Reading Way Sexier than Looking at Screens Latest Study Shows

“Books are sexy and so is reading them” is the conclusion of a study carried out by an international team of scientists comparing almost 7,000 people who use books on a regular basis with those who don’t read and who appear to be occupied by other activities, including looking at mobile phones.

“They may not necessarily be known for their great hook up skills, but readers need to wake up and smell the coffee,” said lead author Dr Penelope Love (real name): “they’ve got it going on, like, seriously! Compared to looking at a phone, reading on public transport, in a café or simply at home, ups the reader’s perceived level of sexiness by around 30%.”

The study, published last month in the journal “Science and Literature” was carried out over 18 months by researchers from leading universities on three different continents who compared the reading habits, plus a number of other activities, with the perceived sexual attractiveness of almost 7 000 volunteers. The results were weighted against age, income, education and geographical location.

Reading scored higher than looking out of the window, knitting, and working out. Drawing and writing were the only activities with frequently higher ratings than reading, however both ranked lower than reading in the final ratings due to the occasional, but extreme negative perception of artists as either too earnest, pretentious, or just weird. Dr Love pointed out that most of the artists and writers concerned didn’t actually care how sexy you think they are, thanks for the info all the same.

“Books appear to have three defined areas of impact on people in relation to sexiness,” continued Love. “The first is that people who read books are perceived as more sexy by others. The second is that the quality of the literature is directly proportional to the perceived attractiveness of the reader, with pulp fiction and biographies scoring considerably lower than literary fiction. The last and perhaps most interesting conclusion of the study is that the perceived sexiness of people who find readers attractive is way higher than those who remain unmoved as the sight of someone lost in a good book.”

The study has met with wide spread support from the scientific community.

“It is tempting to look for contextual explanations,” said Connie Booker an independent scientific consultant unconnected to the study, “but the methodology was rigorous and the conclusions unambiguous. Reading good quality fiction on a regular basis is objectively and quantifiably sexy.”

The writers concede that it remains unclear which came first, the sexiness or the book . “We’re in the process of setting up a larger study to clarify the issue, “said Dr Love.

Asked what people who find readers attractive should do to get their attention, Dr Love was unequivocal. “Stop reading this article and pick up a fancy looking book, now! You might actually enjoy it.”

And with that, there wasn’t really much more to say.