The Type Of Face Men Find Most Attractive
Turns out, men don't always want bells and whistles.
Boiko Olha | Shutterstock Everyone is beautiful in their own way, whether they want to believe it or not. Nobody needs men telling them what is and isn’t attractive to them, but as a woman, I can confirm that sometimes having the reassurance is a nice feeling. That is, when it's coming from a genuine place.
While it would be great if people could recognize the beauty in everyone — and especially in themselves — it sadly doesn't always work that way. People will always have their own ideas of what they find attractive and what they don’t. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. That’s just the way the human mind works, and there’s no other way around it. While we can’t be exactly sure of what the perfect woman would look like in the eyes of men, thanks to one study, we now have an idea of the type of face men find most attractive.
A study revealed the type of face men find most attractive.
Researchers at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain surveyed 266 female students on their own perceived attractiveness, then asked 44 heterosexual men to rate the attractiveness of each woman based on basic black-and-white, neutral expression pictures.
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Independently, the researchers used criteria such as symmetry to categorize the women on a scale from average to unique and youthful to more mature in appearance. Both men and women agreed that symmetry was more desirable than faces with asymmetrical features.
Dr. Enrique Turiégano, a co-author of the study, explained, “Facial symmetry is an important feature determining attractiveness both when it is self-perceived [by women] or male-rated. Also, men consider women whose faces are closer to the population average, and with juvenile features, as especially attractive. Nevertheless, women — in their self-perception — give a higher relevance to features that present greater sexual dimorphism [femininity].”
Overwhelmingly, the men were most attracted to women who were categorized as average. And the men also reported youthful faces as the most pleasing. Wow, what a shocker, said no woman ever. So, it turns out that after years of being told that men prefer women who aren’t anything like other women, was a bit false. They were actually interested in quite the opposite.
Apparently, average faces are more attractive to men.
Well, that's something we would have never guessed. There is a scientific explanation for this, though. Men associate average features with high heterozygosity, which means a high genetic variability. More unique looks lead men to subconsciously link the woman with low heterozygosity, also known as inbreeding.
So, youthfulness is a sign of fertility and health. That's really not all that surprising from an evolutionary perspective. It's why an hourglass figure is so desirable. In fact, a study from 2024 found that on an international scale, a waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference, or a 7:10 ratio as it's commonly referred to, instinctually tells men that a woman is healthy and fertile. So, when it comes down to it, reproduction is the driving force.
All in all, more men prefer average-looking women with symmetrical faces. But after all of this research, it becomes more evident to us that men aren’t just shallow for only being attracted to a certain face frame like we always thought; they’re just following their biological imperative to find a good mate and child-bearer.
Here's the thing that's most important to remember, regardless of the research: this is solely about what a guy sees in a photo and doesn't factor in all the more important parts of attraction like personality, humor, kindness, and charm. Don't ever measure yourself based on how youthful or symmetrical you look. True beauty is so much deeper than that.
Christine Schoenwald is a writer and performer. She's had articles in The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Bustle, Medium, and Woman's Day. Visit her website or her Instagram.
