The Ultimate Body Language Book

Some men are naturals – the rest of us need to work at it!
Research conducted in 2008 by Dr. Coreen Farris of Indiana University shows that men just don’t get it
when it comes to sexual signals. Her study had an initial group of both males and females rate images
based on four categories (called affect groupings): friendly, sexually interested, sad, or rejecting. From
that sample they chose an additional set of eighty men and eighty women to rate the final images into
affect groupings once again. A photo was kept if the majority of men and women categorized the
picture into the same affect group. The results showed some interesting findings. Men not only mistook
non-sexual cues for sexual cues, but they also mistook the sexual cues as non-sexual.
The confusion men have when rating women’s nonverbal sexual signals probably has everything to do
with the fact that men have twenty times more testosterone than women and so their perception of the
world is viewed through ‘sex-coloured-glasses’. In terms of evolution and efficacy of spreading their
seed, this makes sense, even though at times it can lead to unwanted or embarrassing confusion.
Because of men’s inability to read cues properly, this chapter is heavily aimed identifying cues that will
help men read the signals more precisely. The subtext of the chapter though, is aimed squarely on
women to turn them into better deliverers of their true intent so as to avoid unwanted solicitation. In
other words, women carry a clear fifty percent share of the fault when it comes to poor courtship cues,
as are men in reading them. If women can improve the clearness of their signals, men can, and will
respond more appropriately. When it comes to men, a precise, direct signal is best.
Chapter 13 - Courtship Signals
It’s A Women’s Job To Attract Attention
Men prefer a direct approach – study the signals, put them out there and men will respond. Simple.
Researcher in 1989 by Dr. Monica Moore of the University of Missouri in St Louis conducted a study
of how women interacted in public. They specifically examined nonverbal language as it pertained to
attracting attention from men. In the study, they followed eighteen to thirty-five year old women in