Men tripled parenting effort since 1970s
Men have tripled their parenting effort since the 1970s, and a modern father spends more time with children than mothers did in the 1950s.
Snapshot · Modern Wisdom
The New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable - #1133
Explore episode
Aug 6, 2026
Where this was said
Why Male Beautification Is Exploding
At 1:30:03 · chapter starts 1:20:46
Macken Murphy zooms out from the looksmaxing moment to place it within a documented century-long trend. Historian Lynn Luciano's work shows male beautification rising decade-by-decade since the 1990s. Marta Cowell's cross-cultural beautification study found women beautify more in all but seven countries, with the male exception being weightlifting. Murphy's data analysis shows weightlifting has gone from a non-behaviour to something essentially every young man does recreationally across generations. The deeper argument: as women's financial emancipation reduced the signal value of resource provisioning, men shifted competitive effort toward physical presentation and — crucially — parenting. A man today spends more time with children than mothers did in the 1950s. Rob Henderson adds that among college-educated men, paternal involvement has skyrocketed; among non-college men, it has barely changed. Steve Stewart-Williams offers the evolutionary note: women do find muscularity and good grooming attractive, but is less convinced women's luxury handbag spending signals resources to attract men — more likely it's intra-female intimidation.
Male Beautification Has Tripled — Gyms Are the New Makeup Counter
Male beautification has increased decade-on-decade since the 1990s, with weightlifting being the biggest behavioural driver. Today virtually every young man weightlifts recreationally, and a typical man's daily grooming routine would be unrecognisable to his grandfather. Looksmaxing is just the newest — and most visible — wave.
75% of men prefer attractive-but-disinterested partner
In Rob Henderson's Twitter poll, ~75% of men said they'd rather sleep with someone they find attractive who doesn't find them attractive than the reverse.
75% of women prefer ugly-but-attracted partner
In Rob Henderson's Twitter poll, ~75% of women said they'd rather sleep with someone unattractive who finds them attractive than someone attractive who is uninterested in them.
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