9 subtle behaviors women display when they’re secretly attracted to you

Sexual attraction is often cloaked in mystery. Not only is it sometimes difficult to recognize whether you’re attracted to someone but it’s even harder to be able to tell if the sentiment is reciprocated.

Luckily, the internet is a near-infinite library of knowledge, and you’re only a few minutes of scrolling away from discovering all the secrets you need to know.

So, what are the 9 subtle behaviors women display when they’re secretly attracted to you?

Let’s find out…

1) They laugh at your jokes (even if you’re not that funny)

“Humor may help with social cohesiveness, and, of course, it may perhaps help when we are trying to attract a sexual or romantic partner,” says psychiatrist Rafa Euba in Psychology Today.

It makes perfect sense when you think about it.

When you laugh, you feel good, not to mention you feel more connected to the other person. As a result, a shared sense of humor increases emotional intimacy and sexual attraction.

But it goes the other way around as well. If a woman finds you attractive, there’s a high chance she’ll laugh at all your jokes – even if you’re not particularly funny.

It is through laughing that she signals interest and motivates you to keep cracking more jokes. This, of course, brings you closer together and increases your chances of leaving the bar together or going on a date.

2) They talk to you in a higher-pitched voice

Did you know that people’s pitch of voice changes depending on whether they speak to someone they find attractive or not?

Yep, it’s true. While men tend to speak in a deeper tone of voice around the women they fancy, women employ a completely opposite strategy – their voice pitch gets higher.

According to researchers, “Speaking with a higher voice pitch when talking to men they wish to attract may function to reduce the amount of mating effort that women expend in order to attract and retain preferred mates.”

If a woman talks in a deep or normal voice when addressing the waiter or her friends, but the moment she turns to you, her voice goes higher in pitch…

You know what it means. Yes, she may fancy you.

3) Their eye contact grows more intense

People say that the eyes are the door to the soul, and in many ways, this is kind of true.

Much of flirting is about eye contact, which is why a woman’s eyes might tell you a great deal about how she feels about you.

In general, a woman who’s secretly attracted to you will maintain eye contact for longer than usual.

She may even try the “triangle method” on you, which means she’ll flip her gaze between your eyes and your mouth in a – subconscious or conscious – attempt to seduce you.

4) They subtly touch you here and there

From subtly touching your arm when laughing to picking a fallen lash from your cheek or brushing back your hair, a woman who’s secretly attracted to you will look for any excuse to touch you in a non-intrusive yet intentional way.

Generally, this is a pretty great way to gauge whether a woman is sexually attracted to you or not.

Is she leaning toward you when speaking? Does she touch your arm or chest when you make her laugh? Does she wrap her arm around yours when you’re walking down the street?

If she does, it’s a sign something more may be going on.

If she doesn’t, there’s a pretty high chance she only sees you as a friend.

(Of course, she could also just be nervous. It’s always better to double-check or tick off the other signs on this list before acting on your assumptions.)

5) They blush, stutter, and fidget when they’re around you

And speaking of nervousness, sexual attraction is further complicated by the fact that some people feel incredibly nervous when they’re around someone they fancy, and their behavior may therefore go against some of the signs I’ve described above.

For example, a woman who has a huge crush on you might maintain no eye contact at all because she simply can’t stand looking at you for longer than five seconds without being hit with a wave of anxiety and losing track of thought.

Therefore, another behavior to look for is one of nervous fidgeting, blushing, stuttering, and laughing awkwardly.

In fact, expert Wendy L. Patrick, J.D., M.Div., Ph.D. describes one study which found that “nervousness was more evident when there was a perception of mutual attraction, compared with scenarios when a participant felt another person was attracted to them but did not reciprocate the feelings.”

Furthermore, “We use our observations of nervous reactions to assess whether others are attracted to us, and are in good company.”

This basically means that reciprocal nervousness signals sexual attraction from both sides. If the woman you’re dealing with doesn’t appear nervous at all, it’s less likely that she fancies you.

6) They seem to be easily impressed by you

You’ve just won a trivia quiz, and they’re suddenly swooning about how clever you are.

You’ve cooked quite a basic meal, and they tell you that you should open your own restaurant.

You’ve run a marathon, and they find it absolutely irresistible.

Whatever you do, it’s impressive.

Do you know why?

Because the woman in question *wants* to be impressed by you. She’s already so sexually attracted to you that everything you do makes you look even more appealing in her eyes.

Thus the magic of strong sexual chemistry.

7) They ask you a lot of questions about yourself

Another fun side-effect of sexual attraction is that we usually want to get to know the person on an emotional level, too.

This is why women who find you sexually appealing will probably look for any excuse to strike up a conversation with you, and once they do, they’ll ask you loads of questions about yourself, listen actively, and show genuine interest in your hobbies and passions.

Of course, there’s always a chance the woman you’re talking to just finds you incredibly interesting as a friend, which is why it’s vital to look at all the signs in this article as one cohesive picture.

Don’t pick and choose which ones fit your narrative. Try to remain objective and look at the situation through a critical lens.

8) They’re somehow always nearby

Okay, this one sounds a bit creepy, but all I mean is that if a woman fancies you, she will most likely hang about a lot.

She may gravitate toward the same social clubs at university, hang out with the same friend group at a party, or always sit down next to you during a work meeting.

She’ll simply want to be physically close to you, be it on a conscious or subconscious level.

9) They often fix up their appearance when you enter the room

On a final note, a woman who’s secretly attracted to you will naturally want you to find her attractive, too.

This means she may be more self-conscious about her appearance than usual – especially if you’ve just come into the room.

From re-applying her lipstick to adjusting her hair or playing with her jewelry, her goal here is clear. She wants to look as appealing as possible.

Again, though, it’s extremely important to look at the signs in this article as one complete puzzle.

If you isolate a few of them and hyper-fixate on them, you’re very likely to fall into the trap of confirmation bias, and if there’s one thing you don’t want, it’s to feed into delusions that aren’t grounded in reality.

Try to remain objective. Tread carefully. And remember that it’s always better to ask than to act upon inaccurate assumptions.