ObjectivesAccording to the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis, natural selection has shaped human hairlessness to reduce the potential for the body to host disease carrying ectoparasites. However, men retain sexually dimorphic and conspicuous patches of facial and body hair. The ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis also proposes that sexual selection via women’s mate preferences for reduced hirsutism has further elaborated upon the reduction in body hair and could explain variation in women’s preferences for body hair in men. The current study tests this hypothesis using cross-cultural data from 30 countries on women’s preferences for chest hair.MethodsWe test whether heterosexual women’s (N = 3436) preferences for reduced hirsutism are most pronounced in countries with higher disease and parasite levels or whether other social and economic factors previously shown to influence preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness predict women’s preferences for chest hair.ResultsWe found that preferences were unrelated to past or current disease rates. Instead, preferences for body hair were stronger among women who were older, had strong preferences for facial hair, and were from countries that had male-biased sex ratios, higher human development indices, and lower education indices. Women’s body hair preferences were also associated with facial masculinity preferences and gender empowerment. However, neither these terms, nor human development indices or education indices were individually significant in their contributions to the family of best-fit models and we suggest caution when interpreting their significance.ConclusionsWomen’s preferences for body hair may be strongest among women from countries where male-male competition is higher and preferences for beardedness are stronger rather than where prevailing ecological conditions my impact on maternal and offspring survival.

中文翻译：

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女性偏爱男性体毛的跨文化差异

目的根据避免外寄生虫的假设，自然选择已塑造了人类的无毛状态，从而减少了人体携带携带外寄生虫的疾病的可能性。但是，男人会保留面部和身体毛发的两性和明显性斑。体外寄生虫回避假说还表明，通过减少减少多毛症的女性配偶偏好进行的性选择进一步阐述了减少体毛的现象，并且可以解释女性对男性体毛偏好的变化。当前的研究使用来自30个国家/地区的有关女性偏爱胸毛的跨文化数据检验了这一假设。方法我们测试了在疾病和寄生虫水平较高的国家中，异性恋女性（N = 3436）对减少多毛症的偏好是否最明显，或者先前显示出影响面部阳刚和胡须偏好的其他社会和经济因素是否可以预测女性对胸毛的偏好。发现偏好与过去或当前的疾病发生率无关。取而代之的是，年龄较大，对面部毛发有强烈偏爱的女性，以及来自性别偏见，人类发展指数较高和教育程度较低的国家的女性，对身体毛发的偏好更大。妇女的体发偏好也与面部阳刚气偏好和增强性别能力有关。但是，这些术语都不