Jaime Fisher

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From "Flirting Fascination," Psychology Today, February 1999.

The article shows how the human brain triggers our sexual impulses. People generally believe that when you see someone you find attractive, it is because of their facial features. You then get to know their personality traits and interests.

Scientists have proven that flirting is an unconscious event. Our limbic system controls our emotions and impulses. Flirting is an independent response to our feelings when we are attracted to someone. We naturally get excited and act abnormally when we are sexually attracted to someone. Our behavior becomes something out of the ordinary, a way in which we do not act on a daily basis.

Another interesting fact about sexual attraction is that it "mimics a kind of brain damage" 41, Rodgers). A professor at the University of Iowa, Dr. Antonio Damasi,o has studied people that have a "damaged connection between their limbic structure and their higher brain"(41). Flirting is a process that is much like this brain damage. People cannot make decisions, even though they can think rationally. Dr. Damasio says that this brain damage and flirting run on "gut feelings." We all know that during an attraction we feel giddy and happy. Many people get sweaty palms, blush, and laugh uncontrollably. It is a great feeling that arouses our limbic systems.

There are also many things that we look for in our mates. Psychologist Steven Gangestad, Ph. D, has proven that men look for women that are shapely. "Science has calculated that a curvy woman's waist must be no more than 60 to 70% of her hip circumference." So unconsciously men look for perfect breeding hips. Women with larger hips tend to be more fertile and healthy too. This has held true through history.

What I find to be very interesting is that women look for "men with symmetrical features." Women use their face processors to evaluate the symmetry of a man's facial features. Gangestad has also found that women look for symmetry in men "when they are most fertile, [and] female preferences change across the menstrual cycle"(65). Scientists believe that during ovulation women like symmetrical men because they believe he will "provide better genes for the baby."

Basically scientists believe that flirting is apart of the human evolution. Attraction is needed in order for us to procreate. It is very interesting how women become attracted to men even more when they are ovulating. Sex has become a phenomenon that is easily studied. People flirt, talk, and touch until they find the partner that stimulates their mind and body. The control that our brains have over our desires is fascinating.