Online dating profiles of women considered conventionally beautiful receive less attention than their "ugly" counterparts, according to data provided by the free dating website OK Cupid.
OK Trends, a data research team for the site, compiled statistics on how men react to the attractiveness of a woman's profile picture. The team used the profiles of thousands of women and determined which received the most amount of messages over the last month.
The team found that the more a woman's picture was considered attractive, the fewer messages she received. The results were published in a blog post on the team's website.
The reason fewer messages were sent to beautiful women had to do with the number of men who thought a woman was attractive.
"The less-messaged woman was usually considered consistently attractive, while the more-messaged woman often created variation in male opinion," the research team wrote.
In other words, "the more men as a group disagree about a woman's looks, the more they end up liking her."
The team also found that if men generally think a woman is "cute," they are less likely to message her than someone who is considered unattractive.
"Having some men think she's ugly actually works in a woman's favor," the team wrote.
So why do "ugly" women tend to receive more messages from interested men than "beautiful" women?
It's because men think they have a better chance at snagging a woman who is considered ugly than beautiful, the research team concluded.
The less attractive a woman is, "if you suspect other men are uninterested, it means less competition."
Men will think "maybe she's lonely...maybe she's just waiting to find a guy who appreciates her...at least I won't get lost in the crowd," the researchers wrote.
"You therefore have an added incentive to send a message."
If it seems like the research team is singling out women, don't worry- "men will get their turn under the microscope soon enough," the team wrote.
