Frowning is hot. It is. On a man, a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes are sexy. It works on some women, too, but generally, scowling — looking determined and passionate — is something heterosexual women find attractive in men. We love bad boys.
According to a new study, when men and women rated the sexual attractiveness of hundreds of images of the opposite sex, women were least attracted to smiling men. They liked the dudes who looked proud, powerful, moody or ashamed. Men, as you can imagine, were most sexually attracted to women who looked happy, and least attracted to women who appeared proud and confident. (Strong women are scary!) Oh, and FYI: Looking happy is associated with looking submissive and vulnerable.
None of this is particularly shocking, though it is disheartening, in this day and age, that a strong man is all good, while a strong woman is a no-no. (Remember when critics went off on Michelle Obama’s “angry” brows?) Professor Jessica Tracy of University of Britiish Columbia’s Department of Psychology sums the sad results up thusly.
“Generally, the results appear to reflect some very traditional gender norms in Western cultures… These include norms and values that many would consider old-fashioned and perhaps hoped that we’ve moved beyond.”
Why Women Just Love To Love A Bad Boy [Independent]