The perception of attractiveness: what about the beholders?

This study asked whether there is a relationship between heterosexually relevant dimensions and perception of female attractiveness and femininity. Two hundred and forty-nine undergraduate males rated 22 photographs of young women on these two dimensions. Seventy-nine of these subjects also took the Macho Scale, the Survey of Heterosexual Interactions, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Results showed that high Macho subjects viewed most of the photographed women as less attractive than low Macho subjects did. Masculinity/femininity and heterosexual anxiety showed less of a relationship. As predicted, moderately attractive women were described most differently by the high Macho/low Macho raters.