Do women like dominant men
Why Some Women Favor Dating Dominant Men
What is a dominant person like?
There are two main types of people in this world: dominant and submissive. These two categories often describe individuals who are opposite from one another, although these traits can run on a spectrum. Dominant partners often take direct and are more likely to resist authority. This means that they can be quick to take on governance roles and produce tough decisions.
A dominant person typically has a very unique personality, with characteristics and habits that are definitive of an assertive demeanor. Both men and women can be dominant, although there are typically more dominant males than females. Therefore, power is described as a behavior that involves a person’s perspective and personal motivations, not necessarily their gender or social status. Here are some potential qualities of someone who is dominant:
- Goal-oriented
- Competitive
- Persuasive
- Decisive
- Rigid
- Controlling
- Organized
- Driven
None of those traits are exclusively negative, but a person’s interpretation of those traits may speak
As A Sex Expert: Why Am I Always Attracted To Sexually Dominant Partners?
hat a wonderful question! You're not alone in your attraction to more dominant partners (btw, I'm not talking someone who necessarily experiments with BDSM, but someone who is totally comfortable being assertive and taking the lead).
For women (or those who identify as such), the tendency to gravitate toward people who are willing to take the reins in bed may be particularly strong, as some experts (including myself) contemplate there's an evolutionary bias toward it.
Here's how the theory goes: Because female mammals are born with a limited number of eggs (while males cause sperm throughout their lifetime so have an unlimited store), they tend to be more selective about their mates. There’s evidence that your ancestors preferred dominant partners, too—women who mated with stronger males were often better equipped to keep themselves and their offspring alive and safe from predators.
Also worth noting here here: Testosterone, a hormone that men tend to contain a lot more of, is linked to dominance.
Abstract We examined whether or not different behavioral expressions of dominance by a male affected how introverted and extraverted women rated his sexual attractiveness. We assessed 81 women on the extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Compact Scale (Eysenck & Eysenck, ), and they then watched a 1-minute silent video of a male confederate in 3 control conditions (closed body posture [low], open body posture [medium], and open body posture with gesticulation [high]) and rated the male for sexual attractiveness. Results showed that higher rule behavior significantly increased the confederate’s attractiveness, accounting for 10% of the variance in attractiveness ratings. However, the women’s personalities appeared to have no significant effect on these ratings. These results are discussed in relation to extant literature on the phenomenon that women do not select “nice guys” in preference to other men.
1 Bryan, A. D., Webster, G. D., & Mahaffey, A. L. (). The big, the loaded, and the powerful: Physical, financial, and social dimensions of control in mating and attraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, –
2 Sadalla, E. K.,Kenrick,D. T.,&Vershure, B. ().Dominance and heterosexual attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, –
3 Snyder, J. K., Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Barrett, H. C. (). The dominance dilemma: Do women really prefer dominant mates? Personal Relationships, 15, –
4 Moeller, S. K., Lee, E. A. E., & Robinson, M. D. (). You never think about my feelings: Interpersonal dominance as a predictor of emotion decoding accuracy. Emotion, 11, –
5 Jensen-Campbell, L. A., Graziano, W. G., & West, S. G. (). Dominance, prosocial orientation, and female preferences: Undertake nice guys really finish last? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, –
6 Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (). Kind toward whom? Mate preferences for personality traits are target specific. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 29–
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Abstract We examined whether or not different behavioral expressions of dominance by a male affected how introverted and extraverted women rated his sexual attractiveness. We assessed 81 women on the extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Compact Scale (Eysenck & Eysenck, ), and they then watched a 1-minute silent video of a male confederate in 3 control conditions (closed body posture [low], open body posture [medium], and open body posture with gesticulation [high]) and rated the male for sexual attractiveness. Results showed that higher rule behavior significantly increased the confederate’s attractiveness, accounting for 10% of the variance in attractiveness ratings. However, the women’s personalities appeared to have no significant effect on these ratings. These results are discussed in relation to extant literature on the phenomenon that women do not select “nice guys” in preference to other men.
1 Bryan, A. D., Webster, G. D., & Mahaffey, A. L. (). The big, the loaded, and the powerful: Physical, financial, and social dimensions of control in mating and attraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, –
2 Sadalla, E. K.,Kenrick,D. T.,&Vershure, B. ().Dominance and heterosexual attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, –
3 Snyder, J. K., Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Barrett, H. C. (). The dominance dilemma: Do women really prefer dominant mates? Personal Relationships, 15, –
4 Moeller, S. K., Lee, E. A. E., & Robinson, M. D. (). You never think about my feelings: Interpersonal dominance as a predictor of emotion decoding accuracy. Emotion, 11, –
5 Jensen-Campbell, L. A., Graziano, W. G., & West, S. G. (). Dominance, prosocial orientation, and female preferences: Undertake nice guys really finish last? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, –
6 Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (). Kind toward whom? Mate preferences for personality traits are target specific. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 29–
7 Gange