Could these be 8 of the most obvious findings about attraction ever?
Women wearing high-heels are more attractive to men than those wearing flats, a recent study has found.
Also, the higher the heels, the greater men’s helping behaviour and the more women are hit on.
The French research is the first ever to look at the vexed question of how a woman’s high-heels affect the behaviour of men (Guéguen, 2014).
The research had a woman wearing either flat shoes, 5cm heels or 9cm heels while asking both men and women to fill in a questionnaire or just hanging around in a bar.
The study is the latest in a long-running line of research into important questions we all know the answer to but scientists have gone ahead and confirmed anyway.
Here are the other seven:
- Curvy: men rate women with a lower waist-to-hip ratio as more attractive.
- Larger breasts: men were more likely to pick up a female hitchhiker when her breast size was artificially increased (by padding that is, not surgery!)
- Blonde hair: men are more likely to approach women with blonde hair for a date than either brunettes or redheads. Blonde waitresses also make better tips.
- Tattoos: women with tattoos are twice as likely to be approached for a date by men.
- Make-up: women wearing make-up attract 33% more advances from men.
- Revealing dress: women wearing revealing clothes are rated more sexually receptive than those dressed conservatively.
- Wear red: men speaking with a woman in a red shirt ask more intimate questions. Female hitchhikers wearing red are more likely to be picked up.
If it’s troubling you that all of these points are related to the body rather than the mind, then Professor Guéguen has the following reminder:
“Research has found that across all cultures men care more about physical features in potential opposite-sex mates while women care more about resource features.
In sex differences in human mate preferences conducted in 37 cultures, Buss (1989) reported that males value physical attractiveness in potential mates more than females do in 34 cultures.”
And you thought we lived in enlightened times?
Incidentally, for men who are looking to be more attractive to women, I only have one piece of advice to add to the usual (get rich and famous) and that’s to always carry a guitar case around with you.
High heels image from Shutterstock
