The Ultimate Body Language Book

Pigeon toes or ‘tibial torsion’ is a submissive posture because it forces the body into taking on a smaller
form.
Another word for “tibial torsion” which is the anatomical term, and one we are more familiar with, is
“pigeon toes”. “Pigeon toes” refers to aiming the toes and feet inward at a slight angle reducing their
outward profile. The opposite of this posture is toes outward called “splay footed” or “duck footed”
which is a military type posture and a signal of dominance, but only relatively speaking. Meaning that
any body movement that is meant to, or leads to, the shrinking of the body’s profile where less space is
taken up is a submissive cue and where more space is taken up is a dominant cue. So relative to having
the toes pointing directly forward, which has no meaning, the toes pointing inward and outward, mean
submissiveness and dominance respectively. Women in courtships displays, as we initially outlined,
take up submissive displays to attract the attention of men. I have classified this in the same department
as shoulder shrugs because they are very similar, perhaps not in their appearance, but in their effect.
With all submission signals, the net effect is to create a less threatening profile and to appear more
childlike.
Interestingly “tibial torsion” is also a childhood condition where there is actual anatomical inward
twisting of the shin bones located between the knee and the ankle causing the feet to turn inward. This
condition arises due to the position of the baby in uterus, but is not at all what we are referring to with
respect to hidden sexual body language. Tibial torsion in a dating context, performed by women who
have no underlying anatomical deformities happens for the purpose of making the body appear smaller
and more submissive, rather than due to a medical condition. Medical deformities can also apply to the
toes as they point outward or duck footed too, and so are not always indicators of dominance per
se.Chapter 13 - Courtship Signals