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Women on Pill Shun 'Manly Men' for 'Boys'
With fertile days gone, women tend to like more feminine features, caring personalities
By Mary Papenfuss
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Posted Oct 8, 09 4:28 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Women have been on the pill for so long that its impact on their hormones may have significantly reduced their attraction to "manly men" in favor of more boyish males, say researchers. Forty years of contraception use could explain the change in Hollywood idols from tough guys like Jimmy Cagney and Anthony Quinn to "prettier" stars like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, say observers.
"There are obvious benefits of the pill, but there is also the possibility that the pill has psychological side effects that we are only just discovering," a researcher tells the Daily Mail. Scientists have long known that a woman's tastes change during her menstrual cycle. Typically, during her most fertile days a woman is attracted to assertive males with very masculine features. But the pill eliminates those days, and women are more likely to always be attracted to men with more feminine faces and caring personalities, studies have found.