What do daters look like in 2010?
“Men want to be women’s first love ; women are more pragmatic – they want to be a man’s last lov e .”
Oscar Wilde
We begin the LoveGeist Report 2010-2011 with a peek at the modern dating community.
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Drilling down into anonymised partner preference records from match.com, we can build up
a picture of the women and men looking for relationships across the UK, what they want
from a partner, likes, dislikes and much more.
The Female of the Species
Love comes in every shape and size! But looking at a cross-section of over 75,000 recent female match.com
members, the ‘average’ female dater today2:
Is between 25-30 years old – making up 22% of the sample
Is around 5'5'' tall (15%)
Has dark brown hair (31%) and (40%) blue eyes – and rates her eyes as her best feature (53%)
Views her body type as average (36% of the sample)
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Sees herself as easy going (32%) and sociable (14%)
Is intelligent – 53% have a degree (compared with 13% of the wider UK female population3)
Enjoys travel above all other activities, followed by movies, conversation and cooking
One of the most common occupations for female daters on match.com is within the field of medical, dental
and veterinary (11%) – these are often hectic jobs, perhaps outside major cities, leaving daters little time or
opportunity to meet new people. Medical professionals looking for love are most likely to live in Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Female daters in London are most likely to work in
financial services (11%).
Respondents were able to tick multiple options within preference listings, choosing one or more than one response from a number of different characteristics and physical attributes. The figures shown here relate to the proportion of the sample who chose each response.
When it comes to what women want from men, we analyse the multiple choice responses of female match.com members and discovered that women are looking for a guy who terms his body shape as ‘average’ (90%), with short (97%), dark brown (89%) hair, blue eyes (84%) and an easygoing manner (86%).
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Other preferences: It would seem the blond Brad Pitt look has rivals in the hair stakes – 59% of the female sample would choose a blond man, 75% would go for a smouldering black-haired look, 73% like light brown and 38% lust after the George Clooney salt and pepper shades. In addition, 56% like a man with cropped or shaved hair, and 26% would go for a bald head
The male waif look is out – only 38% would choose a slender man, almost the same proportion as would choose a man carrying a few extra pounds (34%)
The eyes have it – 78% of women like attractive eyes in a man. Also high in the popularity stakes are an attractive smile (77%), a good bum (35%) and good arms (27%). Only 4% choose a man based on his feet 86% of women want an easygoing man with a good sense of humour. 75% yearn for someone thoughtful, 74% admire a man who is sociable and 73% look for reliability.
When it comes to enjoying their spare time, women tend to be most interested in a man who enjoys eating out and travelling, with very little age differential – these interests appeal to women of any age. Younger women prefer men who are into movies and music, while women aged 50+ are more likely to go for a man who shows an interest in gardening.
Boy, Oh Boy
And taking a look at a similar sized sample of the male dating population, we see that the ‘average’ man on match.com: Is between 25-30 years old (24%) Is 5'10'' in height (16%) – 22% of the sample is over 6ft in height Categorises his body type as average (46%) – more than a quarter(29%) say they are toned and athletic Has dark brown hair (31%) and (40%) blue eyes Is also easy going (43%), although perhaps less sociable than women (4%) Is intelligent – 53% have a degree (compared to 15% of the male population of the UK4) Enjoys travel above all other activities, followed by movies, conversation and eating out Is most interested in movies and videos and travel.
Echoing Roy’s love exploits in The I.T. Crowd, 16% of the sample of male daters on match.com are in the field of computers or technology, while 14% are self-employed and 13% are in management roles.
The multiple choice options of recent male daters sample reveal that they are looking for a woman who is average in build (86%), with shoulder-length (93%) blonde (87%) hair and blue eyes (88%). Easy-going women are attractive to men (89%), as are those with a good sense of humour (80%). While it would seem that gentlemen do prefer blondes, dark brown and light brown brunettes (85% and 78% respectively) also feature highly. 79% like a raven-haired woman and 59% like a redhead The flowing locks of celebs like Cheryl Cole and Penelope Cruz have inspired a penchant for long hair -the majority of men like a woman with shoulder-length (93%), long (90%) hair or very long (65%) 85% of men like a slender body type, and 80% love a toned, athletic body. Happily, 65% would be content with a lady carrying a few extra pounds As with women, men go for a lovely pair of eyes first (77%). Also high on the ‘like’ list are smile (76%), a cute bottom (54%), nice legs (52%) and 13% like a nice belly button.
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Looking at what men want from a partner’s interests, they are most likely to seek out a woman who is interested in eating out, with music, gigs, cinema and spending time at the pub all also ranking highly.
