What Makes Men Attractive?

What makes a man attractive to the opposite sex?  Not all women will ever agree on this, even though male beauty standards have not changed as much through the years as women’s have.  Traditionally, a man has not been a slave to fashion or cosmetics because once he had established a home with his woman, there was no need to further pique her interest.  It was assumed she would always be there and sexually available to him.  But a woman had to compete with other women that her man might meet in the course of his outside activities, so she had to change her appearance frequently to be fresh and interesting to him.  

But what did a man have to look like to get that woman who would take care of home for him?  Evolution played a role.  The desire to survive and have the next generation carry their genes into the future drove prehistoric women to prefer men with “hunter’s bodies”, that is, with moderate muscle development.  Thin men might be too weak to be good providers, while men with large muscle mass might not be fast or nimble enough to hunt.

The Ancient Greeks immortalized this perfect male body in marble.  According the Greek lore, Adonis was a young man of great beauty.  In 1884, the popular stage spoofed this gorgeous male in a comic play called “Adonis”, where a statue comes to life.  Respectable Victorian women flocked to see the actor’s muscular legs, which were on display in alabaster colored tights.  Four women characters in the play professed to admire every part of the living statue except the sexually charged parts.  They coyly said:  “What grace in that nostril” “What symmetry in that eyebrow.”  “What indications of strength in those biceps.”  “And what lovely calves.” 

The not-too-big and not-too-small male ideal began to change when body building became popular.  Eugen Sandow was a strongman and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".  In 1893 Ziegfeld hired him for his “Follies” and found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances" in addition to his feats of strength with barbells.  In 1894, Sandow was featured in a short film by Edison.  He was shown simply flexing his muscles rather than lifting weights.

Besides well-form muscles, a man needed to display an outdoorsy look.  While it used to be considered unattractive for a woman to be tanned, a man was expected to have skin that showed he spent a lot of time in the sun.  Western movies of the 1950s would feature a weathered, brown leading man kissing a peaches and cream female.

Nowadays, a man can no longer expect a woman to be waiting at home for him at the end of the day.  Therefore, he needs to keep his looks fresh and attractive, just like a woman does.  After all, she’s as likely to meet someone else as he is. 

According to 21st century stylists, modern men should wear red for dates because it is a sexually charged color.  Another key to attractiveness is making eye contact.  That makes a man seem sure of himself.

Shaved heads, once reserved for wrestlers and exotic actors such as Yul Brynner, are now acceptable for all men.  However, the stylists warn a light-skinned man not to shave his head when he has a suntan.  If he does, he’ll end up looking like a wad of pink bubble gum stuck on top of a brown stick.  Hair on other parts of the male body needs to be kept neat, too.  Make sure your beard or goatee is trimmed, and while you’re at it, split that unibrow in two.  Also, a man would be wise not only to cut back nose and ear hair, but genital hair, too.  Neatness counts all over.

Definitely unattractive in this decade are cowboy hats, mullets, and bolo ties.  Apparently, having a Texan in the White House did not lead to a fashion trend.  Also out is wearing a tie with a short sleeve shirt, unless you’re a Mormon missionary.  Another no-no is the wearing of rings and bracelets for men.  So the “Goodfellas” are out of fashion, too.

Men, like women, now need to keep up on the trends, or be left behind on the evolutionary trail.