Your Parents Just Want You to Date Someone Hot

It’s no wonder why Robert De Niro was eyeing Ben Stiller so closely in Meet the Parents. He wanted to see if that Focker was attractive enough for his Pamcake. Because according to a new study, it turns out that one of the biggest lies parents tell their daughters is that they just want them to meet a nice guy — what they’re really after is eye candy.

The researchers behind the study first interviewed 150 parents and their daughters about mate preferences, and when asked, both rated ambition and intelligence as more desirable traits. However, when presented with options of potential suitors, 68.7 percent of daughters and 63.3 percent of parents chose the more attractive male as the best long-term dating partner, regardless of how smart or ambitious they were. Likewise, daughters agreed with their parents 79 percent of the time — so they have a type. 

Or as the researchers put it: “Physical attractiveness may be more important to both daughters and parents than self-reported responses suggest and actual daughter-parent conflict over physical attractiveness in chosen partnerships may be less prevalent than perceived conflict.”

And so, the trope of the overprotective father might need some updating. Instead of dear old dad taking out a shotgun to clean in front of the new boyfriend, this gentleman suitor should provide pops with a thot pic.