Peacocking, the term for guys who strut their stuff flamboyantly like a peacock, is a well-known mating strategy that may get you a date - or slapped in the face. But it turns out women are attracted to the bright colours themselves, say Oxford University researchers who published a study on Monday that proved women are more into Caucasian men who have yellow and red skin pigment.
The researchers rounded up 43 heterosexual white guys, sorting 23 into the treatment group and 20 into a control group, and put the first group on a 12-week beta-carotene supplement program. Beta-carotene turns light skin yellow-red, which researchers hypothesised to be an evolutionary sign of health.
At the end of the 12-week period, 66 heterosexual women assessed the pre- and post-beta-carotene faces of the men. For the guys with lighter complexions (which allowed the beta-carotene effects to be more visible), the women gave higher post-supplement levels of attraction; the women cited no difference in attraction for the control group.
None of this is to say you should ditch the weights for the supplement store, but if you’re a paler guy who can exhibit beta-carotene effects, it wouldn’t hurt to remember that true peacocking is really about showing your (mostly) true colours.
This article was originally published on MensHealth.com
