Musicians are the alpha males when it comes to dating.
Researchers from the University of Brittany (France) wanted to see if males seen as musicians could actually improve men’s game in the dating scene.
They placed a man walking down the streets of a medium-sized city in France asking women for their phone numbers. On a sunny summer Saturday afternoon, the man asked 300 young women but there was a twist. Sometimes he’d carry a guitar case, sometimes a sports bag, and sometimes, he was just empty-handed.
They found that when the man carried a guitar case 31% of the ladies handed over their digits. Compare that to a disappointing 9% when he was carrying a sports bag and 14% when he didn’t have any bag at all.
In other words, holding a guitar makes you sexier. We’re talking about a 22% increase when you’re holding that guitar case.
Why does it work?
There are several theories:
- Playing an instrument is seen as a sign of intelligence and hard work, traits that are pretty attractive to women. Also, playing music is often linked with creativity, intelligence, and emotional expression, qualities valued in a potential mate.
- We have this stereotype ingrained in our brains that musicians are cool and fun. This is a good stereotype to have if you ask me.
The use of implied associations with positive personal attributes can help when there’s limited information about you or when interactions are brief (like asking for a girl’s number). A guitar might just be your secret weapon in this instance.
But there’s more! Another study conducted by the University of Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion University shows further evidence of music’s appeal to women.
In this Israeli experiment, 100 single women were targeted with Facebook friend requests accompanied by a simple message: “I like your photo.” Half of these women are greeted by a profile picture featuring a man with a guitar, while the other half encounter the same gentleman without a musical instrument.
The results? Only 10% of women respond favorably to the guitar-less advances (5 in 50 women). However, for the guitar-wielding suitor, 28% of the female participants responded positively.
However, when the roles reverse (female musicians reaching out to male subjects) “the presence of an instrument in the woman’s profile picture made no difference to whether or not the participants would accept her friend request.”
It seems that, for men at least, musical talent isn’t quite the aphrodisiac as it is for women.
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An outrageous idea
An intriguing study at the University of Liverpool tried to understand if there’s a link between how your fingers develop before you’re born and your musical ability later in life. The exposure to testosterone, they thought, would play a significant role in this.
Scientists looked at the fingers of 70 musicians from a fancy British orchestra: 54 guys and 16 girls. They measured the length of their second and fourth fingers. Why? Previous studies suggested that the length of these fingers might be connected to how much testosterone you were exposed to before you were born.
Weird, but let’s continue.
They found that the guys in the orchestra had shorter second fingers compared to their fourth fingers (compared to the average person). In biological terms, this would mean that they likely had more testosterone exposure before they were born.
But here’s the fun part. Even within the orchestra, the guys with the shortest fourth fingers were ranked highest for their musical talent. This suggests that the length of your fingers might tell something about your musical skills later in life.
And there’s more!
Lower finger ratios found in male musicians in the study could potentially be linked with traits like masculinity, which might influence their perceived attractiveness. So, is your index finger shorter than your ring finger?
If so, you’re in luck!
