Men’s preferences are related to the fact that they want to be sure of their potential paternity, the researchers say.
According to genetics, parents with blue, gray, or green eyes are more likely to have light-eyed babies. And the child of a light-eyed and brown-eyed parent will have brown eyes. This is because light eyes are a recessive trait, and brown eyes are a dominant gene that suppresses the manifestation of a recessive trait.
That is why, in order to increase their confidence in paternity, many fair-haired and light-eyed men unconsciously choose a partner with recessive traits — with blond, non-frizzy hair, a straight nose, narrow nostrils, thin lips and gray, green or blue eyes.
This fact was confirmed in the latest study by the Italian scientist Paola Bressan. It was attended by 1237 Italians who identify themselves as heterosexual or bisexual who prefer female partners. Participants were shown 10 images of «attractive young European women with different eye colors». And they had to indicate which woman they would choose for short-term and long-term relationships and how attractive they thought she was.
The results of the study showed that fair-haired men in 68% of cases chose light-eyed women. And dark-eyed — in 58% of cases. Based on this, Bressan suggested that men, especially light-eyed men, prefer light-eyed women when looking for long-term relationships and find them more attractive. And all because in the future it will help them to be more confident in their paternity.