Differences in Romanian men's online personals by sexualities

Journal of Men's Studies, The, Spring, 2009 by Sebastian E. Bartos, Voon Chin Phua, Erin Avery

With its ability to provide almost instant connection and prescreening of potential partners, the Internet is an increasingly popular source for meeting people (e.g., Phua & Kaufman, 2003). Individuals use online personals to search for friends, romance and/or a committed long-term relationship by advertising their attributes and stating their desires. Not only are individuals seeking different types of relationships online, but online romance is also a global phenomenon. Many countries, poor and rich, such as Russia, Brazil, the U.S., Singapore and Morocco, have their own version of online personals. While online dating services are theoretically available to all, not everyone has access to them. Access is partly dependent on local culture and affordability. Those who have access to the Internet can seek partners in their local cities as well as in foreign cities as the virtual world has no national boundaries.

To date, researchers have examined different issues using personals as data. These issues include gender and sex roles (e.g., Phua, 2002), language use (e.g., Groom & Pennebaker, 2005), age preference (e.g., Jagger, 2005), race preference (e.g., Phua & Kaufman, 2003), health concerns (e.g., Phua, Hopper, & Vazquez, 2002), and construction of identity (e.g., Lester & Goggin, 1999). While researchers are interested in using personals as data in examining mating and dating preferences in different countries, the bulk of the research in English comes from the U.S.

To contribute to the current literature, we focus on a previously under-examined country: Romania. Romania is an interesting example for such research as it has gone through major socio-economic and political changes in the past few decades, and has recently joined the European Union (EU). Specifically, we focus on the differences in the content of personal ads between men seeking men and men seeking women, as alternative sexualities in Romania are still subject to much controversy (e.g., Badescu, Kivu, Popescu, Rughinis, Sandu, & Voicu 2007; Gallup Organization Romania, 2000).

Research on Personals

Common lore often advises that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." However, studies on dating and mate selection have shown that individuals have strong preferences regarding the desired characteristics in their partners. Overall, physical attractiveness is an important trait in a partner, especially for men. Regan, Medina, and Joshi (2001) have documented the value of being "attractive" or "sexy," regardless of gender and sexual orientation. Physical traits are a good predictor of how many answers a person will receive (Pawlowski & Koziel, 2002). In line with these findings, Romanian men seeking a female partner online describe their ideal match predominantly in terms of physical attributes (Rusu & Bencic, 2007). Height and weight greatly contribute to one's physical appearance, and are easily quantified indicators of attractiveness. Preference for leaner body types has also been documented for U.S. (Lynn & Shurgott, 1984), Polish (Pawlowski & Koziel, 2002), and Romanian men (Rusu & Bencic, 2007). As for height, the last two studies show that both Polish and Romanian men seek shorter women.

One can argue that attractiveness and youthfulness are related. In a recent study, Teuscher and Teuscher (2007) report that both gay and straight men rate younger people as more attractive. Studying Polish personals, Pawlowski and Koziel (2002) find that youth is the strongest predictor of the number of responses a woman receives. Other studies using personals also document men's preference for younger partners, regardless of their sexual orientation (e.g., Kenrick, Keefe, Brian, Barr, & Brown, 1995). Rusu and Bencic's (2007) study confirms the same trend for straight Romanian men who seek partners on the Internet. It is also worth noting that men's preference for younger partners has been documented in a diverse range of cultures (Buss & Schmitt, 1993). Jagger (2005) calls the preference for youth "an index of the 'tyranny of youth' in a consumer culture" (p. 103). However, the preference for a particular age may reflect the availability of partners rather than solely reflecting a preference for youth. For example, Kaufman and Phua (2003) posit that adults in their early twenties prefer people around their age or older simply because there are fewer options as the legal age for sexual activities is around 18 years old, while adults in older ages (50 ) may ask for younger partners simply because they are more available. Interestingly, they also find that Asian Americans are more open to older partners, suggesting age preference may be influenced by how older people are perceived within a culture.

Research has supported the assertion that there is race preference in mate selection. For example, Phua and Kaufman (2003) show that Asian Americans tend to prefer either Whites or people of similar ethnic group for dates. Preference in hair color, eye color and skin tone are sometimes used to suggest race preference (Phua & Caras, 2008). Blond women, usually associated with being white, are promoted by the media, but not actually favored by all men (Rich & Cash, 1993). Lynn and Shurgot (1984) report that red hair may actually be on top of hair color preferences.