This groundbreaking 2018 study continues to challenge long-held beliefs about female attraction and hormonal cycles in 2025-26.

Attractiveness Vs Hormones

Turns out, women’s preference for masculine faces is not linked with hormones. According to a study conducted by the Association for Psychological Science, data from almost 600 participants show that women’s perceptions of male attractiveness do not vary according to their hormone levels, in contrast with some previous research. “We found no evidence that changes in hormone levels influence the type of men women find attractive,” said lead researcher Benedict C. Jones.

“This study is noteworthy for its scale and scope – previous studies typically examined small samples of women using limited measures,” Jones explained. “With much larger sample sizes and direct measures of hormonal status, we weren’t able to replicate effects of hormones on women’s preferences for masculine faces.”

To address the limitations of previous studies, Jones and his co-authors recruited 584 heterosexual women to participate in a series of weekly test sessions. In each session, the participants reported whether they were currently in a romantic relationship and whether they were currently using hormonal contraceptives.

They provided a saliva sample for hormone analyses and completed a task that measured their preferences for different types of male faces. In each face-preference task, the participants saw 10 pairs of male faces and selected the face in each pair that they found more attractive, rating how strong their preference was.

The two faces in each pair were digitally altered versions of the same photo – one face was altered to have somewhat feminized features and the other was altered to have somewhat masculinised features. To obscure the specific objective of the study, the researchers interspersed these attractiveness judgments among other filler questions.
As expected, women generally rated the masculinised faces as more attractive than the feminized faces. Preference for the more masculinised faces was also slightly stronger when women judged attractiveness in the context of a short-term relationship as opposed to a long-term relationship.

However, there was no evidence that women’s preferences varied according to levels of fertility-related hormones, such as estradiol and progesterone. There was also no association between attractiveness judgments and levels of other potentially influential hormones, such as testosterone and cortisol.

These findings run counter to the hypothesis that sexual selection pressures lead women to prefer more masculine mates, who supposedly have greater genetic ‘fitness’ when they are most fertile and most likely to conceive. The data also showed that oral contraceptive use did not dampen women’s preference for masculine faces, as has been shown previously. “There has been increasing concern that the birth control pill might disrupt romantic relationships by altering women’s mate preferences, but our findings do not provide evidence of this,” said Jones.

The study appears in the Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science

Frequently Asked Questions

Do hormones really affect women’s attraction to masculine men?

According to research from the Association for Psychological Science, women’s preference for masculine faces is not linked with hormone levels. A study of 584 women found no evidence that hormonal changes influence attractiveness perceptions toward masculine features.

How was the hormone and attraction study conducted?

Researchers recruited 584 heterosexual women for weekly test sessions over time. Participants provided saliva samples for hormone analysis and completed face-preference tasks where they selected between feminized and masculinized male faces, rating preference strength.

Why were previous studies about hormones and attraction considered limited?

Earlier research typically examined small sample sizes with limited measurement methods. The Association for Psychological Science study improved on this by recruiting nearly 600 participants and using direct hormone level measurements, providing more reliable evidence.

Does hormonal contraceptive use affect what women find attractive?

The study tracked whether participants used hormonal contraceptives during testing sessions. Despite accounting for contraceptive use in their analysis, researchers found no significant link between hormonal status and preferences for masculine or feminized male facial features.

What makes masculine faces attractive according to science?

While hormones don’t appear to influence masculine face preference, other factors likely play roles in attractiveness perception. The research suggests that women’s attraction preferences may be more stable and influenced by factors beyond hormonal fluctuations or cycle phases.