Good news for all pasty Scots blokes going pink in the sun, you’re actually...
Researchers have discovered women find sunburned faces more attractive than swarthy Latin looks. Scientists at St Andrews University have revealed that facial redness increases a man’s attractiveness to the opposite sex. They claim that a male’s rosy glow makes them highly desirable. But they also found a ruddy complexion may prove a turn- of f as it suggests anger and aggression. The research, co-authored by Professor David Perrett, said: “Male facial redness positively inf luences heterosexual females’ ratings of sexual attractiveness and healthiness.
“Faces convey a wide range of important cues that are detected and interpreted as social information to influence person perception.
“On the other hand, too much male facial redness also contributes to perceptions of aggression, dominance and anger, which might negatively inf luence attractiveness ratings.”
Previous research on how men see women has found that just having the colour red in a picture – on clothing, make- up or even in the background – can make a female more attractive.
The colour is associated with love, sex, passion and fertility dating back at least 10,000 years. During the research, more than 500 heterosexual women were asked to look at pictures of an anonymous identical Caucasian face which had been manipulated to increase or decrease the redness.
They were asked to judge them on overall l attractiveness and sexual attractiveness.
The researchers found that redderr male faces were seen as healthier than the neutralt l faces and more sexually attractive by up to a third.
The study in the journal Perception concluded: “Facial redness is indicative of healthiness for several reasons.
“Physical fitness is positively related to vascularisation and blood oxygenation of the skin, making it appear redder.”