Problem
You think that she’s into you and down to clown, but you’re also told that men tend to misinterpret women’s signals.
Solution
She’s more ready to jump into the sack than you think. A study published in the journal Psychological Science says that “the inaccuracy of men’s perceptions has been exaggerated.”
Method
271 straight men and 213 straight women were presented with a series of dating behaviours, such as “sent roses”, “held hands”, “cooked dinner”, and so on. On a seven point scale, from “extremely unlikely” to “extremely likely”, men estimated the sexual intensions of the women who performed those actions. Women used the same scale to say how likely they’d be to have sex with a man who performed those same actions. In this test, men’s estimates were far higher than women’s—echoing the conventional wisdom.
A second test disputed the conventional wisdom, though. Participants had to guess how the women in the first study responded. Men’s estimates stayed the same—but women’s guesses went the same direction as the men’s.
Results
According to researchers, these results suggest “women know that other women underreport their genuine sexual intentions, but do not know by how much.”
The Takeaway
Of course, this doesn’t mean much is different for you. You’re still looking for a yes, and whether she’s honest with others or not about how likely she is to sleep with you doesn’t really have any bearing on what happens—you still need that yes.
You can, however, stop second-guessing yourself and know that you’re better at reading women than women say you are. No that they’ll ever admit it.
