On Valentine’s Day 2019, I had the great pleasure of running an interactive workshop on Sex Stereotypes and Cultural Narratives with the members of the Internations Singles Group in Luxembourg.
The audience was wonderful, diverse and very active in participating. There was a lot of reflection and discussion on how the stereotypes we have about the other sex affects our quest for a soulmate.
As a result, we came up with a list of desirable attributes for men and women.
Here’s what the group of men viewed as desirable attributes in women:
What men are looking for in a woman
And here’s what women the women in the audience were looking for in men:
What women are looking for in a man
I compared this with the results of a study that was done by the social science researchers Williams and Bennett on the topic of sex stereotypes in 1975.
William Bennett 1975
You can tell that there are differences in what women want from men and vice versa, but also there are commonalities. Independence, which includes also financial independence, was one of those common topics.
It was also interesting that men find self-confident women attractive.
Compared to the findings of Williams and Bennett in 1975, where one of the attributes for women was “weak”, it appears that the stereotype of the weak and demure female is no longer contemporary.
Women however find a chivalrous and courageous man as attractive today as they did ages ago. Good manners and “manly behaviour” never go out of style.
What are the attributes you find desirable in the opposite sex?
Let me know!
If you are also interested in finding out how your narratives and stereotypes are affecting your search for a soulmate, then contact me for a coaching session on: claudia@luxdates.lu
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