Courtship Displays and Attraction Signalsof women, there aren't too many. While a woman will dress
sensually, wear make-up and use a wide range of courtship ges-
tures, men rev their car engines, brag about how much they
earn and challenge other men. When it comes to courtship
rituals, most men are as effective as someone standing in a river
trying to catch fish by hitting them on the head with a big stick.
Women have more lures and fishing skills to land their fish than
any male could ever hope to acquire.
In this section we'll cover the most common male body lan-
guage signals you're likely to see, much of which is focused
around his crotch. Men are generally not good at sending or
receiving the signals used in the mating game and, as we men-
tioned earlier, women not only control the game and make the
rules, they own the Scoreboard. Most of the time, men simply
react to signals they see.
Some magazines try to convince readers that men's courtship
skills are improving because of the increase in the numbers of
men who are paying more attention to their appearance. Men
now have facials, do their nails and toenails, tint their hair,
straighten their teeth, use hair conditioner and face creams and
wear face powder. In the UK in 2004, a study by Gillette showed
that Scotsmen were Britain's most vain men, spending an
average of 16 minutes a day in front of a mirror preening them-
selves. But most of this behaviour is an increase in male vanity
levels - not in men's ability to read women's courtship signals.
An American survey found the three words women
would most like to hear from their male partner were
not 'I love you'. They were 'you've lost weight'As with most male animals, the human male displays preening
behaviour as a potential partner arrives on the scene. In addi-
tion to the automatic physiological reactions already
mentioned, he will straighten his tie, smooth his collar, brush
imaginary dust from his shoulder and touch his cufflinks or
watch, and rearrange his shirt, coat and other clothing.