Code Red: Sexual Attraction
Jenny Galvao
Science has found that red make women appear more attractive. Perhaps, because it stands out, it is an indication of wanting to be noticed.
Based on research carried out by psychologists Sascha Schwarz, and Marie Singer, it has been shown that if a woman is wearing the colour red, a man will perceive her to be more sexually attractive.
Research has found that the colour red can peak a man’s sexual interest more than any other colour. Red is a colour carrying many connotations including dominance, passion, love, and even sex itself.
The research points to two main factors contributing to this conclusion. The first explanation has to do with “social conditioning.” That is, red carries sexual meaning due to the fact that it has long been associated with passionate and romantic concepts such as hearts on Valentine’s Day. Second, red is linked to evolutionary biological roots in terms of reproduction and red works on men because subconsciously men covet fertile woman.
Young women at their peek fertility were used in this study as well as older women nearing menopause. Unknown, as of now, was whether red can make any woman, young and old, appear more attractive.
The researchers figured that it is unlikely that red will have the same effect on menopausal women, unless society’s perception of red is more conditioned or biologically rooted into men than originally thought.
First, male participants were shown images of women on red, white, blue, grey, or green backgrounds. In the next portion of the study, female participants wore different coloured shirts.
The men were then tasked with deciding whom they’d prefer to sit beside.
Results showed that the men found the pictures printed on red backgrounds to be the most physically or sexually attractive. Also, the male participants chose to sit closer to the women in red rather than the women in blue.
According to the study, a young woman wearing red might unknowingly make herself appear more attractive to men— regardless of the man’s age. So, red seems to do ‘all the talking’ and could provide women with a better chance at being perceived as more attractive.
Additionally, men may not be communicating the fact that they are drawn to women in red due to the perception of prime fertility, but rather their subconsciousness draws them toward women in red for that exact reason. In other words, men had no idea what actually drew them toward women in red.
The study found that regardless of age, young and old men both found women who wore red as more attractive. Second to this, red only increased the sexual attractiveness of young woman and had no effect on the older women’s sexual attractiveness. Red, however, did not affect ratings of overall physical attractiveness or intelligence.
It’s common knowledge that actions speak louder than words and that actions are often more meaningful, but research such as this shows that certain colours, red in particular, can also make quite the statement – intended or otherwise.
In other words, there are times when nothing even needs to be said; certainly the colour that speaks for itself is red.
About the Author: Jenny Galvao is an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph studying psychology.
Resources
Romantic red revisited: Red enhances men’s attraction to young, but not menopausal women
Schwarz, Sascha ; Singer, Marie. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2019, Vol.49(1): 161-164. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103112001564