A new psychology study reveals no sex differences in beauty investments

Unveiling the curtain on societal norms, a recent psychology study challenges the conventional wisdom about beauty investments. It suggests that gender does not dictate the amount of time, money, and effort invested in enhancing physical attractiveness.

Differences between men and women in terms of beauty-enhancing behaviors

While women invest more time on cosmetic usage, men spend more time exercising and bodybuilding

The increased media attention to the male physique over the past few decades converges with evolutionary theories that emphasize the role of male upper body strength in intra- and inter-sexual competition
Women have more favorable attitudes toward muscular (vs. non-muscular) men, which could explain why men are more interested in their muscularity

Future directions

Future research could investigate what a cause is and what is a consequence

Being attractive could be linked to intensified self-care, or being beautiful could lead to increased efforts to preserve one’s beautifulness
Sex differences in physical attractiveness are often overlooked in studies of masculinity

Ways to achieve a good look vary between both sexes

While in general women focus on stereotypically female activities that increase their appeal, men may be more interested in more masculine activities, such as bodybuilding or even caring for their hair

When we narrow the definition of beauty-enhancing behaviors only to those stereotypically perceived as female, unsurprisingly, women appear to spend more time improving their looks.
However, when we broaden the definition to include activities stereotypically connected with masculinity, like cardio or physical exercise, the sex difference might decrease or even disappear!”

Study limitations

The sample size warrants caution when drawing any general conclusions. Therefore, future studies should investigate this matter on larger and more diverse samples.