Are people who wear eyeglasses sexier?
Sometime ago, I overheard three teenaged girls swoon over Daniel Radcliffe, the geeky star of the blockbuster Harry Potter series. “Oh, he is just the cutest!” gushed one.
“Heavenly nerdy!” exclaimed another.
“And I love his sexy glasses!” screamed the third.
That got me thinking …could glasses really be sexy? Can wearing eyeglasses enhance the sex appeal of a person? Having worn eyeglasses almost my entire life, the question totally intrigued me. I conducted an informal, limited survey among friends and some acquaintances — I asked 10 males and 10 females if they found people of the opposite sex who wear glasses sexier and more attractive.
Nine of the males preferred females without eyeglasses; only one found women with eyeglasses sexy. Since wearing eyeglasses is associated with being intelligent, it is understandable for men to feel threatened by a female who wears glasses. Women must instinctively know this male preference because, according to an independent study, most women use eyeglasses as a fashion accessory; when they need prescription glasses, they opt for contact lenses (they are responsible for two-thirds of all contact lenses sales!). But I tend to agree with the minority in the survey — I remember seeing a film where the lead star was a woman with eyeglasses who wore her hair in a tight bun. That moment when she shook her hair down and slowly slid her glasses off was the sexiest segment of the movie!
On the other side of the fence in my survey, eight women loved men with eyeglasses while two were non-committed (one said great teeth were her prerogative while another intimated that nice, round, firm buns were high in her ratings factor). The pro-eyeglass women think that men who wear glasses look more intelligent than those who didn’t. As an affirmation to this, I read somewhere that wearers of eyeglasses feel more intelligent, and that according to US government statistics, “the more a man makes or the more education he has, the more likely he is to wear glasses.” Hmm.
Famous Eyeglass Wearers
Can you ever imagine Benjamin Franklin without his grandpa lenses, Clark Kent without his Superman glasses, singer Buddy Holly without his signature black nerdies, General Douglas MacArthur without his dark aviators, Ari Onassis without his intense, black power frames or Mahatma Gandhi without his wire-rimmed spectacles? Many other celebrities are usually seen wearing glasses: Woody Allen, Michael Caine, Jack Nicholson; even Warren Beatty and Richard Gere look better in glasses. Pop and rock stars like John Lennon and even Michael Jackson use eyeglasses as part of their act; no one has exploited the eyeglass more as Elton John who would buy 100 pairs at one shopping time, including diamond and jewel-encrusted frames that would cost several thousands of dollars. There seem to be very few famous women who wear eyeglasses — the only ones who come to mind are feminist Gloria Steinem and installation artist Yoko Ono.
A Powerful Tool
Eyeglasses have engendered strong feelings in people and wearing them has become a social ritual full of psychological impressions, surrounded by intriguing innuendos. Aside from their original function, which is to correct visual defects like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, to clarify vision, and protect the eyes from dust, glaring lights and harmful UV rays of the sun, eyeglasses have become a powerful tool in dressing up for personal expression, impression, fashion, and persuasion.
Eyeglasses are the coolest of fashion accessories. You can make a fashion statement, create a new look, and even alter your face without undergoing surgery. It’s all just a matter of finding the right color, shape, and style to best compliment (or alter) your face and project the effect you want (collegiate, granny, nerd, hip, glamorous, rock, grunge, etc.). It is no wonder that designer and signature eyeglasses have become status symbols and sell profitably on the market despite their prohibitive prices.
Those who have worn glasses for sometime would already be familiar with the “secret eyeglass language,” a set of gestures done with the glasses which would denote certain feelings, reactions, and emotions. There are basic eyeglass grips, nasal slides, dramatic eyeglass removals for effect, power frame adjustment on nosebridge, flirting signs, and sexy moves with glasses, etc. There is even the “take the eyeglasses off slowly and bite the ear rim” technique to signify intense interest. But that will have to be reserved for another article.
Anyway, back to our original predicament: Are people who wear eyeglasses sexier? Not necessarily would be a safe answer. But people who wear glasses do definitely look more intelligent, and that could be very sexy to some. When asked if she prefers a man who wears glasses over one who didn’t, my good friend Leah Navarro chuckles, “Only if he is sexier when he takes ’em off!”
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