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9780195114881

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"""A well-written, well-researched, and fascinating read.""--Library Journal ""Townsend has focused on some very interesting test cases--in particular, women medical students who anticipate having high status and high incomes, and extremely sexually active women. These seemingly exceptional cases are exceedingly interesting, because they prove (test) the rules. Townsend's basic message is that the sexes are not more similar than they appear, they're less similar; they are not becoming more similar now, and they are unlikely to become more similar any time soon.""--Donald Symons, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara ""John Townsend's interviews constitute a useful addition to the rapidly growing literature on the evolutionary psychology of dating and mating, laying bare just how different the goals of women and men remain.""--Marin Daly, Psychology Department, McMasters University, Ontario ""A well-written, well-researched, and fascinating read.""--Library Journal ""Townsend has focused on some very interesting test cases--in particular, women medical students who anticipate having high status and high incomes, and extremely sexually active women. These seemingly exceptional cases are exceedingly interesting, because they prove (test) the rules. Townsend's basic message is that the sexes are not more similar than they appear, they're less similar; they are not becoming more similar now, and they are unlikely to become more similar any time soon.""--Donald Symons, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara ""John Townsend's interviews constitute a useful addition to the rapidly growing literature on the evolutionary psychology of dating and mating, laying bare just how different the goals of women and men remain.""--Marin Daly, Psychology Department, McMasters University, Ontario"

Forget the sexual and feminist revolutions, says Townsend; men and women want what they have always wanted over the decades - and centuries and millennia, for that matter. In a nutshell, posits Townsend (Anthropology/Syracuse Univ.), men who engage in dating and mating are looking primarily for physical attractiveness in women; women seek men who have status and earnings power and who will emotionally and materially invest in them. Such proclivities, he argues, are largely hard-wired into us by evolutionary psychology. Thus, for example, studies show that men are far more easily aroused by visual stimuli, while women's fantasies deal more with men who will provide security and caring (thus, pornography is overwhelmingly purchased by males, romance novels by females). Such proclivities are little affected by some women's newfound economic status; even economically self-sufficient or otherwise high-achieving women, such as medical students, often resist dating lower-status men, even if they're perceived as handsome. Nor does marital status or gender orientation play much of a role (Townsend cites studies that reveal that the differences between what gays and lesbians seek in lovers are even more pronounced than between male and female heterosexuals). But his book suffers from methodological (not to mention stylistic) problems. Townsend's sample of interviewees is somewhat skewed (a quarter of these 200 were medical students, while another quarter were Mexican-Americans); some of his statistics are meaningless ( Blumstein and Schwartz found that women in their twenties with three children have a 72 percent chance of remarrying, while women in their thirties with no children have a 60 percent chance ); and he also is too focused on the macro picture; there is almost nothing here about how individual psychology or cultural conditioning affects the search for, and selection of a partner. An interesting but flawed sociobiological analysis what men and women want from each other. (Kirkus Reviews)

A well-written, well-researched, and fascinating read. --Library Journal Townsend has focused on some very interesting test cases--in particular, women medical students who anticipate having high status and high incomes, and extremely sexually active women. These seemingly exceptional cases are exceedingly interesting, because they prove (test) the rules. Townsend's basic message is that the sexes are not more similar than they appear, they're less similar; they are not becoming more similar now, and they are unlikely to become more similar any time soon. --Donald Symons, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara John Townsend's interviews constitute a useful addition to the rapidly growing literature on the evolutionary psychology of dating and mating, laying bare just how different the goals of women and men remain. --Marin Daly, Psychology Department, McMasters University, Ontario

A well-written, well-researched, and fascinating read. --Library Journal Townsend has focused on some very interesting test cases--in particular, women medical students who anticipate having high status and high incomes, and extremely sexually active women. These seemingly exceptional cases are exceedingly interesting, because they prove (test) the rules. Townsend's basic message is that the sexes are not more similar than they appear, they're less similar; they are not becoming more similar now, and they are unlikely to become more similar any time soon. --Donald Symons, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara John Townsend's interviews constitute a useful addition to the rapidly growing literature on the evolutionary psychology of dating and mating, laying bare just how different the goals of women and men remain. --Marin Daly, Psychology Department, McMasters University, Ontario A well-written, well-researched, and fascinating read. --Library Journal Townsend has focused on some very interesting test cases--in particular, women medical students who anticipate having high status and high incomes, and extremely sexually active women. These seemingly exceptional cases are exceedingly interesting, because they prove (test) the rules. Townsend's basic message is that the sexes are not more similar than they appear, they're less similar; they are not becoming more similar now, and they are unlikely to become more similar any time soon. --Donald Symons, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara John Townsend's interviews constitute a useful addition to the rapidly growing literature on the evolutionary psychology of dating and mating, laying bare just how different the goals of women and men remain. --Marin Daly, Psychology Department, McMasters University, Ontario

Author Information

John Townsend is Associate Professor of Anthropology, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University. He is the author of Cultural Conceptions and Mental Illness and lives in Syracuse, New York, with his family.

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