The Science of Sex Appeal Rachel Hepworth

Sexy Voices Random students were asked to rate male and female voices for their sex appeal. They listened to two different voices of the opposite sex, then voted which voice they found sexier. It was replicated with four participants of each sex. In the end, males chose females who had higher pitched voices, and females chose males with deeper voices. The reasons behind males choosing higher pitched female voices were: they sounded younger, healthier, and sexier. When in fact younger women and women with higher estrogen levels have higher pitched voices. The more estrogen in a woman usually makes for a prettier, more attractive face and body shape.

Females on the other hand said that males with deeper voices sounded stronger, more masculine. The testosterone that makes a males voice deeper during puberty, also makes for a more attractive face and body. Somehow both women and men are picking up on clues from the sound of the opposite sexes voice, of who will look more attractive in person. In reality most of these assumptions are true, but we are unconsciously making them.

Facial Symmetry In an experiment designed to test the sex appeal of symmetrical face shapes, one man and one woman took two different pictures. In the first they wore one outfit and the second changed clothes, and the woman added a little makeup and changed her hair. They proceeded to alter the first picture so that it was completely symmetrical. The second they made only slightly unsymmetrical. Then they posted them at a local college and told participants that the two different pictures were of twins, and asked students to rate which was better looking. Eight out of ten participants rated the first, symmetrical, picture as more attractive.

When a fetus is in the womb it is supposed to develop along the central axis of the spine. Which makes everything along the opposite side symmetrical. When there are any abnormalities like nutrition and little infections, it alters the development causing unsymmetricity. So why would a face be more attractive if it were symmetrical? Unconsciously we are looking for someone who is healthy, both physically and genetically. We think: someone with a symmetrical face must have good genetics.

Copulance and Men Does copulance effect men? Copulance is a pheromone secreted by women when they are ovulating. Random men were asked to rate the attractiveness of pictures of different women, while being exposed to a low level of artificial copulance that the men could not detect. The results were that men couldn’t distinguish between those more attractive and less attractive women. The presence of the copulance caused the levels of testosterone in the men to increase, lowering their ability to think clearly.

Other Studies Walking Picture of mate Ovulation Copulance vs. androstenone Partner test/face structure study

Works Cited "Female Copulance." Science of Sex Appeal. Web. 18 Oct "Sexy Voices." Science of Sex Appeal. Web. 18 Oct "The Beauty of Symmetry." Science of Sex Appeal. Web. 18 Oct