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Shylo Schwengler
Comm 110
Professor Dr. Schut
March 24, 2009

Because of Society standards, Women continuously feel the pressure to maintain a certain standard of beauty. Many women feel that accessories must be worn, tightened, or applied in order to receive the required attention from the opposing sex. In both Gueguen and Elliot’s experiment, we see examples of certain measures taken in order to achieve male appreciation.

The Argument shared by Gueguen form his experiment Brief Report: The Effects of Women’s Cosmetics on Men’s Approach: An Evaluation in a Bar, shares an experiment in which two female volunteers 20 and 21 are positioned in a bar for a total of 60, one hour sessions. The experiment was held to decipher if women with makeup in a bar setting received more attention, than those without.

Gueguen set up an experiment where two women volunteered to sit in a bar with 213 males aged approximately 20 to 28. The experiment took place in two different bars on a seaside resort on the West Atlantic coast in France. (Gueguen 2008). The procedure lasted for an hour each time, a total of 60 segments. The experiments took place 2 days a week x 10 weeks x 3 sessions each day = 60. Two male observers sat in the bar to watch the experiments, as well as record signals form the two females when male confrontation took place. When a male conversed with a female, confrontation was recorded. Eye contact, was not recorded because of its uncertainly of connection.

The results were positive with Gueguens claim. Makeup does in fact have a positive effect on male confrontation. In this particular set of experiments, when the women wore the makeup, they received attention more quickly, and in greater quantity.

Similarly In another experiment entitled Romantic Red” Red Enhances Men’s Attraction to women by Andrew J Elliot and Danilela Nieste The Experiment tested “the effect of the colors red and white on men's perceptions of a woman's attractiveness”. (Elliot 2008) In this experiment twenty-seven male undergraduate students form the United States were randomly selected. Each participant was not color blind. The volunteers were randomly assigned a manila envelope; each envelope had a picture of a young, attractive female inside. Half of the envelopes enclosed a women in white clothing, the other half, wearing red. The red color used for one half of the photos was photo-shopped to be similar to the color red used in the Amsterdam red light district. On the back of each photo, a questionnaire was attached. The young men were required to fill out the questions that rated their opinions on the attractiveness of their certain young women’s photo.As shown in the results, the picture of the young women dressed in red rated more attractive then they women in white.

In short, scholars have shown that makeup and clothing, when applied in certain circumstances, increases attractiveness. Males are attracted to females who apply makeup, rather than not, and wear red instead of white. I agree with the scholar’s results. Overall, these experiments prove that Women, who spend time on their appearance, are likely to attract increased male attention.


Guéguen, N. (2008). Brief report: The effects of women's cosmetics on men's approach: An evaluation in a bar. North American Journal of Psychology, 10(1), 221-228. RetrievedMarch 20, 2009, from PsycINFO database

Elliot, A., & Niesta, D. (2008, November). Romantic Red: Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 95(5), 1150-1164. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.