Two Day Magazine

...Why Booze and Sex Do Not Mix

Researchers at Roehampton University in London have decoded the mechanism behind beer goggles. Already, this does not sound good. Psychologists have been working hard to get to the bottom of why drunk people seem to “lower their standards” when it comes to finding a suitable bedmate for the night.

The Experiment:

Apparently, it all goes back to symmetry. Take Denzel Washington, for example. His perfectly symmetrical face was actually at the heart of this tipsy study. The researchers went to a local bar and patrons were show pictures of faces. First, they were shown twenty pairs of faces. In each pair, one face was symmetrical and one was asymmetrical. The patron was then asked to pick the more attractive face. Then, they were shown twenty images of the same face and asked to decide if each face was symmetrical or not.

The Not So Shocking Conclusion:

The researchers discovered that the higher the blood-alcohol content was, the less able people could decipher which faces were scientifically better looking. People who hadn’t drank were unified in which faces were more attractive. Drunk people, not so much. They were all over the board with their answers, picking people it seemed at random, and interestingly enough, this affected women much more than men. Researchers had no answer as to why women had a harder time deciding if a face was more symmetrical (and thereby more scientifically attractive) but left us with this pear of wisdom. “men tend to ogle more than women do.”

If you don’t have a good explanation as to why things are the way they are, maybe it is best to collect more data before making a sweeping generalization like above. But, think of it this way. At least you have a reason now as to why you woke up next to someone that looks like a Picasso painting.