That red dress may be more than a fashion choice. New research suggests that when women see a lady in red, they become more protective of their boyfriends. 
 
 It sounds a bit like a bad romantic comedy plot point, but color really can influence people's emotions and behavior, said study researcher Adam Pazda, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Rochester. 
 
 "You see that there is a huge reluctance to introduce or let a boyfriend spend time alone [with a woman in red]," Pazda told Live Science. "Essentially, you see this defensive behavior intention, like, 'I don't want my boyfriend anywhere near this girl.'" [How 8 Colors Got Their Symbolic Meanings] 
 
 Wearing red 
 
 Red is inextricably linked with romance and sex in Western culture — think of Valentine's Day hearts, red lipstick and even red-light districts. Psychologists have found, in multiple studies, that whatever a woman's intentions when she dons a red outfit, men respond. 
 
 Men "find women in red more attractive, they want to spend more money on dates with women wearing red, waitresses wearing red get more tips," Pazda said. A 2010 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology also revealed that women found guys wearing redmore appealing than men in other colors. 
 
 Pazda and his colleagues were interested in understanding how women might respond to a lady in red, given that most previous research focused on men. So the researchers set up three simple experiments. 
 
 The picture used for the color manipulation in Experiments 1 and 2 (the face of the female target was intact in the experiment but is blurred here to protect privacy). The dress color was red or white. Credit: Adam Pazda 
 
 In the first, 196 women recruited online were shown a picture. Both were of a young, moderately attractive woman wearing a dress. In one image, seen by half the participants, the dress was white. In the other, seen by the other half, it was red. [Your Color Red Really Could Be My Blue] 
 
 The researchers asked the participants to rank how interested in sex the woman in the picture was, on a scale of 1 to 100 (greatest interest). They found that when the woman was wearing red, her fellow women ranked her as more interested in sex— 49.26 versus 41.06 in the white dress. 
 
 A second study used the same photos, but this time half of the female participants were asked to imagine they were competing for a man with the woman in the photo. A total of 327 women participated. Again, the woman in red was seen as more interested in sex (by 46.02 on the 100-point scale compared with 38.23 for the woman in white). And women were more likely to say that the woman in red would be more likely to cheat on her boyfriend, compared with the woman in white. This effect did not extend to general negative judgments about the woman — for example, color did not influence participants' chances of believing the women to be poor. 
 
 Color of jealousy 
 
 The researchers contrasted the red dress with white because they worried that another color would show up skewed on people's computer monitors, Pazda said. In the third study, women saw the photographs in person, so the researchers changed the alternate color to green — a color that, unlike white, has no links to virginity or purity. 
 
 This time, 143 Slovakian women, all university students who were in heterosexual relationships, looked at photographs of the same woman wearing either a red or green shirt; participants indicated how interested in sex they thought the photographed woman was, how willing they would be to introduce their boyfriend to her, and how comfortable they'd feel if their boyfriend spent time alone with her, all on a scale of 1 to 9. 
 
 The picture used for the color manipulation in Experiment 3 (the face of the female target was intact in the experiment but is blurred here to protect privacy). The shirt color was red or green. Credit: Adam Pazda 
 
 Despite the switch from white to green, participants still saw red as provocative. The woman in red was rated as more interested in sex (4.11 out of 9) than the woman in green (3.4 out of 9). And women were less likely to want the red-clad woman around their boyfriends. 
 
 Padza cautioned that the results are based on what people say, not what they actually do. 
 
 "I really can't stress enough the point that I wouldn't say that this applies to every single woman all the time," he said. "The results in our study are just average tendencies. It's certainly not the case that anytime a woman wears red, she is going to be isolated or excluded by other women." 
 
 It's not clear what red would mean outside of the romantic context, either, Padza said. A red work blouse might have a very different context than a slinky vermillion club dress. 
 
 "The next step is to get women into the same room where one is wearing red and one is not, and see if there is face-to-face derogation," he said. "Extending it beyond intentions to actual behavior would definitely be a first step." 
 
 The findings are detailed today (July 11) in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 
 
 Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| • 
 
 In the 1939 film classic The Women, much is made of the alluring quality of a specific color of nail polish: “Jungle Red.” It turns out that the characters’ faith in the product was not misplaced. 
 
 New research suggests the color red on a woman does indeed signal sexual availability—not only to men, but also to other women. 
 
 As we have noted previously, studies have found that men tend to view women in red as more sexually attractive. But, ladies, if you were thinking wearing that color would send a subliminal signal only males would pick up on, you’re out of luck. 
 
 “Our results suggest that women perceive and behave toward other women in red as if these other women are actively advertising” their openness to the possibility of a sexual encounter. 
 
 “Our results suggest that women perceive and behave toward other women in red as if these other women are actively advertising” their openness to the possibility of a sexual encounter, writes a research team led by University of Rochester psychologist Adam Pazda. Its study is published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 
 
 Pazda and his colleagues describe three experiments conducted on two different continents that provide evidence that wearing red sets off certain alarm bells. In the first, 196 women recruited online viewed a photo of “a moderately attractive women in her late 20s.” 
 
 Half saw an image of her wearing a white dress; the rest viewed an otherwise identical image of her in a red dress. Afterwards, all responded on a sliding scale to a series of statements such as “This person is interested in sex.” 
 
 As expected, the woman was seen as more sexually receptive if she was wearing red. This held true whether or not the study participants were in a committed relationship. 
 
 Another experiment featured 143 women enrolled at two Slovakian universities. They, too, looked at a photo of a woman in her 20s; she was wearing either a red or green shirt. Afterwards, they were asked to rate not only her interest in sex, but were asked “How likely would you be to introduce this person to your boyfriend?” 
 
 Those who viewed her in the red shirt rated the woman as “more sexually receptive,” and “reported stronger intentions to guard their mate from the target,” the researchers report. 
 
 The researchers caution that, needless to say, “not all women displaying red are actively advertising sexual availability.” For those who are not, it’s valuable to understand the ways their wardrobe choices are being interpreted—both by men, and by their female acquaintances. 
 
 So if you’re getting unexpected smiles from male co-workers, and surprisingly hard stares from women, note the color of your outfit (and your nail polish). Not to make you red-faced, but you may be sending out a signal without even realizing it.
– Researchers know that guys tend to find women in red to be alluring; now, they're investigating how women react to the color. Research headed by a University of Rochester psychologist finds that women see others wearing red "as if these other women are actively advertising" sexual availability. For instance, "there is a huge reluctance to introduce or let a boyfriend spend time alone (with a woman wearing red)," Adam Pazda tells LiveScience. "You see this defensive behavior intention, like, 'I don't want my boyfriend anywhere near this girl.'" His team referred to studies across two continents. In one, half of the women participating saw an image of a woman in red; the other half saw the same picture—except the woman was wearing white. Their responses supported statements like "this person is interested in sex," the Pacific Standard reports. Another study saw subjects viewing photos of a woman in a red or green shirt. Asked how likely they'd be "to introduce this person to your boyfriend," women "reported stronger intentions to guard their mate from the target" when she was wearing red. Pazda emphasizes that his results refer to "tendencies" and aren't always applicable. An earlier study points to a link between red and fertility.