Men mistake women's flirtation as friendly

Women flirt just as much, if not more than men -- sometimes by twisting a curl or by making eye contact while giving a sexy smile. But flirty females, please note -- it is of no avail, says a study.

Researchers have carried out the study and found that men are blind to the subtle seduction techniques of women and they commonly mistake the amorous intent of the opposite sex as just a sign of friendliness.

According to researchers, short of pouncing on the object of her lust, a woman's non-verbal signals of sexual interest often prove sadly lost on the young male brain, The Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday.

'Rather than going through life thinking -- 'she wants me' -- men often find themselves trying to navigate a foreign world of social signals without a phrasebook,' the researchers of Indiana University said.

In their study, they used nearly 300 undergraduates of both sexes to test students' abilities to spot a come-on. The students were asked to view images of women and categorise them as friendly, sexually interested, sad or rejecting.

Each undergraduate reported on 280

photographs, which had been sorted into the four categories based on surveys by different groups of students.

Male students scored worse for accuracy than females -- and they were particularly confused by amiability and amorousness. The men commonly mistook women's sexual signals as merely friendly and were prone to see friendliness as a blatant advance, the researchers found.

But, not all flirting gets lost in translation.

'These are average differences. Some men are very skilled in reading clues,' lead researcher Coreen Ferris was quoted as saying.

Experts have welcomed the research, saying it is further evidence of women's superiority.

'Women are fluent in body language; men just have the gift of the grab. It is really confusing for women. The average bloke either doesn't realise that we fancy them until we are giving birth to their children in the labour ward; or he presumes all women fancy him all the time. God was playing some kind of prank when he developed two sexes,' Kathy Lette, the best-selling author, said.