A man's choice of partner is often a performance to gain social and sexual capital among other men. This is seen when men date only thin, conventionally attractive women publicly, despite porn data showing private attraction to larger women.

Ancestrally, only a fraction of men reproduced (~40% vs. ~80% of women), typically those at the top of the hierarchy. This created intense evolutionary pressure for men to compete and achieve high status, as this was the primary way to attract mates and ensure genetic legacy.

A study by psychologist David Buss found that men's ratings of other men's fighting ability were a strong predictor of their actual sexual success. Conversely, women's ratings of those same men's attractiveness had almost no predictive power, suggesting male status hierarchies play a decisive role in mating outcomes.

Men engaging in extreme beautification trends ('looksmaxing') often focus on traits that other men find formidable, such as a strong jawline. This intrasexual competition strategy may not align with what women actually find most attractive, which can be a slightly more feminized face on a masculine body.

Men's pursuit of extreme muscularity and masculinized features is often a failure of cross-sex mind reading. They are coding for formidability and respect from other men, whereas research suggests women often prefer a more neutral or even slightly feminized face combined with a masculinized body.

Female competition involves suppressing rivals because female reproduction is capped and vital for population survival. Male competition is a 'sprint' to maximize personal success, as suppressing one rival is futile when a few men can easily repopulate and pick up the slack.

Men often admire extremely lean physiques in other men because they represent a high-status signal of discipline and difficulty. This creates a perception gap, as women may view the same physique as less formidable or as a sign of an unhealthy obsession with looks.

Women's preference for less lean, slightly "softer" male physiques may be an evolutionary adaptation. This physique signals "formidability"—the ability to win a fight and protect—which is valued over the aesthetic of being extremely "shredded."

Highly technical, male-dominated pursuits like heavy metal guitar function as an intrasexual status competition. They are not primarily for attracting women directly. Rather, men compete to establish a hierarchy among themselves, and women are then attracted to the high-status winners.