Sexually Attractive Clothing: Attitudes and Usage

The attitudes and clothing usage of 68 black and 163 white unmarried college females (18 to 21 years of age) enrolled in either one of two southern state universities were studied in relation to the sexual attractiveness of clothing. Subjects rated the sexual attractiveness of 20 specified clothing items and indicated the frequency with which they would wear these items for class time, leisure time, casual date, special date, and job interview. Chi‐square analysis indicated that the black females and the white females differed significantly in their attitudes toward the attractiveness to males of one‐third of the clothing items and on 43 of the 100 clothing usage variables. The black subjects reported that they would wear 75 percent of the clothing items more frequently and on more occasions than the white subjects. However, both groups reported infrequent use of clothing items which they perceived to be sexually attractive. It appears that sexual attraction is not the primary motive that influences a female's clothing usage.