Why Wearing Red Can Make Men Crazy

Ladies, beware-when you wear the color red, you may be driving men insane. Red itself has always been associated with love and passion, but apparently men also link it with sexual availability. As in, if a man sees a woman wearing red, he a) is more sexually attracted to her and b) perceives her as being more interested in sex than others.

We know what you're thinking, "Woah there, gentlemen, I just like the Red Sox-I don't want you to jump me where I stand." But alas, this association may be rooted in our primal biology, say researchers at the University of Rochester.

For their latest study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers showed 25 men a photo of the same woman. The photo, however, was doctored to show her wearing either a red or a white T-shirt. After looking at the photo, the men were asked how "keen the model seemed to be on romance" (or, in layman's terms, "is she DTF?").

In response to that incredibly thought-provoking question, the men gave the woman in red a higher "sexual disposition" rating. So, even though it was the exact same person, she was deemed more appealing sexually and more interested in doing the nasty when she was cloaked in red attire.

Researchers related this reaction back to monkeys. Apparently, a primate female's complexion will become flushed when she is fertile, ultimately telling the male that it's time to make his move. So essentially, ladies, when you wear something red (which has also been shown to boost a woman's confidence, go figure) you're telling a man you want to get down and dirty. Because of this, the researchers call wearing a red a "double-edged sword" and say women should "beware" that they aren't calling unwanted attention to themselves based upon their attire.

Well ladies, we don't actually think you need to "beware" (we were just being cheeky at the beginning, you understand). If you confidently want to stride into a room wearing something red-be it a sexy dress, a comfortable t-shirt or your college sweatpants-then please do. Just have the confidence to shut a man down if unwanted attention comes your way.

Do you wear red to draw sexual attention to yourself?

Written by Kait Smith for YourTango.com.


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