Contemporary mate preferences can provide important clues to human reproductive history. Little is known about which characteristics people value in potential mates. Five predictions were made about sex differences in human mate preferences based on evolutionary conceptions of parental investment, sexual selection, human reproductive capacity, and sexual asymmetries regarding certainty of paternity versus maternity. The predictions centered on how each sex valued earning capacity, ambition— industriousness, youth, physical attractiveness, and chastity. Predictions were tested in data from 37 samples drawn from 33 countries located on six continents and five islands (total N = 10,047). For 27 countries, demographic data on actual age at marriage provided a validity check on questionnaire data. Females were found to value cues to resource acquisition in potential mates more highly than males. Characteristics signaling reproductive capacity were valued more by males than by females. These sex differences may reflect different evolutionary selection pressures on human males and females; they provide powerful cross-cultural evidence of current sex differences in reproductive strategies. Discussion focuses on proximate mechanisms underlying mate preferences, consequences for human intrasexual competition, and the limitations of this study.

/pdf/sex-differences-in-human-mate-preferences-evolutionary-227sbaq8b2.pdf

Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures

Sexual differentiation of reproductive and behavior patterns is largely effected by hormones produced by the gonads. In many higher vertebrates, an integral part of this process is the induction of permanent and essentially irreversible sex differences in central nervous function, in response to gonadal hormones secreted early in development.

Sexual differentiation of the central nervous system

Evidence for a morphological sex difference within the medial preoptic area of the rat brain.

The role of monoamines and acetylcholine-containing neurons in the regulation of the sleep-waking cycle

In September 2006, members of the Sex, Gender and Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain met to discuss the following: (1) what is known about sex and gender differences in pain and analgesia; (2) what are the "best practice" guidelines for pain research with respect to sex and gender; and (3) what are the crucial questions to address in the near future? The resulting consensus presented herein includes input from basic science, clinical and psychosocial pain researchers, as well as from recognized experts in sexual differentiation and reproductive endocrinology. We intend this document to serve as a utilitarian and thought-provoking guide for future research on sex and gender differences in pain and analgesia, both for those currently working in this field as well as those still wondering, "Do I really need to study females?"

Studying sex and gender differences in pain and analgesia: a consensus report

To investigate the role of gonadal hormones during the postnatal period on the development of masculine and feminine behavior 129 male and female rats were hormonally manipulated at birth. Within 24 hours of birth male and female rats were: (a) sham operated, (b) gonadectomized, (c) gonadectomized and given testosterone, or (d) gonadectomized and given estrogen. When adult all animals were given testosterone and tested for the display of male behavior, and then given estrogen and progesterone and tested for female behavior. Male behavior: Males exhibited mounting responses more frequently than females regardless of hormone manipulation at birth. Androgen and estrogen at birth did not facilitate mounting behavior in either sex. Males exhibited more frequent intromission responses than females. Animals treated with androgen at birth showed more frequent intromission behavior than non-treated animals. Androgen facilitated intromission relatively more in males than in females. Estrogen at birth did not facilitate intromission behavior. Female behavior: Males castrated at birth, normal females, and females ovariectomized at birth showed high levels of receptivity. No other animal exhibited frequent lordosis. The data indicated that behavioral sexual differentiation induced by hormones in in-fancy is best characterized by an inhibition of the potential to display feminine behavior.

Richard E. Whalen

Papers

Hormonal determinants of the development of masculine and feminine behavior in male and female rats

Estrogen-progesterone induction of mating in female rats.

Testosterone, androstenedione and dihydrotestosterone: Effects on mating behavior of male rats

Dose-response and time-response relationships between progesterone and the display of patterns of receptive and proceptive behavior in the female rat.

Induction of estrus: Estrogen-progesterone interactions