We’ve touched on this before, but seeing the story with a slightly different spin in the “news” again drew my interest to this fascinating biological fact again.  Women, during their ovulation, which is when the egg is ready to be fertilized and is dropped far down into the tubes for fertilization (this also happens to be the time of the month when women crave sex the most, go figure), tend to pick more “manly” masculine men to bed. 

The other interesting fact is that women tend to pick more masculine men when they are looking for short term flings, as a purely sexually driven fling, but do not tend to pick these types of men when choosing a mate for lifetime, whether this is really a concious decision or not.  It most likely is a biologically, instinctually driven instinct though, as most sexual instincts and mating rituals do tend to be for both the male and female sex.

Interestingly enough, women tend to also base their choice of masculinity in men, and the level of masulinity, on how attractive they rate view themselves as.  Masculine traits in men tend to be a deeper voice, genetically larger sized penises, a strong jaw line and brow line, pheromones out the wazoo (some studies have actually shown that men with more masculine traits also tend to emit more pheromones for whatever reason).

The studies showed that women who were at their most fertile peaks during the month when shown pictures of various men would usually pick the pictures of the men with the most manly characteristics as mate choices, or as who they were most sexually attracted to at that moment. 

The really interesting part of this on a biological scale is that men who tend to have higher testosterone levels are actually viewed, instinctually, as being healthier, and more capable of providing, as well as more able to fertilize a woman’s egg.  Not only that, scientifically men with higher testosterone levels have been shown to be the healthier men with more stable health qualities than men with lower testosterone levels or even testosterone deficiencies. 

Women tended to find men with more feminine/less masculine traits more attractive during times of “off peak” for ovulation and fertility though, because supposedly in the woman’s mind, and often in nature, men with higher testosterone levels are more likely to not stick around, and to not be as stable and trustworthy of a mate.  Interesting stuff, definitely.