For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men
From the back cover of this book, "With findings from a groundbreaking national survey and personal interviews of over one thousand men, For Women Only is full of eye-opening revelations you need to not only understand the man in your life, but to support and love him in the way he needs to be loved." Author Shaunti Feldhahn details survey findings about the importance of modest clothing choices for women in Chapter 6, "Keeper of the Visual Rolodex: Why It's So Natural for Him to Look and So Hard to Forget What He's Seen." Chapter 8, "The Truth About the Way You Look: Why What's on the Outside Matters to Him on the Inside," reveals more survey findings about how much men appreciate women's efforts to address fitness, clothing and grooming concerns.
For Young Women Only: What You Need to Know About How Guys Think
Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa Rice launched a major national survey along with in-depth personal interviews of young men ages fifteen to twenty to help give girls a look inside the teenage male mind. Their findings about what teen guys think about modest and immodest clothing are explained in Chapter 5, "Keeper of the Photo Files: What 'Guys are Visual' Really Means . . . and What It Means For You." Chapter 6 continues with insights on appearance, "Seeing the Inner and Outer Beauty: Why Guys Care That Girls Take Care of Themselves . . . Even Though They Are Looking for the Real You."
The Male Factor: The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions, and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace
From the book synopsis, "Based on a nationwide survey and confidential interviews with more than three thousand men, bestselling author of For Women Only, Shaunti Feldhahn, has written a startling and unprecedented exploration of how men in the workplace tend to think, which even the most astute women might otherwise miss. Among the subjects The Male Factor tackles are . . . why certain trendy clothes that women wear may create a career-sabotaging land mine in terms of how male colleagues perceive them." Chapter 10, referenced above, is entitled, "The Visual Trap: Why That Low-Cut Blouse Can Undercut Your Career." In this chapter, Feldhahn says, "Based on the seven nationally representative surveys I've commissioned over the years for my books, I can almost guarantee that the businesswoman who puts on a figure-framing crossover blouse under her suit isn’t ‘looking for attention’ or trying to ‘send a message.’ But that is how almost every man perceives it." About immodest business attire she also states, ". . . When it comes to the ways that talented women may unknowingly undermine men’s perception of them, this one is near the top of the list."
The Male Factor is full of quotes from Feldhahn's personal interviews with businessmen. For example, one man told her, "You can be very attractive and that isn’t a problem for a guy as long as everything is covered up and not too close-fitting. If I see an attractive woman being careful about it, the mental conclusion is that she’s going to rely on her point of view instead of on her looks. But if I meet someone at work with a trendy, short skirt or close-fitting clothes, I know she must know that, so she’s relying on her body and the attraction factor to work in her favor." This book is essential reading for women seeking to unravel the mysteries of men's responses to them in workplace settings, especially in regard to appearance.
The one drawback about Shaunti's workplace book is that she presents insights on the male mind within the context of women adjusting their own behavior to line up more closely with that of men's in order to be more successful on the job. Not only is this difficult for women to do, but the advisability of it is questionable. God created men and women to be different, and working well alongside each other does not mean that we need to become like each other.