Do women generally go for manly looking men or pretty boys?

“Women” is a vastly generalized term and is so vague as to have no meaning here

There are also dozens of choices besides the clichés you mention.

Each woman has her own preference,

However, if you follow the theory that women are drawn to males who can protect her and make her feel safe while she is pregnant and bearing children then her primal instinct would be to seek a stronger type male.

Life has changed so much that one can argue this no longer applies.

It’s impossible to generalize all women. Plus, what is a manly man to you? All muscles sporting a plaid shirt and jeans? Or, a guy with broad shoulders and a square jaw wearing an Armani suit with Ferragamo shoes and a Rolex watch?

If you ask me, I prefer a blue collar working man who is larger than me and comes home from work all sweaty and dirty. I’m not comfortable with men who wear suits and are smaller than me. But that’s just me. I like the rugged type.

I don’t care for pretty boys at all.
Channing Tatum? Blah. I don’t see how he’s so appealing to most women. I’d take Kevin James any day of the week.
Maybe I’m a freak?

I like big dudes, like my fiancé, who can protect me. :0)

I certainly can’t speak for all women, but I prefer the “manly man” type over the “pretty boy” type. I also like blue collar working men with a scruffy face and rough, strong hands. Pretty boys may be nice to look at, but I don’t find them all that sexy.

Perhaps the most attractive man to a particular woman is the man he wants to be and strives to be. His confidence and belief within himself. That in the end I believe is more important than the idea of just physical attraction. It is an aspect, playing a role certainly not meaning to disregard it. Projecting those things through body language and verbally. More times than not speaks volumes for itself.

Now practicing what you preach is the hardest part sometimes….

A straight hard fact: All women like blonde men, at least 6’2” tall, no heavier than 200 pounds, with blue eyes. That is all you need to know! No other men stand a chance.

Women are not a homogenous group with identical preferences, though I’ve found that treating them as such is one thing that virtually all of them dislike. Be yourself and find a woman who likes that person. Otherwise, you’ll forever be stuck in relationships in which your partner likes someone who is not you (even if they mistakenly believe that the fictional persona is genuine). Do you really want to go through life knowing that your romantic partners neither know nor like the real you?

Your assumption that there are only 2 types of men to choose from is shortsighted. What about intellectual types with spectacles and just ordinary bodies? Older, fatherly types? Long haired men pictured in romance novels? Comfortably dumpy guys who are funny. Guys who are hairy with mustaches, beards and furry chests? If you can’t add to this list, you’re missing the point of your question.
And, as @JLeslie said ” It’s impossible to generalize all women.”

Different women go for all sorts of different things…including other women. As for this woman, I’m attracted to a wide variety of people and don’t really have a ‘type’.

@deni Not this girl!

relevant?

@deni

Wrong. I hate blonde hair on guys. Physically I’m not attracted to blonde men at all. It’s a major turn off. I feel the same way with ginger men. Not for me. I prefer lighter skinned, dark haired men.

@deni I dated a blond once, and it was very strange. Dark hair is my thing.

“Women” are individuals and are attracted to a wide variety of factors.

It seems that women greatly vary from my own experience, and like a poster said above there are too many variables besides the two choices you’ve mentioned. Maybe I should ask my own question here: why can’t a ‘pretty boy’ be a blue collar hard working type? Most people classify me as a ‘pretty boy’, but yet I’ve worked in high risk blue collar jobs most of my life. At the same time I’m not so sure if it’s worth obsessing over either, since I already know that I could never be happy anyways putting up a front and leading a false life just to please a woman.

I was once engaged to a very pretty, blue-collar, hard working guy. He was prettier than I was! The two men I’ve been married to in my life both look very different than pretty boy did, and very different from each other, too.

I can’t even nail down what I prefer; there’s no way I could speak for all women.

I’m not attracted to guys that are “too pretty” if you know what I mean. Guys like Zac Efron. I guess a mix.

WOah guys it was sarcasm I was making fun of the generalization of this question. I’ve never liked blondes either.

Go to an airport or the beach or Disneyland, anywhere there are large groups of people. You will notice that couples come in all shapes and sizes and races and degrees of manliness vs pretty boy-ism. Everyone is different, everyone has different preferences, and each individual woman, even though she might think she has a “type” is likely to be attracted to different types of men, chemistry is weird that way.

Here are some of the folks that I find attractive:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

@Kardamom I thought I had weird taste in men. :)

^^ ; – }

Personally neither is my first pick! I will take a nice guy any day! Someone to talk to, be silly with… If they happen to be pretty or muscular, that is incidental!

@Kardamom Good choices. I’m a little baffled by Howard Walowitz, but that’s ok. lol
Fran Drescher is gorgeous. Who is #7? Hello!

@Qipaogirl I like how you think!

@katniss, thank you, and I concur with your Kevin James sentiments. He is charming!

I’m Pretty sure it depends on the needs and wants of the female