In this study, my objective is to explore the gender differences found in Internet personal ads. I discuss extant literature on the subject of personal ads and review and apply relevant sociological theory. My research is broken up into two phases. In my first research phase, I create and upload four false personal ads (two of each gender, each focused on either personality or physicality) to the Yahoo! Personals® database in order to see which false ad receives the most responses from individuals browsing the personal ad database. In my second phase, I perform a content analysis of 50 men's and 50 women's personal ads, specifically focusing on body type. I look at the body type that an ad-placer uses to describe their own body, and the body type(s) requested of their potential mates. The nine possible body types are Slim, Slender, Average, Athletic, Fit, Thick, A Few Extra Pounds, Large, and Voluptuous.

The personal ads analyzed indicate that the majority of men prefer a woman companion with a Slim or Slender body type, while a Slim or Slender body type is preferred the least by women for their potential male mates. Phase 1 of my research shows the importance of including a picture with a personal ad as all false personal ads without pictures received no responses from interested parties in a 30-day period, while these same false ads with pictures generated 11 total responses in a 30-day period. I conclude this paper with a discussion of the results and their implications.