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Women choose cads, not dads

Fatherly types good at home, but when it comes to sex, the bad boys win

Friday, August 08, 2003

TORONTO — Nice guys really do finish last, at least when it comes to getting lucky.

In a new study by Maryanne Fisher, a PhD student at Toronto's York University, young women forced to choose between fictional cads and kindly would-be dads picked the dads for formal dates, for marriage, for road trips to California, and even as the best prospective sons-in-law.

But, asked who they'd prefer to "hook up sexually with," the women spurned the dads for the cads.

Ms. Fisher presented the study yesterday at the American Psychological Association's conference being held in Toronto.

Daniel Kruger, a researcher at the University of Michigan who co-authored the study with Ms. Fisher and another researcher, said: "Maybe we as guys shouldn't let this word out, but the optimal strategy for women might be to secure a long-term relationship with a partner who's good at taking care of the kids, and then sleep with the cad to get the high-quality genes, too."

The cad and dad characters the study's participants chose from were drawn from 200-year-old English literature.

The first study surveyed 257 female undergraduate students at a Midwestern U.S. university, asking them to read passages describing four heroes, Walter Scott's Waverley and Ann Radcliffe's Valancourt, both "dad" characters, and Scott's George Staunton and Clement Cleveland, both "cads."

The dad characters were described in the chosen passages as domestic, happy, peaceable, bookish, moral, gentle, compassionate, frank and shy.

"Characteristically, he falls in love with the heroine at the beginning of the novel, but is shy about confessing his love to her," Ms. Fisher wrote in her study. "He is then separated from the heroine for the body of the novel, which often covers several years, but continues to think of her the whole time."

Cads were described as daring, arrogant, unconstrained, moody, passionate, rebellious, strong, and successful with women. As George Staunton's character boasts, "I never saw a woman worth thinking twice about after the anchor was a-peak — on shore it is another thing; and I will laugh, sing, dance, and make love, if they like it, with twenty girls."

After reading the passages about each of the men, the women were asked to rate the characters. The majority said they'd like the dads better than the cads; the dads would like them more than the cads would; they'd get along better with the dads; the dads better matched their personalities and they would prefer a long-term relationship with the dads.

But, the dads started to lose out when women were asked who they'd prefer for a short-term relationship.

In a choice between Waverley or George Staunton, equal numbers voted for the dad and the cad. (In the choice between Valancourt and Clement Cleveland, they chose the dad.)

And, asked whether they'd prefer to "hook up sexually" with George Staunton, the cad, or Waverley, the dad, 60 per cent chose Staunton.

The numbers came to a draw between Valancourt and Cleveland.

Ms. Fisher's conclusion: "The shorter the relationship in question," she wrote, "the more likely women were to choose dark hero cads."

published at:

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/news/story.asp?id=1BDBF408-3053-44C8-9A00-E89D85021F9B

Hey little apple blossom
what seems to be the problem?
all the ones you tell your troubles to
they don't really care for you

come and tell me what you're thinking
cause just when the boat is sinking
a little light is blinking
and I will come and rescue you

lots of girls walk around in tears
but that's not for you
you've been looking all around for years
for someone to tell your troubles to

come and sit with me and talk a while
let me see your pretty little smile
put your troubles in a little pile
and I will sort them out for you
...

The White Stripes

(click to enlarge thumbnails)

...in art Eros relates the parts to the whole - as a seamless web of relations and as unified vision. ~Maureen Roberts

"...NOT a man who improves upon acquaintance."

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