10 Beauty Standards Men Tend to Dislike and 10 They Appreciate

What truly captures a man’s attention often defies the unrealistic beauty standards we’re constantly bombarded with, focusing instead on authenticity, confidence, and natural appeal.

Cultural expectations, media, and societal norms have long shaped beauty standards. However, what men actually find attractive or unattractive often differs from prevailing notions of beauty. In recent years, there has been a significant shift in men’s perceptions of beauty, with a growing emphasis on individuality, naturalness, and self-care over rigid, traditional standards. According to the BoF & McKinsey Beauty Report 2025, men now expect diversity, quality, and functional aesthetics, aligning with a broader cultural movement toward well-being and self-expression.

This article delves into the beauty standards that men find unattractive and those they actually find attractive. Understanding these preferences can help debunk unrealistic ideals and celebrate diverse forms of beauty that go beyond societal norms.

Policing masculinity

Men dislike being told what it means to be a man. Gender expectations can be prescriptive, but research and studies on this topic reveal that when giving men advice about their gender expression, it is more effective to come from a place of affection rather than identity policing (Nature).

Sociologist Michael Kimmel has long argued that masculinity is already a performance under pressure; layering additional demands from partners can make men feel trapped. Many men prefer appreciation for what they bring into the relationship instead of prescriptive rules on how they should act.

Athleisure fit worn outside of the gym

The athleisure craze has been divisive among men, whereas most women find sporty clothes stylish and flattering, whether or not they’re going to work out. It’s especially popular among “fitspiration” influencers who post pictures where they are not even working out. The ResearchGate article “Athleisure:  A qualitative investigation of a multi-billion-dollar clothing trend” examined the exact connotations of athleisure, and the results showed that for women (at least the sample in the study), the outfits help convey health and body awareness, confidence, and a “fitspiration” vibe. However, men, tending to have less interest in style signaling in general, might see this getup as careless and disorganized.

Lip fillers that are overdone

A 2023 study in Scientific Reports conducted a survey, in which the researchers had women look at different lips and judge them. One part of the study compared thin lips with the same lips after filler application. Here is what they found (i.e., the thinner the lips, the more ratings improved after subtle filler).

It was the opposite for fuller lips; they had been rated attractive before and after filler, but the treatment significantly decreased their score. It looks like there is a sweet spot, and then the beauty is lost when women overfill their lips.

Heels that don’t support one’s weight

A fun fact from Frontiers in Psychology: women are rated as more attractive in heels that, through natural body curvature, appear to be close to the ideal of 45°, as determined by evolution. But here’s the caveat: only if the body position looks balanced and natural. If she looks like she can’t walk in those heels without toppling over, the benefit is lost.

There is another study by Nikola Synak et al., which presents a qualitative reanalysis of previous studies on how women choose shoes on a date night. The results were rather striking: women “did not consider men’s evaluation when buying these shoes; comfort and the context of the situation were the dominant factors.” In other words, if heels feel constrictive or physically draining, women do not feel as beautiful and sexy in them, even if men are drawn to them aesthetically.

Over-plucked or mismatched eyebrows

To be fair to women, eyebrow overplucking has been out of style for at least the last couple of years. However, there is data to support the general dislike. It is the style of eyebrows that men are after, not just any eyebrows, and women are aware of this. This Data-Driven Research on the Matching Degree of Eyes, Eyebrows, and face shapes by Frontiers in Psychology, utilized computer modeling and machine learning tools to evaluate hundreds of female faces.

They were then asked to rate the attractiveness, but it was not just about the eyebrow shape: women with mismatched eyebrows and face features did not get the same votes as those who had more symmetry, not just with their eyebrows but with their whole face shape.

Men aren’t against clean eyebrows. They just hate it when it looks like they are on the wrong face. Harmony trumps aesthetic perfection every time. When it comes to eyebrows, less is more.

High-waisted pants that do not flatter one’s form

High-waisted jeans are one of those universally flattering items that women love, but a few men say “meh” about. Men just don’t understand the hype, although it’s not just about the jeans, but the fact that they are often a lot looser on women than on men. It is also one of the cases where jeans are more for themselves than for men, in terms of style and aesthetics.

Unflattering clothes that do not define form

Think about the opposite of your sexy clothes. Something baggy, loose, and shapeless. You would never dream of wearing that on a date, right? So, why do you think some men might see unflattering clothes on women as a turn-off?

In a study by Joycelyn Anku examining women’s “seductive dressing,” researchers found that men often respond more strongly to suggestive attire, approaching sooner and judging more favorably, suggesting that modest or unform-revealing clothes often simply fall off their radar entirely. So, if an outfit reads as “unflattering,” it might just mean it’s communicating too little, drowning out the cues they’re primed to notice—not because it lacks value, but because it hides confidence under too much fabric.

Overdone and stiff designer clothes

A cross-cultural and cross-gender study, “Analysis of Gender Differences in Apparel Buying Behavior and Attitudes Toward Apparel” by Shefali Shukla, as summarized on ResearchGate, found that women were heavily influenced by fashion trendiness and quality. In contrast, men were strongly influenced by brand awareness in clothing alone.

A robust collection of prior studies supported this finding with data. In other words, the study found that men care much more about brand perception (a Gucci belt, for instance) than about how the overall outfit complements one another in terms of style.

Flat or overly muscular stomachs

A 2023 study by Jorge Jimenez-Morcillo et al. on Nutrients tracked the body satisfaction of strength-trained men and women, including photographs of their stomachs and glutes, which both participants and researchers rated. The most interesting finding for our purposes here is that the women in the study’s survey overestimated their own muscular size and were overly concerned with their glute and abdominal size, whereas the men were more accurate.

This suggests that a flat or excessively bulging stomach is not universally desirable; some men will like it, others will think it’s too extreme. In many ways, beauty is about what is relatable and natural.

Excessive and high-pitched talking

If you read or heard somewhere that men are against chatty women, the data may not quite reflect this. It turns out that the context matters, and in some settings, men actually talk more than women. In the article “Talk Is a Gendered Sex Cue: A Meta-Analytic Review of Talkativeness in Men and Women” by James and Drakich, a meta-analysis of 56 different studies (using all the published evidence at the time of the study) was conducted, and they found that, in public, formal, or task-oriented settings, men speak more often and for longer than women (34/56 studies) and that women talked more in only two studies; in the rest of the studies, they were equal or inconsistent.

Men are not against women talking; they are against women talking when it is not required or appropriate for the setting. In informal and private spaces, women often take on the role of “social anchor” in these studies, using language that is more contextual, emotional, and soothing to men, and some men, not understanding the intent behind it, mistake it for overtalking.

Here are the 10 beauty standards men appreciate;

Pretty and elegant dresses

Step into a room, grace it with your presence, and own it. A woman in a subtle, elegant dress is taking up space in the most feminine way possible. How does she do this? A study by Mst. Marifa Akter at the University of Dhaka got 10 male students to rate other women’s dress styles based on photos, and the results were fascinating: in an interview, the men involved reported that their judgments were based on social factors they had learned through life, starting with their families, such as moral and cultural values, meaning dress was rated “appropriate” or “inappropriate” on those criteria first and foremost.

In other words, there is a story behind every judgment of a dress; if it’s a pretty dress that fits well, it is often silent about it. Pretty dresses can be powerful too, as they are both visually appealing and fashionable in a way that nods to broader cultural tastes. And men take note of that.

Succinct, to-the-point, and confident communication

The idea of small talk as feminine is a stereotype men would be better off without. A 2007 study at Purdue University, “Modulating Speech to Match Listener Characteristics,” found that when people spoke to a male, their language was more efficient, precise, and direct than when speaking to a woman.

In other words, brevity and getting to the point not only demonstrate efficiency but also convey emotional and intellectual self-confidence. This is why it is also often attractive to men, even if they don’t use the term.

The most complementary fragrance

Research from Craig Roberts and colleagues shows that people who choose their own fragrance tend to blend it into their natural body odor, creating a uniquely pleasant smell for others than any random combination. It is the same concept as perfume and hairspray: your body has a scent profile, and the product has one as well. It is when these two elements are combined that you have what men perceive as attractive.

Essentially, the reason some men dislike cologne or perfume is not because of the smell itself, but the fact that when it is overpowering, it tends to mask their natural pheromones, often in a bad way.

Emotional intelligence in real life

A 2022 Heliyon study on Emotional Intelligence in female healthcare managers found that compared to the men they were matched against, the women had “significantly higher scores” (p = 0.011 for overall EI) in both their self-esteem and emotion regulation, and these differences in emotional IQ led to better emotional understanding and leadership (p = 0.001).

Men can sense when a woman is mad, sad, or upset in the same way everyone else does, but when a woman gets it together and in control, she is sending a strong message about herself.

Confidence in being independent

It’s a superpower. The ability to be alone and still be happy. Not to collapse emotionally on people when you’re sad, alone, or stressed. A 2025 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences article, “Researching Gender and Loneliness Differently,” offers a deeper examination of how women and men experience loneliness. The researchers’ conclusion: men and women can both feel lonely, but for women, they found that “loneliness is particularly related to the mismatch between society’s ideas about gender and gender identity.”

In other words, it is less about having friends or a partner but how men and women relate to themselves, their own emotions, the space between the two, and, ultimately, how they express that. Women who are happy being on their own and those who are not cloyingly needy when with their partner are often seen as the most attractive.

The importance of not being needy or clingy

A 2019 study on Issues in Mental Health Nursing examined how emerging adult women aged 18–25 (note that this was a specific cultural study on Portuguese students, so consider this context) viewed their past relationships, revealing a contrast between the “caretaking self” and the “boundary-setting self” (Taylor & Francis Online). The results of this were stark. Women who were clingy or lacked personal boundaries were lacking in self-respect and maturity (from a relationship standpoint), while women who set limits and respected both themselves and their partner’s personal space were more stable.

The real reason men don’t like clingy people is that, in general, it’s seen as insecure. It’s holding on for dear life to the partner you might not even want in the first place.

Balance in one’s social life

Work-life balance is often talked about, and the balance between what women can be, what they do, and what men can and do is well-researched. But there is a difference between being able to work and being able to “play” and have a social life. According to a 2021 MDPI study, both men and women equally associated career opportunities and work–life balance with their own well-being, but the relationship between well-being and job status was stronger in women (β = 0.398, p < 0.01) than in men.

In plain terms, women felt better about having a social life and friends than they did about their careers alone. And it shows. A woman who has good friends, keeps her social calendar real and steady, and can still say: “I need a night for me” — a woman with a social balance is not a loose woman, and she’s not lonely, either. She’s a well, a center of gravity. And that is powerfully attractive.

An uncomplicated past

Men, as we have covered before, are more uncomplicated than women give them credit for. An uncomplicated past, background, or personality signals to men that you are not going to bring baggage or drama into the present. The past should not overwhelm the present. And, importantly, it shows that you are in the present, moving forward, rather than stuck in the past. Because life is not a fairy tale; no woman is owed a flawless history. But when she has one that feels like she is not defined by it, it is also strong.

Financial stability and competency

Confidence and money go hand in hand. If you’ve had a tough upbringing or come from less-than-ideal circumstances, you are not alone. According to a study by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, “Fearless Woman: Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation,” women were found to be just as capable as men in terms of financial literacy and competence, and men were in no way superior in this aspect. The real problem, as they found it was, is not that women don’t know, but that they don’t realize they do.

A woman who knows how to manage her finances but still has life on lock is a special kind of someone. Research shows that that is also the case in real life.

Clear boundaries around one’s time

Men might not always be the most in-tune with boundaries, but they can still notice a woman with a strong sense of them. It’s the line between yes and no, the decision to be firm without being mean or clingy. Boundaries are one of those signals to men that you know where you end and others begin, and that you do not sacrifice yourself to make them happy.

It’s a kind of elegance we are missing in our selfie-crazed world. We should all be able to tell a woman when she looks and feels good in her skin, regardless of whether she is related to us or anyone else. Women who establish clear boundaries around their own time are setting a positive example.

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