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Men Are Seen as More Attractive If They are Holding Guitars, Science Confirms

By Makini Brice | Update Date: May 13, 2013 02:05 PM EDT

Judging by the number of women that straight male musicians have bedded, many women are attracted to male musicians. That stereotype has proved to be true with two different scientific studies serving as confirmation.

The most recent study was conducted by researchers at the University of Bretagne-Sud and the University of Paris-Sud. Published in the journal Psychology of Music, the research was composed of a good-looking man who approached women between the ages of 18 and 22 and asked them for their phone number. In his contact with 300 women, a third of the time, he carried a guitar case; a third of the time, he carried a sports bag; and the final third of the time, he approached women empty-handed.

Interestingly, the would-be lothario found the least amount of success holding the sports bag, receiving women's numbers just nine percent of the time. When he approached women empty-handed, he fared slightly better, receiving phone numbers 14 percent of the time. His success rate was best, though, when he carried the guitar case, receiving women's phone numbers 31 percent of the time.

The study builds upon the research conducted by scientists in Israel on the same matter. In the study, published in the Letters of Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 100 female students at Tel Aviv University and in Ben Gurion University received a friend request on Facebook from a single man that they did not know. Saying, "Hey, what's up? I like your photo," the man's profile was either accompanied by him strumming a guitar or without a musical instrument in sight. When he had no musical instrument, only 3 percent of women accepted the friend request. When the women were able to see a guitar, that number jumped to 28 percent.

Pacific Standard writes that the results of both studies support the theory that music evolved in order to support early courtship rituals. Other theories suggest that playing music indicates that a person has a strong work ethic or has a willingness to practice.

A famous study in 2000 found that musical ability may be linked to testosterone. The researchers suggest that testosterone is linked to growth in the right hemisphere, which would mean that musical prowess has a connection to fertility. If so, that would explain why a recent study that recreated the Israeli study with a woman found that holding a guitar seemed to have no effect on how attractive women were perceived to be.

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