

Females therefore need to be seduced more prior to engaging in sexual intercourse. From an evolutionary perspective this is due to females’ higher parental investment and the lack of guarantee of male parental investment. Males declare that they adopt the strategy of seduction statistically more frequently than females. This behaviour is also aimed at persuading someone to develop a short-term or long-term sexual relationship with them. Evolutionary psychology suggests that this form of sexual enticement can be used in order to cajole desired individuals to engage in sexual intercourse and ultimately reproduce. Research has indicated that seduction could substitute or equate to a form of collapsed or condensed courtship. Individuals employing such strategies often do so subconsciously and will merely report the feelings and thoughts that they subjectively experienced and are colloquially comparable to ‘attraction’ or 'love'. These phrases help to demonstrate the extensively pervasive and ubiquitous strategy use within love and relationships amongst humans. Popular phrases often used include ‘the language of love is universal’. This is primarily based on desire, normally physical, as well as attraction towards them. This can often involve manipulation of other individuals. Males and females both implement the strategy of seduction as a method of negotiating their sexual relationships. The Book of Judges in the Old Testament describes Delilah seducing Samson who was given great strength by God, but ultimately lost his strength when she allowed the Philistines to shave his hair off during his slumber. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." In biblical times, because unmarried females who lost their virginity had also lost much of their value as marriage prospects, the Old Testament Book of Exodus specifies that the seducer must marry his victim or pay her father to compensate him for his loss of the marriage price: "And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. Famous male seducers, their names synonymous with sexual allure, range from Genji to James Bond. Sirens of Greek mythology lured sailors to their death by singing them to shipwreck Cleopatra beguiled both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, Dionysus was the Greek god of seduction and wine. Eve herself was verbally seduced by the serpent, believed in Christianity to be Satan later, Chapter 7 of Proverbs warns of the pitfalls of seduction. In the Bible, Eve offers the forbidden fruit to Adam. Seduction is a popular motif in history and fiction, both as a warning of the social consequences of engaging in the behaviour or becoming its victim, and as a salute to a powerful skill. Seen positively, seduction is a synonym for the act of charming someone-male or female-by an appeal to the senses, often with the goal of reducing unfounded fears and leading to their "sexual emancipation." Some sides in contemporary academic debate state that the morality of seduction depends on the long-term impacts on the individuals concerned, rather than the act itself, and may not necessarily carry the negative connotations expressed in dictionary definitions. Seduction, seen negatively, involves temptation and enticement, often sexual in nature, to lead someone astray into a behavioural choice they would not have made if they were not in a state of sexual arousal. Seduction is also used within marketing to increase compliance and willingness. This is predominately by "pickup artists" (PUA). The emergence of the Internet and technology has supported the availability and the existence of a seduction community, which is based on discourse about seduction.

Famous seducers from history or legend include Lilith, Giacomo Casanova, and the fictional character Don Juan. The word seduction stems from Latin and means literally "leading astray." As a result, the term may have a positive or negative connotation. Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual features, non-verbal communication, and short-term behavioural strategies. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises".


Don Juan in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, a painting by Max Slevogt
