The power of attractiveness and the influence of Gender

[dragon wench]

A conversation with a friend has prompted me to think about the tremondous power that a strikingly attractive person can have, especially on members of the opposite sex.

My question is, does this play equally for both genders? There has been much written in song, poetry and prose about the compelling influence and power of female beauty.. but there seems to be much less focus on the force an attractive male can yield.

Now does feminine beauty have a greater impact on men than the reverse, or is it more related to women exploiting this aspect of themselves in the historical absence of political power?

Thoughts?

[C Elegans]

Traditionally, women have had less powerful positions in society than men, so I would think the effects of male beauty has been less obvious and that it has been less advantageous for men to use their physical attraction as a tool. I am however convinced that women are as susceptible as men to physically attractive features. Social studies of effects of being good looking (ie easier to get a job than an equally merited, less good looking person), has not revealed any gender effects AFAIK, but I am no expert on gender issues.

Again traditionally, for men it has been associated with high social status to have a physically beautiful female partner, while for women, having a male partner with high social power and wealth, was connected to high social status. Nowadays, in many societies, these old values are disappearing and male beauty is very much in focus in media and in society in general. Fashions icons such as David Beckham has made is not only acceptable but also desirable, that men care about their looks, use cosmetic products, remove hair and all these things women traditionally has done to enhance their looks. In Sweden, men have outconsumed women in hair styling products for at least the last 10 years. Older women having considerably younger male partners are viewed as "cool", as opposed to 25 years ago when it was viewed as more pathetic than males having younger women.

I don't think gender matters, you can always play on sex to manipulated others. The differences lies merely in what can be achived by this manipulation, and this is still affected by gender roles. Recently, I heard about a young man who slept his way to the top of a big company by seducing the female CEO - now, there are still a lot more male than female CEO's in the business world, but if there were 50/50 CEO's, I am sure there would be 50/50 sexual manipulation.

[nael]

i actually saw this on 20/20 or one of those shows just the other day...they sent out ugly people and attractive people to do the same tasks to see how they fared.
big surprise that the attractive woman got help from just about every guy, but the good looking guy got help from everyone as well, even guys. so, yes...people respond to good looking people. they want to be close to them and do what they can for them.

[Curdis]

The 'attractive people' thing is being extensively researched and beyond sexuality, where it is mainly about genetic characteristic selection (no deformity). The social interation relates to shunning the diseased so as not to catch something. This appears to be coherent between animals and humans (or more correctly humans and non-humans).

The gender specific side may not stop at 50% in a permissive society. Some people have suggested that female sexual gratificiation has been deliberately suppressed by the male hegemony as it is in a female's interest to have as many sexual partners as possible to ensure an adequate supply of food and goods for the offspring.

The advent of the pill in the 60's makes any results based on research prior to this pretty meaningless (in western society).

M. Mead Jr.