abstract
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Trade-off theories of women’s masculinity preferences propose that women’s masculinity preferences vary according to the probability of reproduction. Consistent with the proposal that preferences for masculine men are stronger when probability of reproduction is higher, previous research reported that heterosexual women show stronger preferences for images of male faces displaying masculine shape characteristics than do homosexual women (Glassenberg et al., 2010). However, many reported findings for individual differences in women’s masculinity preferences have not been replicated in subsequent studies. Consequently, we carried out a direct replication of Glassenberg et al’s (2010) comparison of heterosexual and homosexual women’s preferences for sexually dimorphic face-shape characteristics. Replicating the results from Glassenberg et al. (2010), we found that heterosexual women (N = 20,360) showed stronger preferences for masculine men that did homosexual women (N = 1598). This finding is consistent with the proposal that women’s preferences for masculine men are stronger when the probability of reproduction is higher, presenting further evidence for trade-off theories of women’s masculinity preferences.