HoldsUp

Macken Murphy

University of Melbourne

Macken Murphy is an evolutionary biologist, writer, and podcaster associated with the University of Melbourne. His published research focuses on partner preferences regarding resources and economic inequality, lay evolutionary hypotheses within the manosphere, and incels' attitudes and experiences surrounding psychotherapy and mental health interventions.

21 claims checked on air: 1 context 2 contradicted 10 supported 8 unverified

What they said on air - supported

0:32:00supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

For couples trying to conceive, cumulative fertility is approximately 85% after one year and rises into the 90s after two years.

"it's like 85% fertility for a couple for one year, then it jumps up to in the 90s after two years." (said at 0:32:00)

Published epidemiological and clinical data consistently demonstrate that among couples having regular intercourse and attempting to conceive, cumulative pregnancy rates reach approximately 80% to 85% (and up to ~90% with timed intercourse) after 12 months (one year). Of those who do not conceive in the first year, approximately half conceive in the second year, raising the cumulative pregnancy rate above 90% after two years.

0:35:53supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Across seven major cross-cultural studies, five found an association between gender inequality and mate preferences for resources, all found age gap preferences decrease with lower gender inequality, and beauty preferences showed no change.

"There's been seven really, really big ones, and those have generally found that, I mean, in five out of the seven have found something there with regards to mate preferences for resources and gender inequality. All of the ones that checked age found that when gender inequality is lower, age mate preferences and age gaps get smaller. And then the beauty basically doesn't move." (said at 0:35:53)

Cross-cultural research on mate preferences across nations with varying levels of gender equality aligns with the speaker's summary. Major large-scale cross-cultural studies (e.g., reanalyses of Buss 1989 by Eagly & Wood 1999, Zentner & Mitura 2012, and replication efforts such as Walter et al. 2020 across 45 countries) have consistently found that as national gender equality increases, preferred age differences between partners shrink. In contrast, sex differences in preferences for physical attractiveness/beauty remain relatively stable and do not consistently attenuate with increasing gender equality, while findings regarding preferences for financial resources/earning capacity show mixed or moderate reductions in sex differences across datasets.

0:45:12supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

When men are primed with scarcity, such as acute hunger, poverty, or local famine, their preferences shift toward larger women.

"when men are primed with scarcity, such as when they're hungry or when they're acutely poor or whether when there's local famine, they shift to preferring larger women" (said at 0:45:12)

Experimental and cross-cultural studies support the claim. In laboratory experiments manipulating situational resource scarcity (e.g., operationalized via acute hunger or financial dissatisfaction), men who were hungry or primed with financial scarcity preferred female figures with higher body weight and rated heavier women as more attractive compared to satiated or financially secure men.

0:48:14supportedhighThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Acute starvation causes women to become infertile.

"also we know that when women are acutely starving, they become infertile, right?" (said at 0:48:14)

Acute starvation or severe low energy availability suppresses the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis in women. In response to severe energy deficits or starvation, the body downregulates gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulsatility and luteinizing hormone secretion, leading to anovulation and functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (infertility) as a reversible energy-conserving adaptation.

0:49:40supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Studies comparing men entering versus exiting a dining hall found that hungry men show a small shift toward preferring heavier women.

"Like I believe the dining hall study, for example, which has been replicated, it is pretty cool, where it's men going into a dining hall versus coming out... It was a small shift. Like it wasn't like they were preferring completely different-looking women." (said at 0:49:40)

Published experimental and field studies support the claim. Nelson and Morrison (2005) originally demonstrated that hungry men entering versus exiting a dining hall showed a preference for heavier romantic partners. Swami and Tovée (2006) successfully replicated these findings by testing male college students before and after entering a dining hall, demonstrating that hungry men rated heavier female body figures as significantly more attractive and shifted toward a preference for higher body weight compared to satiated men.

0:51:10supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

In certain cultures, such as in Mauritania, women before marriage undergo intentional fattening practices by restricting movement and increasing caloric intake to enhance attractiveness.

"this is something that's seen in some cultures where women before marriage will restrict their movement and increase their caloric intake uh in order to... I think it was Mauritania but I'm not sure where it was them talking about how and I really realized like oh this is a beauty preference like this this is real." (said at 0:51:10)

Documented demographic and anthropological research confirms that intentional fattening practices (traditionally termed gavage or leblouh) have been practiced in Mauritania and certain other West African societies. In these traditions, girls and premarital women are subjected to increased caloric intake and reduced physical activity to achieve larger body sizes, which are culturally associated with wealth, social status, and female beauty standards for marriage. Nationally representative survey data from Mauritania indicate that roughly a quarter of surveyed women reported having experienced force-feeding during youth.

0:58:16supportedlowThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Higher-income women have stronger overall mate preferences across multiple traits, including physical attractiveness, compared to lower-income women.

"richer women have stronger mate preferences in general. Like in Koyama's research, in Lu's research, they want hotter guys, too." (said at 0:58:16)

Evolutionary psychology literature demonstrates that women with higher socioeconomic resources or who are experimentally primed to feel wealthier exhibit elevated mate preferences across multiple traits, including an increased preference for and approach tendency toward physically attractive partners. For example, experimental work by Lu and colleagues found that both men and women primed to feel financially abundant exhibited a greater behavioral approach tendency toward attractive members of the opposite sex. Furthermore, cross-sectional survey research shows that as female resource control increases, women place greater value on physical attractiveness relative to financial prospects, eliminating traditional sex differences in attractiveness valuation.

1:05:43supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Paul Eastwick's speed dating research shows that in romantic evaluations, women care more about looks and men care more about resources than stated on surveys, resulting in virtually no sex differences in revealed mate preferences.

"but when you measure it through speed dating or through how these stated preferences predict romantic evaluations of partners, well, then women care a lot more about looks than they say, and men care a little more about resources than they say, such that there's essentially no sex difference." (said at 1:05:43)

Paul Eastwick and colleagues demonstrated that while traditional sex differences emerge in self-reported or hypothetical mate preference surveys (with men stating a stronger preference for physical attractiveness and women for earning prospects), these differences disappear when evaluating actual, live romantic partners. In speed-dating and longitudinal paradigms, as well as in a subsequent meta-analysis of 97 studies, physical attractiveness and earning prospects predicted romantic evaluations to an equivalent extent for both men and women, showing essentially no significant sex differences in revealed preferences.

1:22:54supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Men have tripled their time spent on parenting effort since the 1970s.

"on the men's side, we see that men have tripled their parenting effort since the 1970s." (said at 1:22:54)

Nationally representative time-diary studies tracking parental time investment demonstrate a substantial increase in fathers' childcare time since the mid-1960s and 1970s. Historical time-use survey data across industrialized nations indicate that while mothers continue to perform the majority of childcare, fathers' direct engagement in childcare activities has roughly tripled (rising from approximately 2.5 hours per week in 1965 to around 7 to 8 hours per week in recent decades), narrowing the gender gap in parental time investment.

1:29:23supportedlowThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

In Marta Kowal's beautification study, among individuals who wear makeup, men who wear makeup spend more time applying it than women do.

"And there was one other behavior, this is so counterintuitive, where among the people who did it, men actually did this behavior more. So think about different beautification behaviors. I won't bore you by making you guess, but it was makeup. Um, among people who wear makeup, the men who wear makeup spend way more time on it than the women." (said at 1:29:23)

In Marta Kowal and colleagues' cross-national research on appearance enhancement (including their large 45-country study published in Evolution and Human Behavior and related work in IJERPH), women overall spend more time applying makeup and cosmetics across the general population. However, when evaluating the specific sub-population of individuals who actively report wearing makeup, men who wear makeup report spending more time per application than women who wear makeup. In broader population samples examining sex differences in physical attractiveness investments, overall beauty investment time between men and women was comparable, with women spending more time on cosmetics and men spending more time on fitness and bodybuilding.

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