Women more likely than men to reject unattractive babies | BabyCenter

A study of "13 men and 14 women who were shown photos of 80 infants, including 50 normal ones and 30 with abnormal facial features, and [were] asked to score them on attractiveness," found that "men's attractiveness ratings for normal babies were much lower than those given by women, whereas women and men gave abnormal faces similar unattractive ratings. However, women made a greater effort to avoid looking at the unattractive faces."

"The findings might reflect an evolutionary-based need to provide limited resources only to healthy offspring, suggest the researchers....

'[A] woman's parental love may be 'determined by facial attractiveness.... Women may be more sensitized to aesthetic defects and may be more prone to reject unattractive kids. Men do not appear to be as motivated. They didn't expend the same effort.'"