Body Language of Symbolic Stripping or Removing Clothing
Cue: Symbolic Stripping or Removing Clothing.
Synonym(s): Removing Clothing.
Description: Includes loosening ties, removing jackets or over-shirts, rolling up the sleeves, undoing buttons and so forth.
In One Sentence: Removing clothing signals either a desire to get more comfortable, a desire to get down to business, or an attempt to seduce.
How To Use it: Remove clothing when you want others to see that you are ready for action. This is potent in business where removing a jacket signals that it’s time to get some real work done. While negotiating, the same signal is sent – that we’re getting serious about the task at hand. Removing clothing can also be used to tell others that they need to relax and settle in for the long haul. When bargaining, this tells them that they should present the most attractive offer first, or risk a long negotiation.
Removing clothing such as a jacket upon arrive at a persons house tells them that one isn’t ready to leave and that one feels welcome. Thus, removing clothing is paid as a compliment.
In dating, removing outer clothing is a similar comfort indicator. Therefore, women can tell their dates that they are “warming up” to them and feel relaxed enough to expose more of their body. The more skin that is exposed; the stronger the sexual implication. Women can boost the signal’s strength and arouse men further by removing clothing while making direct eye contact. This serves to indicate metaphorical stripping as eye contact anchors the signal to a specific person – “I’m undressing for you.”
Context: a) General b) Business c) Dating.
Verbal Translation: a) “I’m getting more comfortable because I feel at ease and relaxed so I’m removing some of my clothing” or “I’m hot so I’m removing some of my clothing.” b) “It’s time to get down to business, let’s take our coats off and rolls up our sleeves and get the job done.” c) “I’m interested in you sexually, so I’m going to take off my overcoat and expose my skin to try to get you worked up.”
Variant: See Rolled Up Sleeves.
Cue In Action: a) She made her way into her friend’s house. First she removed her shoes and jacket. By the end of the night she was minus her hooded shirt and socks. She really made herself at home. b) The boss was serious. He removed his jacket, put his hands palm down on the desk and spoke firmly, “There would be no more goofing around on company time.” c) She excused herself to the washroom. When she returned, her blouse was unbuttoned revealing cleavage. She intended to peak his sexual curiousity.
Meaning and/or Motivation: The nonverbal message that removing clothing entails is mixed and highly dependent on the context.
Men will almost always remove clothing to get more comfortable, but may also remove a shirt to arouse. The reaction that removing a shirt has when a man reveals a muscular physique is no different then when a woman reveals her sexual assets by removing clothing.
Removing clothing can deliver a sexual message in a romantic situation, getting down to business at work, or comfort when done amongst friends. In a dating context, removing a heavy shirt or jacket to be more comfortable, or loosening buttons from a shirt, or even removing shoes or dangling the shoes from the toe, all show comfort at worst, and interest at best.
This cue therefore, must be read in context with adjoining cues.
Cue Cluster: a) and b) In a general and business context, removing clothing will be almost entirely dependent on the context but can also be confused with c) dating. Therefore, watch for additional sexual cues of interest to determine if the cue is sexual in nature. In women, one might watch for strong eye contact, head lowered or tilted to the side, batting eyes, wrist and neck exposure, touching, lip licking, proximity and so forth. Men might pull a shirt off around the pool and pull their shoulders back to showcase them, hold their chin up and hold strong eye contact. They may smirk.
Body Language Category: Adaptors, Amplifier, Comfort body language, Courtship display, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Relaxed body language.
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