Women shun men who are easily dominated by other men or who fail to command the respect of the group. (p.26)
Competing for a mate who exceeds one's own value entails the risk of eventual abandonment by the partner whose mating options are more expansive. Dissimilar relationships tend to break up because the more desirable partner can strike a better bargain elsewhere. (p.37-38)
Furthermore, the two studies of personal ads described earlier revealed that, among women who mention height, 80 percent want a man who is six feet or taller. Perhaps even more telling is the finding that ads placed by taller men receive more responses from women than those placed by shorter men. [...] In Western cultures, tall men make more money, advance in their professions more rapidly, and receive more and earlier promotions. Few American presidents have been less than six feet tall. Politicians are keenly aware of voters' preference. Following the televised presidential debate in 1988, George Bush made a point of standing very close to his shorter competitor, Michael Dukakis, in a strategy of highlighting their disparity in size. (p.39)
An other analysis of 1,111 personal advertisements again showed that sincerity is the quality most frequently sought by women indeed, women advertisers seek sincerity nearly four times as often as men advertisers. Sincerity in personal advertisements is a code word for commitment, used by women to screen out men seeking casual sex without any commitment. (p.44)
( David M. Buss – The Evolution of Desire )
