28 July,2016 07:40 PM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Here's what researchers believe are a few things the could hopefully answer the perennial question: What women actually want?
No strings attached, here's the money!
Gigolos, who cater exclusively to women and used to be considered a sort of urban legend, has now become mainstream as more women are willing to pay for sex in no-strings-attached situations.
No cuddling only sex!
Researchers have found that acts of affection like hugs and kisses were more important to men than women.
Men who reported frequent kissing and cuddling were three times as happy, on average, as those who had less snuggling with their wives or girlfriends.
Women, meanwhile, said that such shows of affection had very little impact on their happiness.
But men were more likely to say they were happy with their relationship while women were more likely to report being satisfied with the sex.
Love watching two guys!
It may not at all surprise you to learn that some men watch lesbian porn. However, what may come as a shock is the news that some women are into erotica featuring men having sex with men.
An online porn study, led by an Indian-origin neuroscientist, has unveiled a shocking new vision of human desires that overturn conventional thinking: plenty of straight women are into male-male porn and erotica.
Long kisses
Women tend to use kissing to create a bond with their partners, and to assess them as potential mates. Meanwhile, men use kissing as a means to an end," say relationship experts.
While women usually consider a bad kiss to be a deal-breaker, men reported that they would more than likely still have sex with a woman even if she were a bad kisser.
Psychologists hypothesize that males "perceive a greater wetness or salivary exchange during kissing as an index of the female's sexual arousal/receptivity, similar to the act of sexual intercourse," they said.
Is he hitched? I want him!
A scientific study has found evidence that women like to target men who are already in relationships.
Researchers at an eminent university in the US use the term 'mate poaching' to describe this phenomenon.
During the study, they showed a picture of a moderately attractive man or woman to participants.
Half of the participants were told that the prospective mate was single, while the rest were told that they were not.
Researchers observed that 90 per cent of the women participants were interested in a man when told that he was in a relationship, compared to 59 per cent when told the same man was single.
The results showed that only single women were more interested in pursuing an attached target rather than a single target.
According to some women, they like paying for what they called the "perfect boyfriend experience", because at the end of the night, they pay the guy to go away.
Cheesy chat up lines
The next time you approach a girl, do not hesitate to try out a cheesy chat-up line because girls absolutely love it, for they give a glimpse of a man's sense of humour.
According to a study, six out of 10 ladies are more likely to fall for a man if he breaks the ice with a light-hearted one-liner.
Conducted by a poll website, the survey, which questioned 4,000 adults, revealed that four out of 10 women were still dating or were married to a man who first approached them with a funny quip.
However, not every line can do the trick for you-it was found that there are do's and don'ts in the dating game as well.
Lines such as "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?", and "Apart from being beautiful, what do you do for a living?" worked "most of the time".
But "Do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes" and "Is there a rainbow, because you''re the treasure I''ve been searching for," were likely to end up in red-faced failure for being "too over the top".
A truly clean shaven man
Researchers have found that a majority of women really do prefer a man with a smooth chest. They team from Slovakia, who compared the attractiveness of men before and after shaving their chest, and found only 20 percent of women preferred the more hirsute version. They admitted to being baffled as to why so many women chose the hair free men.
One of the most prominent theories has been that, by choosing a hairless mate, women are actually trying to avoid the lice and other bugs that can live in a furry male.
However, in one of the biggest ever studies into women's body hair preferences, the team found this so-called "ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis" was not the answer.
The taller the better!
The research team at a prominent American university in Utah opine that women find tall men more attractive. Greater height is also associated with health, social dominance, symmetrical faces and intelligence in men and women.
These correlations have led some scientists to suggest that women prefer tall men because height indicates "good genes" that can be passed on to offspring.
The alternative explanation is that tall males among our ancestors were better able to defend their resources, partners and offspring. If males can hit down harder than they can hit up, a tall male has the advantage in a fight because he can punch down to hit his opponent''s most vulnerable targets.
