Revealed: 27 types of man

Is he a gorgeous but self-obsessed Adonis or a deep, sensitive, though ultimately flawed Achilles? A Risker, a Preacher - or a Trainspotter? If women could accurately read their man's character traits then the mating game might be a lot simpler.

For years women, epitomised by Sex And The City's Carrie Bradshaw, have struggled to pigeon-hole the male psyche, leading to the inevitable cry: "She doesn't understand me!"

Now gender expert Dr Stephen Whitehead has published a handy A to Z of male types - 27 distinct and recognisable types of men - to help women make their way through the labyrinth of the male mind.

Dr Whitehead, a senior lecturer at Keele University, and member of the Cabinet Office Forum on Gender Research, spent 15 years studying and writing about masculinity, travelling the world researching his book The Many Faces Of Men. Drawing on interviews with sociologists and philosophers, it gives a fascinating insight into all men.

The good news, for all those women who despair of ever reconstructing their boyfriends, is that Dr Whitehead concludes men can and do change.

"Over the course of a lifetime, it is possible for men to change, even if they don't mean to," he said. "No man ever reaches a final state of masculinity. He is always working at it, trying to be a man in whatever setting he finds himself."

But he suggests that men often hold the misguided belief that women want a man with traditional views and a healthy bank balance.

"Today many women don't need a man for financial security. They want something much more important - love and emotional support. However, many men find it very difficult to understand this," said Dr Whitehead.

"Men can appear brave and committed one minute, yet hesitant and insecure the next. They can be macho with their pals but timid in front of their mothers. They can love their children deeply yet rarely hug and kiss them.

"They can love a woman with a ferocious passion yet be unfaithful to her."

Dr Whitehead concludes: "To understand men, you have to understand it is nurture, not nature, that rules their lives. Masculinity is not something men are born with."