Ever think about how cocky good-looking guys can be? Well, don't get too down about it, because looks like a new study can deliver us the ammo needed to destroy that ego.
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A team of researchers at the University of Valencia used a team of 50 Caucasian men from the university, testing their sperm quality and taking pictures of their faces. And yes, the University of Valencia is in southern Spain, which means the pool of handsome men was, for lack of a better word, vast.
The researchers then performed anthropometric analysis of the men's facial characteristics by measuring various parts of the face to determine how masculine or feminine each was. After, researchers had 149 heterosexual women rate the facial attractiveness of the men as long term partners, and asked 77 heterosexual men to rate the facial attractiveness of the male test subjects the way that they thought a woman would.
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What they found was, for most of us, surprising. Based off their work, researchers concluded that facial masculinity was negatively associated with semen quality.
This may be because a wider and more masculine face tends to be associated with higher levels of testosterone, which could explain the outcome of the study, because higher testosterone levels are thought to have a negative effect on sperm.
Researchers said, "as increased levels of testosterone have been demonstrated to impair sperm production, this finding may indicate a trade-off between investments in secondary sexual signaling (ie facial masculinity) and fertility."
The study was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Source: DesignnTrend.com