Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sex Typicality and Attractiveness in Childhood and Adulthood: Assessing their Relationships from Videos

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Prior research suggests that sex typicality (especially femininity of females, but also masculinity of males) relates to perceptions of attractiveness, for both heterosexual and homosexual individuals. Using videos from childhood and adulthood, we investigated how different components of sex typicality contributed to this effect, whether the sex of the evaluator or of the target moderated the effect, and how the relationship of attractiveness with sex typicality varied across the lifespan. In Study 1, videos of 45 female and 50 male heterosexual and homosexual adult targets (ages 18–30 years) were judged by 56 female and 65 male heterosexual and homosexual raters (ages 18–30 years). Results suggested that both heterosexual men and lesbians viewed more feminine women as more attractive. Femininity of appearance was a primary contributor to this relationship. Masculinity was not related to men’s attractiveness. Study 2 used similar methodology (44 male and 46 female heterosexual and homosexual targets and 22 male and 20 female heterosexual raters). Study 2 replicated results of Study 1. In addition, Study 2 included ratings of childhood videos of targets (ages 0–15). Results suggested that childhood femininity related to attractiveness of both young girls and young boys and that the relationship became stronger for girls as they got older. The impact of femininity on attractiveness may, therefore, depend on both targets’ sex and their maturity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agliata, D., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2004). The impact of media exposure on males’ body image. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 7–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, J. M., Gaulin, S., Agyei, Y., & Gladue, B. A. (1994). Effects of gender and sexual orientation on evolutionarily relevant aspects of human mating psychology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1081–1093.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, J. M., Kim, P. Y., Hills, A., & Linsenmeier, J. A. W. (1997). Butch, femme, or straight acting? Partner preferences of gay men and lesbians. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 960–973.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bem, D. J. (1996). Exotic becomes erotic: A developmental theory of sexual orientation. Psychological Review, 103, 320–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron, S. M., & Senn, C. Y. (1998). Body image and sociocultural norms: A comparison of heterosexual and lesbian women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22, 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergling, T. (2001). Sissyphobia: Gay men and effeminate behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A. B., & Tannenbaum, I. J. (2001). Lesbian and bisexual women’s judgments of the attractiveness of different body types. Journal of Sex Research, 38, 226–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen-Bendahan, C. C. C., van de Beek, C., & Berenbaum, S. A. (2005). Prenatal sex hormone effects on child and adult sex-typed behavior: Methods and findings. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 29, 353–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, S. A., & Missing, C. (2003). Vocal and visual attractiveness are related in women. Animal Behaviour, 65, 997–1004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronk, L. (1991). Preferential parental investment in daughters over sons. Human Nature, 2, 387–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. R. (1986). Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: Quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 925–935.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. R., Barbee, A. P., & Pike, C. L. (1990). What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 61–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, K. E., & Thill, K. P. (2007). Video game characters and the socialization of gender roles: Young people’s perceptions mirror sexist media depictions. Sex Roles, 57, 851–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dworkin, S. H. (1988). Not in man’s image: Lesbians and the cultural oppression of body image. Women & Therapy, 8, 27–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but…: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feinberg, D. R., Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., Moore, F. R., Smith, M. J. L., Cornwell, R. E., et al. (2005). The voice and face of woman: One ornament that signals quality? Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 398–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink, B., Grammer, K., & Matts, P. J. (2006). Visible skin color distribution plays a role in the perception of age, attractiveness, and health in female faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 433–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fridell, S. R., Zucker, K. J., Bradley, S. J., & Maing, D. M. (1996). Physical attractiveness of girls with gender identity disorder. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 25, 17–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., & Scheyd, G. J. (2005). The evolution of human physical attractiveness. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34, 523–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., Simpson, J. A., Cousins, A. J., Garver-Apgar, C. E., & Christensen, P. N. (2004). Women’s preferences for male behavioral displays change across the menstrual cycle. Psychological Science, 15, 203–206.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grafen, A., & Johnstone, R. A. (1993). Why we need ESS signalling theory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 340, 245–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrandt, K. A., & Fitzgerald, H. E. (1979). Facial feature determinants of perceived infant attractiveness. Infant Behavior and Development, 2, 329–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinsz, V. B., Matz, D. C., & Patience, R. A. (2001). Does women’s hair signal reproductive potential? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 166–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, K. L., & Tassinary, L. G. (2007). Compatibility of basic social perceptions determines perceived attractiveness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 5246–5251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, V. S., Hagel, R., Franklin, M., Fink, B., & Grammer, K. (2001). Male facial attractiveness: Evidence for hormone-mediated adaptive design. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 251–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. (1995). Sexual selection, physical attractiveness, and facial neoteny: Cross-cultural evidence and implications. Current Anthropology, 36, 723–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, B. C., Little, A. C., Burt, D. M., & Perrett, D. I. (2004). When facial attractiveness is only skin deep. Perception, 33, 569–576.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laner, M. R. (1978). Media mating II: “Personals” advertisements of lesbian women. Journal of Homosexuality, 4, 41–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laner, M. R., & Kamel, G. L. (1977). Media mating I: Newspaper “personals” ads of homosexual men. Journal of Homosexuality, 3, 149–162.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lippa, R. (1998). The nonverbal display and judgment of extraversion, masculinity, femininity, and gender diagnosticity: A lens model analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 32, 80–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lippa, R. A. (2005). Sexual orientation and personality. Annual Review of Sex Research, 16, 119–153.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lippa, R. A. (2007). The preferred traits of mates in a cross-national study of heterosexual and homosexual men and women: An examination of biological and cultural influences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 193–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lippa, R., Valdez, E., & Jolly, A. (1983). The effects of self-monitoring on the expressive display of masculinity-femininity. Journal of Research in Personality, 17, 324–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesko, N., & Bereczkei, T. (2004). Hairstyle as an adaptive means of displaying phenotypic quality. Human Nature, 15, 251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. M. (2002). Courtship communication and perception. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 97–105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Penton-Voak, I. S., Jacobson, A., & Trivers, R. (2004). Population differences in attractiveness judgments of male and female faces: Comparing British and Jamaican samples. Evolution and Human Behavior, 25, 355–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrett, D. I., Lee, K. J., Penton-Voak, I., Rowland, D., Yoshikawa, S., Burt, D. M., et al. (1998). Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature, 394, 884–887.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puts, D. A. (2005). Mating context and menstrual phase affect women’s preferences for male voice pitch. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 388–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, G. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 199–226.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, G., Hickford, C., & Jeffery, L. (2000). Sex-typicality and attractiveness: Are supermale and superfemale faces super-attractive? British Journal of Psychology, 91, 125–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieger, G., Linsenmeier, J. A. W., Gygax, L., & Bailey, J. M. (2008a). Sexual orientation and childhood gender nonconformity: Evidence from home videos. Developmental Psychology, 44, 46–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieger, G., Linsenmeier, J. A. W., Gygax, L., Garcia, S. C., & Bailey, J. M. (2008b). Dissecting “gaydar”: Accuracy and the role of masculinity-femininity. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9405-2.

  • Rodin, J., Silberstein, L., & Striegel-Moore, R. (1984). Women and weight: A normative discontent. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 32, 267–307.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skidmore, C. W., Linsenmeier, J. A. W., & Bailey, J. M. (2006). Gender nonconformity and psychological distress in lesbians and gay men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, 685–697.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. A., & Stillman, S. (2002). Butch/femme in the personal advertisements of lesbians. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 6, 45–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner, J. M. (1990). Foetus into man: Physical growth from conception to maturity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Troje, N. F. (2003). Gender and attractiveness from biological motion. Journal of Vision, 3, 86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zar, J. H. (1999). Biostatistical analysis (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, K. J., Wild, J., Bradley, S. J., & Lowry, C. B. (1993). Physical attractiveness of boys with gender identity disorder. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22, 23–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Renee Engeln-Maddox for her very helpful contribution to the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Rd., Swift Hall #102, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Gerulf Rieger, Joan A. W. Linsenmeier & J. Michael Bailey

  2. Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Veterinary Office, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Tänikon, Ettenhausen, Switzerland

    Lorenz Gygax

  3. Clinical Psychology PsyD. Program, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, IL, USA

    Amber Siler-Knogl

  4. Department of Communication, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    David A. Moskowitz

Authors
  1. Gerulf Rieger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lorenz Gygax
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joan A. W. Linsenmeier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Amber Siler-Knogl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David A. Moskowitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. J. Michael Bailey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerulf Rieger.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rieger, G., Gygax, L., Linsenmeier, J.A.W. et al. Sex Typicality and Attractiveness in Childhood and Adulthood: Assessing their Relationships from Videos. Arch Sex Behav 40, 143–154 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-009-9512-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-009-9512-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation