The Femme Fatale: Is She For Real?

Possibly there is a femme fatale in every woman.

The term femme fatale is French for a dangerous woman. As a seducer of men, her qualities are powerfully alluring. Men who succumb to her charms, usually end up in a disastrous situation of some kind or other.

The most famous portrayal of the femme fatale is the villainess in the classic noir films of 1940s cinema.

She also figures prominently in the history of many cultures. Appearing in the myths, legends, or folklores of various cultures, the femme fatale is otherwise known as a siren, temptress, vamp, seductress, vixen, minx, charmer, and enchantress.

It is historically and culturally significant that so many stories of the femme fatale are told.

In 2000, two anthropologists sought to understand its significance. Dr. William Jankowiak and Angela Ramsey, from the University of Nevada, looked at the prevalence of the femme fatale image in culture. 78 cultures were used for the sample, of which 94% had images of a femme fatale, and only 42% had images of the male equivalent, ‘status fatale’ (a dangerous male).

A common belief is that women are more likely than men to be attracted to the opposite sex for reasons other than sex. Conversely, men are more likely than women to be likened to the Neanderthal: ‘men are only after one thing’, ‘he is emotionally unavailable’, or ‘he has commitment phobia’.

Most men, however, contrary to what a lot of women think, do not see women as primarily sexual objects. One of the findings in the study was that “emotional involvement, rather than sexual gratification, was the primary motivation for becoming involved with a stranger who possessed qualities deemed culturally most desirable in the opposite sex”.

This finding makes a lot of commonsense. Both men's and women's attraction to one another depends on primal instinct, and on a myriad of complex psycholigical, social, and cultural factors, which far outweigh any simple notion of gender difference. Emotions, not primal insincts, govern all our social interaction - and this is true for men as well - even when it comes to sex.

It seems that, for men, in 94% of the cultures sampled, the qualities deemed most culturally desirable in women, are personified in the image of the femme fatale.

Perhaps the femme fatale also personifies what men fear most in women. She does after all express the inexpressible; there is just something about her.

A popular contemporary rendition of the femme fatale is Chris Isaac’s gut-wrenching song, Wicked Game.

Does this song speak for the feelings most men have had about women at least one point in their life ? - Posted by Solaris

• Jankowiak W. and Ramsey A., Femme Fatale and Status Fatale: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 34, No. 1, 57-69 (2000).

Femme Fatale Women Men Temptress Seductress Villainess Film Noir Neanderthal Attraction Desire Sex Primal Instinct Emotion Culture Anthropology Chris Isaac Wicked Game

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