The common belief that pornography use placates sexual desire and reduces real-world mate-seeking is flawed. Data suggests the most sexually active men, who are actively seeking partners, are also the highest consumers of pornography.

At the Big Five level, gender differences in personality appear small. However, breaking down the traits into sub-facets reveals more pervasive differences. For example, within Extraversion, men score higher on Assertiveness while women score higher on Enthusiasm, effects that cancel each other out at the broader level.

The 2D:4D finger length ratio is a marker for prenatal testosterone exposure. On average, lesbians exhibit a more masculine ratio (shorter index finger relative to ring finger) than straight women, suggesting a biological influence on sexual orientation established in the womb.

While surveys show women rate ambition in partners higher than men do, behavioral studies like speed dating reveal both genders equally prefer ambitious partners, choosing them 60% of the time. What people say they want versus what they actually choose are two different things.

Studies on 2D:4D finger ratios, a proxy for prenatal androgen exposure, found no average difference between gay and straight men. This challenges the "under-androgenized" stereotype and suggests orientation differences may stem from the brain's response to testosterone, not the hormone level itself.

There is a significant gap between people's stated preferences (what they say they want) and their revealed preferences (who they are attracted to in real interactions). For example, men and women both claim different priorities, but in speed-dating scenarios, both genders show strong attraction to ambitious and physically attractive partners with no significant gender difference.

The traits that make someone desirable for short-term encounters, like conventional physical attractiveness, are largely irrelevant to their quality as a long-term partner. People who have many short-term partners are not inherently worse at long-term commitment. The two skillsets are independent, challenging the 'alpha vs. beta' dichotomy.

Hormones shape brain circuits not just for attraction but also for aversion. This is seen in some male sheep ("gay rams") that consistently refuse to mount females, suggesting a powerful aversive component to their sexual preference, rather than just a lack of attraction.

While animal sexual behavior is often a series of fixed motor patterns, human sexuality is overwhelmingly characterized by *who* the partner is. This intense focus on partner gender, rather than the act itself, is a key distinction of our species.