The Ultimate Body Language Book

very pronounced compared to many other animals. But when we do differ, men and women tend to
display (exploit) their differences in effort to attract attention.
Like most of life’s endeavors, attention is competition based. We compete both against our own sex and
for attention from the other sex. This seems like one in the same, but it is not. For example, appearing
larger, heavier, taller or more muscular can serve to pique the interest of women, but also to repel
nearby rivals. This is not to say that our species is cutthroat where everything boils down to
competition. Instead, a large part of life involves cooperation. However, how would we know who best
to cooperate with, if it wasn’t for their advantages in competition!
The hands on hips gesture is one of the ways men puff out to appear more dominant and attractive to
the opposite sex and repel competition from the same sex. The cue cluster accompanying the hands-onhips
also includes an upright posture, chin up, chest out and the legs at slightly wider than shoulder
width. The hands-on-hips is also a ready posture when it does not accompany more dominant cues in
the cluster. In this case, it appears like a runner at the gate prepared to jump at an opportunity whatever
it might be.
Territoriality and ownership is a part of the hands on hips gestures, just like placing a flag into the soil
indicates a territorial line. Holding the body erect, planted, shows that the pieces of land on which we
stands is ours. We occasionally see this posture in children too, as they assert their point to their adult
counterparts. The referee at a sporting event will be seen holding ground with his hands on his hips as
he’s met with protest from the team’s coach. He’s made a bad call, but instead of admitting it, of which
let’s face it, he can’t, he instead says “I’m not going to leave, I’m the boss, what I say goes.”
Meanwhile the coach will mirror this posture saying “I’m not going anywhere until I’m done doing
what I came here for, so you are just going to hear me out.” Therefore the hands-on-hips body language
also represents defiance. The abbreviation for the hands on hip gesture is to drop one hand, yet it
remains just as potent. The other hand is usually busy gesturing more than colourful language.