Men are more likely to help women in high heels than those wearing flats, according to a new study published in the journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior. They also find women wearing high heels sexier.

Previous research across different cultures shows men judge a woman by her physical features, as well as the style and color of her clothing. But no one has specifically studied how a woman's shoe styles affect a man's behavior towards her.

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Now, sociologist Nicolas Guéguen from France's Université de Bretagne-Sud and his team carried out four distinct field experiments to compare how men responded to situations when women were wearing flat shoes and associated the results with women wearing different sizes of heels.

Each of the experiments featured women wearing flat shoes, medium heeled shoes (two inches) and shoes with high heels (3.5 inches). The shoes were all black, professional and in fashion.

One experiment showed men were more likely to agree to fill in a questionnaire when asked to do so by a woman in heels. Surprisingly, the higher the heels, the more willing the men were.

Men seemed to be vulnerable to two-inch heels, and 36 out of 60 men agreed to answer the woman's questions. But men were more vulnerable when heels rose to almost four inches. A woman wearing heels this high got 49 out of 60 men to fill in a questionnaire.

"Men responded more favorably to the survey request as soon as the length of her heels increased," said Guéguen.

On the other hand, when the women doing the survey were in flats, only 25 of the 60 men participated.

Heel height had no effect on women's odds of agreeing to do the survey.

The results showed that in all situations, the highest heels prevailed but only with men. Females weren't likely to help based on the shoes worn. Men, however, were more likely to be responsive in all situations if a woman's heels were higher.

Media regularly show women in high heels as being extremely sexual and this may lead men to overestimate a woman's sexual intent, noted the researchers. This may make men unconsciously notice and respond to women in high heels.

That said, more research is needed to confirm the theory considering cultural responses to heels could be quite different in other parts of the world as the study took place in a single county.

TagsHigh Heels, Women wearing high heels, Archives of Sexual Behavior