A woman’s ovulatory cycle affects her perception and sexual desire. There is now a solid foundation of research showing that women’s mate preferences change with cyclic fluctuation. Women are very attracted to masculine facial features—masculine faces, facial symmetry, body symmetry, the male voice—when in their fertile period. During this time, they also find socially dominant behavior and male body scent stimulating. Yet, women may also find creative, intelligent men attractive during this time, but research findings are contradictory. In general, studies have found that on average that women who are fertile and already romantically involved feel stronger sexual attraction to strangers especially if their partners lack strong masculine features and symmetry. The bottom line here is that women’s preferences change over time with their cycles.
So far, so good, but does a woman’s position that she loves her guy for his mind hold water?
One study has tested this question with 66 heterosexual couples recruited at the University of New Mexico. All female subjects were between the ages 18 to 44 and ovulating naturally, i.e., not using contraceptives. Men’s intelligence was assessed along with the sexual interest patterns of the women regarding mates and non-mates over their cycles. Results revealed strong effects of male facial masculinity but none for intelligence.
In other words, looks count. And, yet again, biology triumphs over all.
Closing Thoughts
So, research indicates that although humans have evolved over time, women have not completely lost the physical drive known as estrus which is a periodic state of fertility. According to Thornhill & Gangestad (2008), women do indeed possess estrus which is similar to the estrus drives of other primates, mammals, and vertebrates This state motivates women to reproduce with mates of good health and genetic potential. Some researchers argue that men’s masculine features may be a sexual signal implying good genes and good offspring. True, human females are not compelled to mindlessly pursue sex as other animals do when they are “in heat,” but it says human estrus, for lack of a better term, has evolved into something much more subtle and complex, although still not without some power. Finally, and more deeply, these findings lend support to the powerful foundation of biology that guides and often compels human behavior more so than social forces.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
References
Thornhill, R. & Gangestad, S. (2008). The Evolutionary Biology of Human Female Sexuality. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gangestad, S., Thornhill, R., & Garver-Apgar, C. (2010). Men’s facial masculinity predicts changes in their female partners’ sexual interests across the ovulatory cycle, whereas men’s intelligence does not. Evolution and Human Behavior 31(6), p. 412-424.