—Jessica Knoll Cosmopolitan / Print edition, page 56, JUNE 2010.
When Bachelor Jake chose Vienna over Tenley, women everywhere let out a collective ugh. Never mind that those fake boobs and grody hair extensions made her look like a stripper—how could he not see the red flags raised by her past? Like the fact that when she was married she reportedly cheated on her husband...while he was deployed in Iraq...and the other man was his best friend.
And Jake’s not the only recent example of a guy who fell for the stripper type. Both Jesse James and Tiger Woods notoriously cheated with some low-rent floozies. Philanderers aside, trashy chicks, like Heidi Montag and Audrina Patridge, seem to be popping up everywhere. We have to wonder: What’s behind the skank appeal?
A woman’s skank-dar is better tuned than a man’s because our hormones aren’t blurring the signals. “Men gloss over a lot of the skank signs that are so obvious to women the same way women gloss over the bad- boy signs that are so obvious to men,” says Christopher Ryan, a psychologist specializing in anthropology and coau- thor of Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality.
Even if some guys get that trout pout, caked-on makeup, and surgical enhancement are skanky, that doesn’t stifle their attraction. “Men are programmed to seek a sexual connection,” says Ryan, “and by all appearances, that’s what these women are offering.”
Guys see Heidi’s barely covered as-sets and don’t even think—they’re just aroused. That’s because the stripper (and porn star) look is carefully crafted to trigger a man’s baser instincts. “It’s a look designed to exaggerate the feminine features—breasts, lips, hair— that men are hardwired to desire,” says clinical psychologist and advice columnist James Houran, PhD.
The stereotypical skank is the ultimate sex-toy fantasy because she’s all about appealing to a man’s needs while expressing none of her own, says Houran. “Men think they can do things with her that they couldn’t with their wives or girlfriends.” Ryan points to the texts Tiger allegedly sent mistress number seven (or whichever one she was) about wanting to choke and spank her. It might be hard for him to talk that way to the mother of his children. “If the sexual turn-on is about disrespect, a man can’t act on it with a woman he does respect,” says Ryan.
But what about Jake, who respected Vienna enough to propose? “Initially, men get involved for sex but may end up confusing the dopamine rush they get for love,” says Helen Fisher, PhD, author of Why Him? Why Her?
Of course, not every guy is going to be sucked in by skank appeal. “A man may feel sexually drawn to a woman, but he can think better of it,” says Houran.
