What women actually want in men? Read on

What types of men heterosexual women find attractive may have no relationship with their menstrual cycles, a significant study shows.

The findings contradicts a long-held view in evolutionary psychology that vouched that women are more likely to find highly masculine, dominant men more attractive when they are ovulating and fertile.

"The idea that menstrual cycles will affect who women find attractive just does not hold up in the research literature," Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology at University of Southern California, was quoted as saying.

For the new analysis, Wood aggregated data from 45 published studies and 13 unpublished studies on this topic.

The message is that women's biology does not necessarily drive particular social judgment, but we are all biological beings, that is a given, Wood noted.

Various evolutionary psychologists have published studies demonstrating that women are more likely to find highly masculine, dominant men more attractive when they are ovulating.

In these studies, masculinity is defined by various cues like vocal quality, facial structure, scent and musculature.

These traits are thought to indicate genetic fitness, or a high volume of "good genes."

They study appeared in the journal Emotion Review.