The study was conducted by researchers from Queen’s University, Ontario, who examined female volunteers’ walks and the levels of sex hormones in their saliva.

Based on their study, the researchers state that the sexier the woman’s walk, the further she is from ovulation.

The finding, says lead researcher Meghan Provost, is surprising for it has generally been thought that a swing of the hips was thought to one of the subtle signals that women give men to advertise the fact that they are ready to have kids.

As a part of the study, Provost and her team showed video clips of women walking to 40 men who were asked to rate the attractiveness of the ladies’ gait.

The results were then matched hormone tests.

The team found women who are at the peak of the fertility are most likely to walk with fewer hip movements and with their knees closer together.

Provost thinks that a sexy walk is a woman’s way to ‘keep men off scent’ and to protect herself from sexual assault and to conceal ovulation from males other than their chosen partner.

“If women are trying to protect themselves from sexual assault at times of peak fertility, it would make sense for them to advertise attractiveness on a broad scale when they are not fertile,” BBC News quoted her, as saying.

Dr John Manning, from the University of Central Lancashire, agrees with this theory.

“I think that the subtle signs of ovulation are used, in a sense, to promote monogamy,” he said.

“If you want to pick up on these, you have to be already living with, or close to, the woman, so this constrains the man into daily attendance on a woman.” (ANI)