Eagly & Wood 1999 — The origins of sex differences in human behavior: evolved dispositions versus social roles

What the study found

Eagly and Wood argued that the sex differences in mate preferences documented in cross-cultural surveys need not reflect innate, evolved dispositions. In their account, these differences can instead be explained by the social division of labour and prevailing gender roles, and they reanalysed Buss's 1989 data in support of this social-structural interpretation. ^[1]

Why it matters here

In manosphere discussion, sex differences in what men and women look for in a partner are often presented as fixed, biologically evolved facts. This study offers a competing scholarly interpretation, in which the same patterns arise from social structure and gender roles rather than hard-wired dispositions. It is cited alongside the work of David Buss, whose 1989 cross-cultural findings Eagly and Wood reanalyse, to show that the evidence on mate preferences remains subject to ongoing scientific debate rather than settled in favour of a purely evolutionary reading.