We examine a strategic-choice handicap model in which males send costly signals to advertise their quality to females. Females are concerned with the net viability of the male with whom they mate, where net viability is a function of the male's quality and signal. We identify circumstances in...

Despite extensive literature on female mate choice, empirical evidence on women's preferences in the search for a sperm donor is scarce, even though this search, by isolating a male's genetic impact on offspring from other factors like paternal investment, offers a naturally 'controlled'...