Men in Iran are more likely to offer a ride to a woman wearing tighter clothing, according to research published in Evolutionary Psychological Science.
Experiments conducted in the West have found that everything from a woman’s facial expression to her breast size to her hair color can slightly influence the willingness of male motorists to stop and offer help. But Iranian researcher Farid Pazhoohi and United Kingdom researcher Robert P. Burriss said it was “unclear whether findings from research into clothing and female sexual behavior conducted in the West can be generalized to non-Western nations such as Iran”
Their field experiment was conducted on a straight, well lit street near a shopping mall in Shiraz, Iran. A 25-year-old woman stood beside the road in view of motorists but did not actively signal that she desired a ride. On one day, she wore a liberal outfit: a black hijab headscarf and close-fitting garments. On other day, she wore a conservative Islamic outfit: a black chador that covered her entire body except for her face.
Previous research conducted by Pazhoohi found that men in Iran view women wearing tight “liberal” clothing as more attractive than women wearing the loose-fitting chador.
The woman was 6.71 times more likely to be offered a ride when she was wearing the liberal outfit. Out of 2,000 motorists that passed by her on both days, 214 stopped to offer her a ride when she was wearing the liberal outfit. Only 39 motorists stopped when she wore the conservative outfit. All of the drivers were men.
“Men are more likely to offer help to women they find attractive, and differences in clothing are sufficient to drive this effect,” the researchers said.
“Iranian men [may] interpret liberal dress as advertising liberal attitudes to sexual relationships and judge it easier or more morally acceptable to approach women whose hijab is less conservative. This, as well as men’s greater attraction to women who wear less veiling, could explain why our participants more frequently offered assistance to the confederate when she wore liberal dress.
