Story at a glance
- Research found women had the tendency to choose modest outfits when attending gatherings with only women.
- Women who considered themselves to be attractive dressed more modestly when meeting a new potential female friend.
- The study’s authors carried out experiments with nearly 600 women at various types of social gatherings.
There’s new evidence that suggests women dress more modestly when encountering other women in order to defend themselves against aggression.
A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science lays out evidence that women “dress defensively,” by wearing less revealing outfits when in the presence of other women.
Researchers carried out experiments with nearly 600 women that assessed what types of outfits they would choose to wear at various types of social gatherings.
The experiments found participants were more likely to choose modest outfits when attending gatherings with only women, compared to gatherings that included both women and men. The study claims the tendency was more prominent among women who considered themselves more physically attractive.
“Like men, women can and do compete –– over friends, status, romantic partners,” the study’s author, Jaimie Arona Krems, an assistant professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University, told PsyPost. “Once we acknowledge the reality that women are active agents who compete against one another, we can generate so many questions about how women defend themselves against this aggression.”
Women who considered themselves to be attractive also had the tendency to dress more modestly when meeting a potential new friend who is a woman, but that’s not the case when they were expecting to meet with an existing friend. Women who considered themselves to be less attractive were likely to dress more revealingly when meeting a new friend versus an existing one.
Krems told PsyPost that “women are deeply rational and strategic; women are aware of the threats posed by others and act in ways to avoid those threats.”
The researchers found a similar situation when participants were told they would be meeting a man. Women reported to dress less provocatively when meeting a potential male friend, compared with an existing friend.
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