In the series of experiments, Gueguen dangled the women as science bait in front of unsuspecting men. first, the women—wearing either black flats with no list, black shoes with a 2 edge heel or black pumps with a 3.5 inch heel—approached several people and asked them for aid. The woman switched shoes after soliciting every 10 people. MORE: ‘ Stiletto Whisperer ’ Teaches Women To Walk In High Heels When a 19-year-old woman approached men between ages 25 and 50, asking for their help with a survey on gender equality, she garnered the most responses when she wore the highest heels—83 % of the men she approached agreed to spend three to four minutes answering her questions, compared to about half as many, 47 %, when she wore flat shoes. not terribly storm. But would women react the same way to fellow sisters in high heels ? To find out, four women asked both men and women to participate in a food sketch about what they ate. Again, men were more probably to respond when the women wore higher heels—82 % agreed to do the sketch when the women wore 3.5 edge heels, compared to 42 % who did when they wore flats. But ladies didn ’ t fall for it. only about 33 % of women on average said yes to the survey request, regardless of the cad stature. Why were men more receptive to the women in high heels ? To test the obvious attraction guess, Gueguen told the women to find “ marks ” and walk ahead of them, then drop a boxing glove. A humongous 93 % of men chased after the women when they wore high heels to return the boxing glove, compared to 62 % of those who did when she wore flat shoes. And while women were besides more probable to track down the high-heeled women than those wearing flats, the rates were much lower—52 % for the heel wearers and 43 % for the flats wearers.
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MORE: Skinny Jeans and High Heels : What Health Dangers Lurk in Your Closet ? For the grand finale, researchers wanted to see if high heels could actually make men more probable to pursue the wearers as mates. They strategically placed women wearing different heel heights in three bars, seating them at tables near the bar where their shoes were visible to those standing at the counter and perusing the field. On average, it took men only 7.49 minutes to approach women wearing the high heels. For those wearing flat shoes, it took closely twice as long—13.54 minutes. All of this confirms that men tend to use physical attributes as a room to gauge women ’ second attraction and to find likely mates. It ’ s not precisely a revelation ; Gueguen found in a previous sketch that female hitchhikers with bigger breasts get picked up more frequently by male drivers. But now, skill gives some credibility to the apparently confused ( and insalubrious ) choice to endure pinched toes and dizzy heights. “ As a world I can see that I prefer to see my wife when she wears high gear heels and many men in France have the same evaluation, ” Gueguen writes in an e-mail reaction. MORE: Can High Heels Trigger Migraines ?
What precisely is indeed aphrodisiac about high heels ? Gueguen blames ( or credits ) the media for its potent imagination association between stiletto and amorousness. And yes, higher heels can change the manner a woman walk, making her hips carry a piece more as she negotiates walking at a more precarious altitude, but in the study, even women who were seated and wearing heels were approached by more men. And Gueguen ’ s follow-up studies, in which he showed men photos of women wearing heels or flats, confirmed that there was more to the attraction than a charwoman ’ sulfur gait. “ The results showed that high gear heels were associated with greater amorousness, overall physical attractiveness, breast attractiveness, beauty, attraction to other men, and willingness for a date, ” he writes. now, whether you want to be approached or left blissfully alone, there ’ s a shoe stature for that. Contact us at letters @ time.com.