Further evidence that women dress to impress: Naturalistic observations and mating motivations (original) (raw)
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Clothing and make-up signal a wide range of characteristics including age, sex and sexual motivation. The present study examined the change from daywear to clothing/make-up worn in preparation for a 'night out' that would include a visit to a nightclub in over one hundred young women living in the UK. Amounts of flesh exposed were derived from photographs of participants and intensity of make-up products used determined using the 'Methuen handbook of colour'. Results showed marked increases in amounts of flesh exposed, heel heights of shoes, use of a wider range of makeup products and increases in the colour intensity of many of those products, particularly those used on the lips and eyes. It is concluded that the young women in this study prepared themselves for a 'night out' that would include a visit to a nightclub in ways designed to maximise the rich opportunities to attract the attention of potential sexual partners provided by such venues.
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Despite many speculations, there is no well-supported explanation for cycles of fashion in.women's dress and scholars cannot agree whether fashions reflect societal changes. Generalizing from cycles of bodily attractiveness for women, it was hypothesized that dress styles are reflective of reproductive economics. Using data from three studies of dress fashion extending from 1885-1976, the prediction was tested thatshortskirts (signaling sexual accessibility) would be correlated with low sex ratios (indicating limited marital opportunity for women), with increased economic opportunities for women and with marital instability. Predictions for narrowwaists and low necklines (which signal reproductive value) were opposite. These predictions received strong support indicating that dress styles, like standards of bodily attractiveness may be partly determined by marital economics.
Makeup usage in women as a tactic to attract mates and compete with rivals
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Appearance alterations are an important part of human history, culture, and evolution that can serve many functions. Cross-culturally, women more than men use makeup as a specific, temporary, personalized, and relatively accessible technique for appearance alteration. Women wear makeup to attract attention and/or to mask their imperfections, and indeed, made-up women are on average perceived as more attractive, healthy, promiscuous, and as having higher prestige. Makeup use can thus be related not only to potential partner attraction but also to a rival competition. We aimed to test whether makeup usage in women is predicted by evolutionary relevant factors such as self-reported mate value or intrasexual competition. In total, 1344 Brazilian women responded online about frequency of makeup usage, money spent on makeup per month, and time spent applying makeup per day. They further reported their mate value, intrasexual competition, age, relationship status, reproductive status, sociosexuality, and income. Exploratory correlations and the final regression models indicate that age, intrasexual competition, and mate value positively predict makeup usage. Thus, makeup usage may have a dual evolutionary utility, serving as a behavioral tactic of both intersexual attraction-including alteration of age perception-and intrasexual competition. 2005). Cosmetic use is influenced by an array of contexts. Although cosmetics are used by both men and women, women are the most frequent users (Corson, 1972; Gunn, 1973). Western women spend almost 10 times more on cosmetic products per year than men (Arnocky, 2016). Moreover, in contexts of intrasexual competition (Arnocky, Perilloux, Cloud, Bird, & Thomas, 2015), women spend more time doing makeup, purchasing beauty products, and engage more in beauty-enhancement behaviors. Cross-culturally, men report high importance of physical attractiveness in their potential female mates (Buss, 1989; Mafra, 2019). Female facial attractiveness is associated with higher reproductive success (Pflüger, Oberzaucher, Katina, Holzleitner, & Grammer, 2012) and attractiveness is also an armament used by women in intrasexual competition (Fisher & Cox, 2011; Varella, Valentova, & Fernández, 2017). Arguably, makeup is a tactic that alters perception by others in order to increase attractiveness, social prestige, attract potential mates, and compete with rivals. Proximate reasons suggest that appearance alterations can serve many functions. Although women report a variety of motives to use makeup (Korichi, Pelle-de-Queral, Gazano, & Aubert, 2008), one of their prominent goals is appearance and specifically attractiveness
Fashion and Textiles, 2017
Review of the progress in any area of inquiry is significant as this assessment enables theory development, identification of trends in topics, funding, and research strategies (Lennon et al. 2001) as well as uncovers future research needs and directions (Damhorst 1990). Several such evaluations have been completed on dress topics including the meanings of dress (Damhorst 1990), the influence of dress on behavior (Johnson et al. 2008), and dress and aging (Twigg 2007) among others. Our interest was in providing a review of empirical research that utilized human participants and that addressed relationships between dress and sex. Several previous researchers either reviewed empirical dress research or performed a content analysis of
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ASIAN JOURNAL OF HOME SCIENCE, 2015
It is a universal phenomenon that dressing/clothing has an effect on the personality of an individual. Ones attire along with other attributes is an important component of attracting members of the opposite sex. This study is focused on what people wear and what are the other attributes which are important in mate choices among boys of college going age. A detail questionnaire consisting of about 35 attributes relating to attire, physical fitness and beauty were asked from 200 boys (n=184). Usually men exhibit, more elaborate ornamentation in mate selection displays. It has been an interesting social survey in collecting cues about why men consider so many factors in mate selection.
Gauging Eve: A Study on the Effect of Appearance Cues on the Attitude towards Women
Gender and Women's Studies, 2020
This study aims to determine the effect of appearance cues (clothes, cosmetics and hair length) on the attitudes towards women. Young unmarried Indian adults of 18-25 years were divided into groups of males (N=30) and females(N=30). Their general attitudes towards women were assessed using the Attitudes towards Women Scale. They were shown photographs of female models dressed in formal and informal clothes, with and without make-up and with short and long hair. On the basis of these photographs, participants were asked to indicate the valency of their attitude towards them in the familial, social and employability domains. After the Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test were conducted, higher scores on AWS scale, indicating egalitarian beliefs,were found to be associated with higher acceptance of different clothing, hair and makeup styles. Other significant correlations between clothing, hair and makeup were found.
Men's strategic preferences for femininity in female faces
British Journal of Psychology, 2013
Several evolutionarily relevant sources of individual differences in face preference have been documented for women. Here, we examine three such sources of individual variation in men's preference for female facial femininity: term of relationship, partnership status and self-perceived attractiveness. We show that men prefer more feminine female faces when rating for a short-term relationship and when they have a partner (Study 1). These variables were found to interact in a follow-up study (Study 2). Men who thought themselves attractive also preferred more feminized female faces for short-term relationships than men who thought themselves less attractive (Study 1 and Study 2). In women, similar findings for masculine preferences in male faces have been interpreted as adaptive. In men, such preferences potentially reflect that attractive males are able to compete for high-quality female partners in short-term contexts. When a man has secured a mate, the potential cost of being discovered may increase his choosiness regarding short-term partners relative to unpartnered men, who can better increase their short-term mating success by relaxing their standards. Such potentially strategic preferences imply that men also face trade-offs when choosing relatively masculine or feminine faced partners. In line with a trade-off, women with feminine faces were seen as more likely to be unfaithful and more likely to pursue short-term relationships (Study 3), suggesting that risk of cuckoldry is one factor that may limit men's preferences for femininity in women and could additionally lead to preferences for femininity in short-term mates.