Bl. Green et Dt. Kenrick, THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF GENDER-TYPED TRAITS AT DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP LEVELS - ANDROGYNOUS CHARACTERISTICS MAY BE DESIRABLE AFTER ALL, Personality & social psychology bulletin, 20(3), 1994, pp. 244-253
Previous research and theorizing have suggested a ''fundamental parado
x'' in that individuals appear to be predisposed, both culturally and
genetically, to be attracted to traditionally gender-typed members of
the other sex even though pairings between gender-typed persons are le
ss than optimal for long-term relation-ship satisfaction. Two studies
were undertaken to clarify the relationship between gender-typed trait
s and heterosexual attraction. Male and female subjects indicated how
desirable opposite-sex and/or marriage. The gender-typing of the targe
t was manipulated such that each target was perceived as androgynous,
masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated. Results indicated that both
sexes perceived opposite-sex androgynous targets to be more desirable
for each type of relationship. Further, for both sexes, possession of
feminine/expressive characteristics was more important than possession
of masculine/instrumental characteristics.