During a new study, conducted in the UK, scientists discovered that women are more attracted to men with scars for short-term relationships, than they are to men with no visible marks. These results can be explained by the unconscious impression that scars leave in a woman's mind, as she usually associates them with acts of bravery, which make that particular man a viable candidate for passing on genetic material.
According to the researchers, this type of cognitive process is a remnant of a distant time, when mating wasn't nearly as complex as it is today, and where women had to ensure the best possible father for their offspring. This type of mentality is also valued today, especially in Asian and Oceanic cultures, which view scars and minor disfigurements on a man's face as a symbol of his achievements.
 

"Women may have rated scarring as an attractive quality for short-term relationships because they found it be a symbol of masculinity, a feature that is linked to high testosterone levels and an indicator of good genetic qualities that can be passed on to offspring. Men without scars, however, could be seen as more caring and therefore more suitable for long-term relationships," said Dr Rob Burriss, a researcher from the School of Biological Sciences at Liverpool and Stirling University.
 

He went on to add that "The assumption that scarring is a sign of bravery is also consistent with the historical tradition of academic fencing in Western culture, whereby scarring on a man was often evidence of his courage and ability to withstand an opponent's blow." For centuries, the fittest male proved himself in one-on-one duels with his opponents, and victory granted him a special status.
 

On the other hand, when it comes to women, men exhibited no distinguishable preference between scarred or "un-scarred" female counterparts, for both short- and long-term relationships.