That’s what new research suggests, at any rate.
A study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin says that women prefer men who display “benevolent” sexist attitudes because these indicate men are willing to make an investment — “protect, provide, and commit” — in a relationship.
Dr. David Ley in Psychology Today notes this “benevolent sexism” is “overtly less hostile and misogynistic” than typical sexism, and includes characteristics like believing “women should be ‘put on a pedestal,’” “women should be cherished and protected by men,” and “women are more virtuous than men.”
However, not is all beer and skittles with the concept. Utilizing different experiments, researchers Pelin Gul and Tom Kupfer found that although women found BS men more enticing, they also thought they were more “undermining and patronizing [and] were more likely to place restrictions on the women.”