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Abstract
For most sexually reproducing species all conspecifics of the other sex are not equally valuable as mates: that is, they differ in “mate value.” In many species selection has produced mechanisms to detect potential mates of high mate value. In other words, just as the taste of fruit varies with food value. in a natural setting, sexual attractiveness varies with mate value. What do women find attractive in men? Many writers who have addressed this issue have concluded that female preferences are so diverse and idiosyncratic as to defy systematic explanation. I will argue, however, that general principles guiding female mate preferences can be discerned at the appropriate level of abstraction and that the evolution-based concept of “mate value” (Symons 1987a) provides a useful heuristic in this endeavor.
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