Red color awakens in men indiscreet fantasies
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Women's red dress causes in men the same attraction that many primates experience at the sight of the reddened skin of the ready-to-breed female.
Red color distracts attention and, it is believed, awakens in men immodest fantasies. Red color is associated with the whole set of love-romantic experiences, from tender love (red hearts on "valentine") to insane and dangerous passion (red tight dresses on women-vamp). But even if you do not take into account the use in cinema and other modern media of red color in scenes with sexual overtones, it can be said that women know about this property of red from time immemorial.
It is believed that the ladies rouge and tinted lips red already 12 thousand years ago. According to Adam Pazd, a psychologist from the University of Rochester (USA), in this symbolism of red color there is an evolutionary meaning: in the primates' females during reproduction, estrogen dilates the blood vessels and stimulates blood flow, the blood flows to the skin on the muzzle, and the males realize that it's time to act.
To test this hypothesis in practice, the researchers put a simple experiment. Twenty-five men were shown photos of the same girl, dressed in white or red. Her face was indistinguishable due to retouching. Subjects were asked to assess how much the girl is in a romantic relationship.
As expected, red color encouraged men to overstate their expectations. Readiness for sex in a red girl was estimated at 1-1.5 points higher than the same girl, but in white. The results of the experiment psychologists describe in an article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The authors emphasize that the dress style did not play any role: tight or loose, shirt or T-shirt - in any case, the red color was more exciting than any other.
In general, the sexual attractiveness of red color has now received strict scientific confirmation. True, I would like to know how the women themselves react to the red color. For some reason it seems, for them he does not carry the same sexual overtones. Anyway, men at the sight of a red dress need to realize that at this moment a distant ancestor-primate awakens in them, which reacted to the reddened muzzles of the ready-to-breed females. Although other scientists, while acknowledging the importance of the results obtained, still doubt the purely instinctive reasons for such a reaction. To cut off all the centuries-old cultural layers, according to skeptics, it would not hurt to repeat the experiment with people of another, non-European culture and preferably on a minimum affected by civilization.