RED IS SEXY

Red seems to be the theme of this week. I’ve written about communism, the Izquierda Unida mayor of Puerto Real and now the colour red and its sexual implications.

According to a study in the USA, where else, it appears that the sight of women in red drives men wild. I was going to say that given the current financial crisis the academics of the University of Rochester might have more pressing things on their minds. Then I remembered the economy is in the red too!

Professor of psychology, Andrew Elliot, confirmed that red was the colour of romance used for years in the creation of Saint Valentine cards and by the purveyors of lipstick. It appears that men’s association of the colour red with love and passion is a primitive instinct. I think most women knew that.

Research shows that male baboons and chimps share the same fascination with the colour red. The boys are attracted to the girls when they exhibit the colour red. It indicates that the female baboons and chimps are nearing ovulation and the male of the species finds this irresistible.

According to a telephone interview with the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Elliot stated: “It is an automatic tendency most profound and with a biological base to respond to the colour red with an attraction can be seen to come from our evolution inheritance.”

One hundred men, mostly university students, were shown photographs of women and asked to evaluate them in terms of beauty, whether they wish to kiss or have a sexual relation with them. Given my knowledge of male students I am not sure how sexually discriminating they are – but let’s press on.

The students were shown the same picture but with backgrounds of various colours – red, white, green and grey. It was the picture of the lady in red that proved to be the most attractive. The skirts were digitally changed so that some were red and others were blue and again red scored (pun intended). The researchers noted that the colour red was only associated with attractiveness and not with other emotions such as pleasantness, intelligence or affection.

Interestingly females were show pictures of women of the same beauty and were asked to rate them but the colour red had no impact on their decisions.

Apparently homosexuals and the colour blind were excluded from the study.

The colour blind makes sense. And homosexuals – “Somewhere over the rainbow...”