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Scientists have discovered the role of the color red in sexual arousal
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The researchers concluded that red female genitalia does not excite the representatives of the stronger sex - and therefore, the sexual symbolism of red has a different basis. The role of red in sexual arousal is not as clear-cut as it may seem at first glance.
Traditionally, behavioral experiments of this kind are conducted on animals. Therefore, the fact that this experiment involved men, not male monkeys, adds a significant dose of piquancy to these results.
The sexual symbolism of red has been famous for a long time. It is said that its perception as the color of readiness for sex goes back to ancient evolutionary times, to common ancestors with monkeys. In some monkeys, when the female is ready for sexual contact and pregnancy, she. Over the years, man has learned to hide his own genitals under clothing, and as a presentation of readiness to continue the family, young ladies began to use symbolic makeup. At the moment, it is unlikely that anyone will have the idea to associate the red color of lipstick with the desire of its owner to become pregnant, although it is believed that it is precisely this that sexually excites men, awakening the historical memory of red female genitals.
Researchers from the Kent Institute (England) conducted a simple experiment to clarify this hypothesis. So simple that it is surprising that this idea has never occurred to anyone to this day (either everyone thought that there was nothing to test, or it was simply inconvenient to do so). The scientists took 4 photos of several female genitalia; in each image, the genitals varied in color, from pale pink to reddish. Then they asked 40 guys to rate the sexual attractiveness of each option. It turns out that various stages of pink are much more attractive to the strong half of humanity than red.
In other words, it turns out that the historical memory of monkeys, which should have been activated in such a situation, has disappeared somewhere in modern men: the color of readiness for sexual contact does not excite them, unlike the ordinary, “calm” color.
Here, naturally, one can come up with many different interpretations. The simplest: red has lost its meaning, and young ladies use it only by inertia. If you look at it from another angle, red also has a symbolism of threat, and it is quite possible that its sexually arousing effect can be associated with the response to overcoming an obstacle and the final reward. In the end, it should be remembered that red often accompanies such elements of the toilet and such a style that have every chance of exciting regardless of their color. Perhaps, for modern guys, red can be associated with other sexual objects...
And the authors of the work themselves do not make any clear conclusions, pointing to the need for more labor-intensive and subtle studies that would take into account all the roles of red in modern culture. Be that as it may, ladies have every chance to rejoice: at least in something the male sex stands out from their primate ancestors
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