Quiz: Science Finds Most Men Misread Whether A Woman is Sexually Interested. Do You? by M. Tabb
For kicks and giggles, I took this quiz (link to it way below), even though I am a woman.
I got five out of six correct, and the one I missed, I missed by one degree – I rated the woman in the photo as being “sort of” interested, but she was either one step above or below that, I forget which.
But, I didn’t totally confuse one for the other – in other words, the woman in the photo WAS sending body language indicating she was flirting, her body language and facial expression was not saying she was not flirting.
It seems that the results of this study show that most men get it totally wrong one way or the other, not degrees.
I read about a study similar to this one many years ago, in a 1990s copy of “Reader’s Digest.” That study said most men misinterpret a woman’s non-romantic, non-flirty, non-sexual gestures (such as blowing her nose or whatever) as being a flirtation, when it’s anything but.
I honestly feel a lot of you men have huge egos, and the culture coddles you in this – the culture encourages all men, no matter how ugly, dumb, and dumpy to think all women are “into” them or SHOULD be. It’s so sexist and revolting.
I’ve had many men in my past who mistook my platonic “hello there, how are you” as flirtation. It’s so incredibly annoying.
(Link): Quiz: Science finds most men misread whether a woman is sexually interested. Do you?
Is she interested? That’s the question scientists (Link): just asked a bunch of men.
Researchers at the University of Iowa had men look at photos of women and rate their perceived sexual interest on a scale of -10 (extremely rejecting) to 10 (extremely interested).
The scientists instructed the men to focus on the women’s body language and facial expression to gauge their interest, but some men paid more attention to the women’s attire and attractiveness instead.
Across the board, however, men improved at reading sexual interest after seeing how far off their guesses were. And the researchers hope the study will be part of a solution to prevent sexual aggression by men.
Of course, the only way to know if a woman is truly interested is to ask her, and listen to what she says. But misreading her expression and body language can make men more aggressive from the moment they say hello, and makes men more likely to ignore lack of consent later.
See if you can do better by taking the quiz below, which we’ve repurposed from the original study:
VISIT THEIR PAGE TO TAKE THE QUIZ
(Link): Training men to judge women’s sexual interest more accurately by C Jarrett
Excerpt:
The causes of sexual aggression are many, but anecdotal evidence (for example, as implied in the above quote), and research-based evidence, suggests that at least part of it has to do with when men overestimate women’s levels of sexual interest.
A new study in the Psychology of Violence finds that men with a history of sexual aggression are especially likely to make this kind of misjudgment, in part because they focus on inappropriate cues, such as a woman’s attractiveness, rather than on her actual emotions.
But promisingly, the research also suggests that it’s possible, through practice, to reduce this bias.
This is an important finding considering previous research has shown that information-based educational programmes designed to reduce sexual aggression (through challenging rape myths, for example) are relatively ineffective.
…Men with a self-reported history of sexual aggression, and who more strongly endorsed rape myths, based their judgments of women’s sexual interest to a greater degree on their attractiveness and less on their actual emotions, as compared with lower-risk men.
Related Posts:
(Link): Women Are Sharing Their Experiences of Receiving Unsolicited Advances From Men
(Link): Explanation of the Difference Between Flirting and Sexual Harassment is Spot On by S. Ankel
(Link): Creep Obtains Woman’s Phone Number from Her Dog’s Collar, Asks Her Out
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