What women look for in a partner

It is a question that has frustrated generations of men. What is it women look for in a partner? At last, a definitive answer has arrived. Make that four definitive answers.

It is a question that has frustrated generations of men. What is it women look for in a partner? At last, a definitive answer has arrived. Make that four definitive answers.

According to a new academic study, the type of face women find attractive depends on which week it is. Researchers at the universities of Aberdeen and St Andrews carried out the studies to establish how hormones affect the way a woman is attracted to particular faces at different times of the month.

The research says that at the most fertile point in the menstrual cycle, women tend to favour the macho look typified by the Gladiator star Russell Crowe.

At their least fertile moments, women prefer to opt for a healthy-looking male like the England football captain, David Beckham.

Men with more feminine features also tend to have more luck with women when they are at their least fertile. Researchers suggest effeminate men like Jude Law give the impression of being more caring.

The more pallid and withdrawn features of musician Pete Doherty are less likely to appear attractive during low fertility - the "heroin chic" male has more of a chance at other times in the menstrual cycle.

Dr Ben Jones of Aberdeen University, who led the research, said: "In the fertile stage of the cycle, women are less bothered about having a nice feminine-looking guy and more interested in the lantern-jawed type. One argument is that by choosing a physically dominant guy at this point in the menstrual cycle, she is securing good genes and healthy offspring."