Women Detect Ovulation In The Faces Of Other Women – Competitors for Sex: A study published on 26th Jan 2016 looked into how women respond to seeing the faces of other women at different phases in their ovulation cycle. Even though the women did not find the faces of their sexual ‘competitors’ attractive they were able to distinguish those at the peak of their monthly fertility.
The ovulation period in a woman’s monthly cycle is a very important time for sexual competition. This is when a mature egg is released from the woman’s ovary and travels down her fallopian tube to be in place to receive the sperm delivered during sex and thus become fertilized.
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In the past research has indicated that men find the faces of ovulatory women more attractive than women in the non-ovulatory phases of their monthly cycle. From an evolutionary perspective this is important for men because this is the time when a woman is most likely to conceive. By becoming pregnant she will help her mate ensure his genes are passed onto the next generation.
Clues to ovulation in a woman can be very subtle. Scientific articles have reported that women dance, walk, sound, smell and look more attractive during this highly fertile part of their monthly cycle. Most of these studies have focused on how ovulating women are perceived by men. Clearly there has been a direct biological advantage for men who preferentially have sex with women when they are fertile.
In the past few days research has been published which examines how women respond to the facial cues of other women during ovulation. This research was published on 26th January 2016 in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters (the link is here). The authors (Janek S. Lobmaier, Cora Bobst and Fabian Probst) were interested to understand how these cues might influence the women’s awareness of potential sexual competition for their partners from other women. When these ‘other women’ are highly fertile (ovulating) this could be seen biologically as a dangerous time – with a high risk of partner loss.
The researchers presented women with pictures of other women who were either in the ovulation period (and therefore highly fertile) or where in the ‘in-between’ non-fertile period. They asked the women to rate the pictures, first in terms of their attractiveness, and secondly in terms of the potential risk that the woman in the picture would steal their partner (the sexual ‘competitor’ risk).
Generally the women did not identify a difference in the attractiveness of the faces of ovulating or non-ovulating women (unlike the views of men involved in earlier studies). However they did find that women could identify from the facial cues which women in the pictures posed a threat of stealing their partners. These were the pictures of women who were ovulating and therefore more likely to become pregnant if engaged in intercourse in the very near future. Specifically the women who were most sensitive to these cues where those who themselves were not currently in their ‘fertile’ period but likely to enter it soon (as measured by their sexual hormone levels).
Of course we males also have a few tricks up our sleeves to try and entice the ladies to be receptive to our advances. In the video below is a little example straight from my studios in Africa in which my local tribal choir present their fertility dance. Enjoy!
Chris Duggleby started his scientific career studying Bacteriology, Virology and Immunology at the Manchester University Medical School. From there he went on to spend over 35 in the chemicals and oil industries which included setting up a polymers research and development group in Geneva, Switzerland for a major international chemicals company. Following an MBA from Warwick University he went on to lead a number of international manufacturing and marketing operations in the Chemicals, Plastics and Oil industries. His work involved living and working in Europe, Asia, the USA, the Middle East, and Russia. More recently he was invited to take on a senior leadership position in the Audit Department of the BP International Oil Group. Here he used his global change and risk management experience to help the group reshape its management structures and processes following a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He has now retired to focus on writing about risk management and producing music in his studios near London, in the Alps and Cape Town. If you are interested in risk management check out his RiskTuition.com or BizChangers.com (management of change) sites. He has also recently launched the JointVentureRisk.com site.
If you found this article interesting please consider taking a look at some of my other recent reports on similar subjects.
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