good mother and wife. There’s a reproductive/childcare component (‘Good with Children’, ‘Fertile’, and ‘Narrow hips’ (negative loading)); a domestic component (‘A Good Cook’); and an interpersonal component (‘Kind’ and ‘Sympathetic’ for the positive loadings, ‘Unfaithful’ and ‘Dangerous’ for the negative loadings). Taken together, these suggest a preference for someone nurturing, dependable, family-oriented, and safe as a long-term partner. There are also weak negative loadings for ‘Free Thinking’ and ‘Dominant’, which suggest that this preference may be associated with a more ‘traditional’ form of femininity.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for physical smallness, which also seems to be combined with a harmless, playful temperament. The strongest-loading items all relate to height in some way: ‘Short’ loads positively, while ‘Long legs’ and ‘Extremely Tall’ load negatively. The weaker-loading items, however, seem to point toward a sort of cuteness: being silly, kind, humorous, and sympathetic. The negative loading of ‘Athletic’ may reflect the same pattern, with a preference for physical smallness and cuteness being associated with a preference for someone less physically imposing or threatening.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for a woman who invests a lot in her appearance. Most of the indicators relate to styling (e.g., ‘Red lipstick’, ‘Nail Polish’, ‘Jewelry’) and garments (e.g., ‘High Heels’, ‘Little Black Dresses’, ‘Tight Corsets’). More specifically, there’s a preference for women who style and adorn themselves in such a way as to appear more “glamorous”. It’s not just these ornamental aspects of appearance that the factor focuses on, however, but also non-ornamental features (e.g., ‘Long legs’, ‘Very large breasts’), suggesting that this is more than simply a preference for ornamentation. Rather, it seems to capture a preference for a glamorous, highly cultivated feminine ideal in which clothing, grooming, and bodily features all contribute to the overall presentation.

Factor Loadings

This factor indicates a preference for not just youthfulness, but what seems to be an ingénue archetype. There appear to be three main components: an age component (‘Young’, ‘Older women’ (negative loading), ‘Teenagers’, ‘Mature’ (negative loading)); a ‘delicate features’ component (‘Small Hands’, ‘Little noses’, ‘Slender’, ‘Comfortably Overweight’ (negative loading)); and a racialized component (‘Fair skin’, ‘Light eyes’, ‘Dark skin’ (negative loading)). One indicator even seems to combine all three of these components: ‘Cheerleaders’. Taken together, the factor seems to capture a preference for a youthful, delicate, and fair-skinned femininity rather than youth alone.

Factor Loadings