In a majority of cultures, men select women with attractive looks and women select men with high status attributes.
A survey by Buss found a general tendency in a majority of cultures for men to select women with attractive looks and for women to select men with high status attributes. The difference between these two criteria helps to explain another tendency observed in various cultures, that of older men to mate with younger women, with maturity being more a reflection of acquiring resources through higher status.
The choice of younger, more "beautiful" women is understandable if one assumes that the age of dominant men is consistent with more sexual experience, which would increase their reproductive capacity (and pleasure in mating!). If we add that women's beauty is associated with youth and health, and that women's fertility is limited in time, we can accept the principle of a dual evolutionary strategy. In men, that of disseminating their good "dominant" genes as much as possible with several partners. For women, that of selecting a good progenitor for their "beautiful" genes; a strong and healthy male, but also a good (if possible faithful) father capable of maximizing what matters above all to them, the viability of their offspring.
Hence polygamy is universally more common among men (polygyny) than among women (polyandry).
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