Do conservative women prefer macho men?

"The iconic actor is lending his famous face to a series of promos for Louis Vuitton’s 'Core Values' ad campaign, scheduled to hit daily newspapers and weekly magazines next week," went the caption of this fall 2008 image of ladykiller Sean Connery (via Fausta's Blog).

"I'm mighty skeptical of the entire premise of the study," we wrote in the comments of Fausta's saucy new post, "The girly-men have it?" Our own take with a twist in a moment, but first a few excerpts from Fausta herself, commenting on "Why Women Don't Want Macho Men," a WSJ article that reports:

New research suggests that women from countries with healthier populations prefer more feminine-looking men …

After crunching the data — including the women’s facial preferences, their country of origin and that country’s national health index — the Face Lab researchers proved something remarkable. They could predict how masculine a woman likes her men based on her nation’s World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancy and the impact of communicable disease. In countries where poor health is particularly a threat to survival, women leaned toward "manlier" men. That is, they preferred their males to have shorter, broader faces and stronger eyebrows, cheekbones and jaw lines …

"Feminine-looking men? Ugh. Must be a generational thing," scoffs Fausta, sizing up a couple of machos and a girly-man:

No contest: Sean at age 79 and Jon at age 39 win over Orlando at age 33. Especially since Orlando waxes his chest hair. Yes, Jon’s only 6 years older than Orlando but Jon looks like a grown-up while Orlando still looks like a kid … The article ends up asking:

"So will it be considered progress if women start pursuing 'metrosexuals'  — impeccable guys who exfoliate, order salads for dinner and carry man purses?"

Not in my book!

Ditto. Our own "crackpot authority" reply in Fausta's comments hints at a vast if unwitting left-wing conspiracy behind the whole enterprise:

Beyond my personal preference for the hot, sexy Sean Connerys of this world over the wussy, waxing metros, I’m mighty skeptical of the entire premise of the study. What is the agenda of the promulgators of this so-called “health index” that declares the US “one of the least healthy” nations, for starters?

The article itself sounds like a pro-Obamacare sermon dressed up as science reporting:

“While Stone Age forces once wired women to associate strong cues of masculinity with their children’s chance of survival, times are changing. The promise of improved health care in America could be one example of a shift."

They make it sound like you can change our basic human nature, evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, with a little social engineering. Typical leftist utopian thinking …

Is it a generational thing? It's likely a cultural artifact of 20-somethings' having been indoctrinated by proselytizers of the cheerless feminism of their mothers' generation. Out in the twittersphere I've been encountering a countertrend of young women who aren't buying what the "progressives" are selling. It would be interesting to poll the masculinity preferences of these fearless woman warriors.

Do conservative women prefer macho men? Someone get Mr. Rasmussen on the phone.

Comments

[goomp]

First let me say that as a man I prefer women who prefer men. Then I would hope that masculine men who are also gentlemen would seem a wholesome choice and probably appeal to a majority of women.

[CGHill]

The only thing I know for (semi)certain is that they don't prefer me, and I suspect that perceived testosterone levels are not the determining factor.

[Joan of Argghh!]

Nope. I still wouldn't trust myself alone with Connery. Not even were he 100 years old.

Just sayin'. . .

[Gayle Miller]

Connery could soak his socks in my coffee any time he wanted. But I think Jon Voigt is mighty sexy too! Just sayin'!

Sissy - as the proud and happy consort of the excellent Tuck - what say you?

[retriever]

The more masculine the better ... Not thugs, I prefer knights to Visigoths,but I hate the girly guys ... Dibs on Connery ...

I guess Louis Vuitton is trying to broaden its demographic, as most of the people in my neck of the woods who carry LV bags (too expensive for me!) go after VERY different kinds of guys in real life ... just saying. One of those weird aspects of our society is how the poor buy incredibly expensive brands to feel important. Remember all those Katrina checks used to buy designer handbags ...

Love this post, Sissy, just added a link to it in the post on male and female bloggers ... We were watching "Kingdom of Heaven" for the 15th time this week, and I was sighing and dying over those brave (not the villainous thuggish) Crusaders ... We had "Deus Vult" engraved inside our wedding bands ...

[Banjo]

When the Wall Street Journal ran an article about this it was accompanied by a photograph of girly-man Pinch Sulzberger, publisher of the NYTimes.

[Sissy Willis]

Banjo: Yes. I learned about it via twitter. Thanks for reminding me of the pleasure it gave me. For everyone's reading pleasure, here's the link:

Murdoch to Sulzberger: You Are a Girly Man

[O Bloody Hell]

I noted over on Fausta that there's an apparent disconnect between the opening and closing.

The notion that mortality rates alone can be used for this is ludicrous, since accident rates have a notable effect on mortality rates (GO FIGURE!!). More "manly" men are more likely to pursue more "manly" actions, take more chances, and do fun-but-essentially-absurdly-dangerous things like BASE jumping.

Since people (often men) who do those sorts of things are much more likely to suffer accidental deaths, do you possibly think that "macho" men are going to affect the life expectancy figures for a nation with more of them?

[Teresa]

The so called Romantic leading "men" now days are tending more toward androgynous teen boys. I guess 10-14 year old girls must have some type of boy to sigh over, but I'll take a real man please - even as a girl I loved watching real men in movies. This is why I keep reverting back to movies of the 1930's and 40's.

The world of movies and photos is run by people who want girls and boys who all look like young boys - unformed and undeveloped - if one goes by looks, this appears to be a type that should be easily led and told what to do.

Do we see a pattern here between the current government and the entertainment industry... or is it a coincidence?

[Crimson Wife]

Yes, I believe that conservative-leaning women tend to prefer more "macho" men. I've always been more attracted to military men, firefighters, police officers, cowboys, athletes, etc. than my girlfriends who are politically more liberal.

I did a post back about a year and a half ago about a possible biological explanation.

[Jay]

Where does one begin to list the flaws in this study?

First, the women rated men based purely on photographs, digitally altered by the researchers to meet their definitions of "more masculine" and "more feminine". They admit in the article that the differences are very subtle, like slightly rounder eyes or thicker jaw. Even if there is some proven genetic link of "more testosterone" with "rounder eyes", do women really -- even subconsciously -- say "ooh, rounder eyes, more manly!" We have no idea about the actual behavior of any of these men. We can't possibly know anything such thing, because the pictures aren't of real men, they're digitally altered.

Second, how exactly did they measure "health" in the various countries. They say it's based on World Health Organization statistics, which may mean on that WHO study of a few years back comparing health in various nations. Except, while that study did factor in some actual outcomes, like life expectancy, the overriding factors were centered around the politics and organization of each country's health care system, namely, the more socialist and less free market, the higher the score. So it's possible that what this study is really proving is that in more liberal countries women like more effeminate men, which doesn't sound all that surprising. (But see my first point above, so I'm not supposing it proves anything.)

[LR]

Of course they do, especially here in America, which is so conservative. Liberal men are nothing but sissies, losers, and faggots. Conservative men are more manly and protective.