Can Hormones Change Who You're Attracted To?

WHAT MAKES YOU feel attracted to another person?

- Monica Karpinski

Perhaps it's the sound of their voice or the chiselled shape of their face? What if I told you that your hormones are making you feel this way and that they have the power to change the sort of people you fancy? It's an idea that science has been toying with for some time now, and to be honest, it's not so far-fetched.

Mostly, researchers have looked at the effects of high testosterone, which is known to influence our sex drive. Testosterone is even recommended as off-label hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help menopausal folks with low libido.

But can a boost in testosterone really change our taste in other people? The University of Aberdeen was one of the first to look into this in 2007. They showed 70 women pictures of 20 men and 20 women, whose faces had varying degrees of "feminine" (a rounder jaw, a smaller face) and "masculine" (a more square jaw, a wider-set face) features.