Changes in Female Behavior in their Fertile Window

By Sara Twogood, MD

Libido is increased around time of ovulation and from an evolutionary perspective this makes sense of course: higher libido = more sex = more likely to get pregnant = propagation of the species.

We reviewed the hormones and neurotransmitters that are thought to be responsible for this increase in this blog post. These were from basic science studies.

There are many psychosocial studies too!

Here are 2 articles describing changes in female behavior in their fertile window I found interesting and hope you do too:

1.    Premise: females become more particular about potential mates around their most fertile time period – favoring males who, in theory, would provide good genetic material for offspring. This meta-analysis (a review of lots of different studies) showed female preference was increased during the fertile window for these male characteristics: the scent of social dominance (yes, that’s what they called it!); facial and bodily symmetry and masculinity; masculine vocal and behavioral qualities; and tall height. Now … we all know that males with these characteristics are not always the best or the brightest, so we still need to use our brains and our good judgement when choosing a mate at any time of our cycles. But this study also showed a female preference towards creative talent and overall intelligent appearance. That’s more like it!

Article: Gangestad, Steven and Randy Thornhill. Review: Human oestrus. Proc R Soc B (2008) 275, 991-1000

2.    And then there is this study that showed female subconscious behavior changes in front of a “potential mate”:

College age heterosexual females walked down the hall in front of an attractive male. This male was deemed to be attractive by other females not included in the study.

The females knew they were participating in a clinical study but they didn’t think this walk was a part of it. Female saliva was sampled during the experiment, looking for elevation of luteinizing hormone (LH), showing which females were in their fertile window, right before ovulation. The females in their fertile window walked slightly slower and “sexier” than females not in their fertile window.

Article: Gait and menstrual cycle: Ovulating women use sexier gaits and walk slowly ahead of men Nicolas Gue´guen * Universite´ de Bretagne-Sud, UFR LSHS, 4, rue Jean Zay, BP 92116, 56321 Lorient Cedex, France.

Now I fully acknowledge that these studies could potentially be viewed as sexist. But you know what? We can’t always control our hormones and subconscious behavior,. Understanding it helps us as females use this information towards our advantage. This is what we are all about - knowledge as power.