Women are notoriously moody, and it is always blamed by both
sexes on the menstruation cycle. Some studies even debate how this constant
influx of hormones can make a man seem more attractive at different points in
the cycle. There doesn’t seem to be much conclusion on this. However, is it
possible that the contrary can be true? Can women appear more or less
attractive along a one month period?
About two weeks after a woman’s first day of her period,
there are varying levels of four different hormones, LH (luteinizing hormone),
FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), estrogen, and progesterone that are weaving
an intricate web of positive and negative feedback commands to the ovaries,
pituitary, and uterus about how to prepare for the very energy costly process
of growing a human inside of you. At the fourteen day mark is when things get
interesting: estrogen levels shoot up with the anticipation of a possible
pregnancy, which starts with an almost mature oocyte being ejected from its
follicle in the ovary. Simultaneously, the walls of the uterus, called the
endometrium, are thickening to be able to provide nourishment to a future
zygote.
The question then becomes, what sort of effect does so much
estrogen have in a female body? While the results remain to be conclusive,
several papers in the psychology today article below found several physical
qualities in women that change when they are fertile including lighter skin,
deeper voice, and even smelling better, the latter possibly contributing to pheromones.
All of which can culminate to greater attraction from men. A study conducted by
the University of New Mexico recently monitored the cycles of 18 strippers, and
found that they would almost double the amount of tips they would earn while
ovulating as opposed to being on their period.
There is a correlation between attraction and raised levels
of estrogen in women, though the question then becomes if this is due to
changes in our physicality or maybe a subconscious message is sent to men
through pheromones. It could even be a combination of both, but could one be
stronger than the other?
References:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=news-bytes-week-ovulating-strippers-bigger-tips
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/200907/are-fertile-women-more-attractive
http://women.webmd.com/guide/estrogen-and-womens-emotions
Emmy,
ReplyDeleteI found this to be extremely interesting, which led me to do some research of my own. Among the hormonal changes linked to a women’s monthly cycle, women also go through physiologic and behavioral changes. It seems that there is a time when the hormonal changes occur along with the physiologic and behavioral that women appear more attractive. Whether they are mutually exclusive to one another is still up for question. However, an article in the Huffington Post tells of a study done where researchers took pictures of 202 women’s faces and made recordings of their voices at two points in their menstrual cycles. They also took saliva samples to measure hormone levels during the same two points. More than 500 men rated the attractiveness of the women's faces and voices from one of the two sessions. Also another 500 women were also asked to rate the women's attractiveness across their cycles. Both men and women rated the women’s faces and voices as more attractive when the women's progesterone levels were low and estrogen levels were high. The study’s author David Puts notes that the only time in the cycle when estrogen levels are high and progesterone levels are simultaneously low is the late follicular phase, near ovulation when fertility is highest.
The questions I am curious about are if women on online dating sites used pictures of themselves during the late follicular phase of their cycle, would they get more matches? Also if women become more consciously aware that they are supposed to be “sexier” at this time of the month, would that change the way they behave or perceive themselves? Lastly, if you did this study with young men and women who recently started puberty would you see the same results?
Side note: maybe the idea of "concealed ovulation" in humans is subconscious rather than looking for something consciously going on.
References:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/fertility-women-attractiveness-study_n_2286537.html
On Netflix there is a documentary called The Science of Sex. It is incredibly interesting and it talks about all of these things with the studies that were done to find them. It's not boring at all, so you don't feel like you're just watching some documentary.
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