A scientific journal withdrew an article on the attractiveness of women in high heels
'22.10.2019'
Source: Air force
An article by French author Nicolas Gegan was recalled at the request of the University of South Brittany, where he holds the post of professor of social psychology.
“The editor-in-chief of Archives of Sexual Behavior has withdrawn a research article published there almost five years ago entitled“ High Heels Increase the Attractiveness of Women, ”writes Air force.
“The institutional investigation concluded that this article contains methodological flaws and statistical errors. Thus, the data provided in the article cannot be considered reliable, ”the official statement on the withdrawal of the work says.
Nick Brown and James Heathers, a pair of scientists known for their exposure of unfair scientific research, have been pushing for the withdrawal of the article for several years.
Professor Gegan himself did not respond to a request from the BBC to comment on the news of the recall of his work.
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Under the heel
The conclusions of the article “High heels increase the attractiveness of women” are based on the results of three experiments allegedly carried out by the author.
In one of them, a woman asked unfamiliar men to answer several questions of a questionnaire on gender equality. In another, she made a similar request not only to men, but also to women. In the third, she simply walked down the street and “accidentally lost” her glove in front of other pedestrians of both sexes.
Each experiment was carried out three times: the first time the woman wore black flat shoes, the second - with a five centimeter high heel, and the third - nine centimeters.
“The willingness of men to help increased as the height of the heel increased. However, the height of the heel did not affect the behavior of women in any way, ”the paper states.
“Changes in gait, estimates of foot size, and misattribution of sex appeal and sexual intentions are cited as possible explanations,” the author concludes.
The study attracted the attention of a graduate student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands named Nick Brown, who found in the article by Nicolas Hegan several controversial arguments that seemed extremely suspicious to him.
Brown called on several colleagues in the scientific community for help, including James Heathers of Northeastern University in Boston and Alan Sokal of New York University - the author of the notorious scientific scam that bears his name.
Together, Brown and Heathers mathematically proved the impossibility of the statistics presented in the article by the French professor, which was described in detail to the journal Science.
The silence of the author
After that, one of the former students (or students) Nicolas Gegan contacted them, who conducted an experiment as part of one of his university courses.
“Since we worked without any supervision but still got course grades, a lot of students just took the experiment data from the ceiling. I can confirm that I personally invented my experiment from start to finish, and I know that many have done the same, ”said an unnamed informant.
“Dr. Gegan never mentioned that the results of our work could be published somewhere,” he assures.
Heathers and Brown sent the results of their investigation to the University of Southern Brittany - and as a result, the university administration asked the magazine to withdraw the scandalous article.
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Professor Nicolas Gegan himself has consistently declined to comment on this subject, although various publications have repeatedly asked him such a request.
The website of the University of South Brittany indicated that he was still heading one of the laboratories there.
In addition, judging by the database of scientific publications, since the publication in November 2014 of the year, Professor Gegan’s article has been used to write about two dozen other scientific works.
These include “Curvature of the back as a signal of women's sexual flirtation (based on direction of gaze)”, “Cultural and aesthetic analysis of some of the most defiant fashion trends among celebrities” and “Why women wear high heels: evolution, curvature of the waist and attractiveness” ...
All of these articles are still available online.
