When women buy expensive handbags or other luxury items, the behavior may be an attempt to assert ownership of their male partners, according to a new study in Consumer Research.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a series of experiments. First, female study subjects were asked to imagine their loved ones flirting or being intimate with other women at a party. Next, the researchers assessed the subjects’ women’s desire to buy luxury goods based on their drive to defend their emotional relationships.
In one of the experiments, women who imagined jealousy as a result of a threat to their romantic relationship were more likely to purchase handbags, shoes, the luxury brand logos drawn on handbags, shoes, T-shirts, and cars were twice as large.
Meanwhile, female subjects said that when a man’s partner dresses in luxury brands, they assume that the man is more loyal to his partner and therefore less likely to actively pursue him.
The researchers wrote in their paper, “Typically, men flaunt their luxury items to the opposite sex, while women are more inclined to flaunt their luxury items to the same sex.” The researchers noted, “Flaunting haute couture products is tantamount to saying, ‘Stay away from my man!'”
The researchers also mentioned that “guarding a partner” is not the only reason women buy luxury goods. Past studies have also shown that these luxuries also make women feel happy and can be used to express their status and taste.