Women "Advertise" Fertility

Dik Zak writes with word of a paper published in the journal Hormones and Behavior. A study found that women take greater care over their appearance when they are at peak levels of monthly fertility. The researchers took two photos of each of 30 women, one near ovulation and one at the other end of her cycle. They then showed the paired photos (with faces obscured) to a group of observers, who were asked to judge in which photo the women were trying to look more attractive. The observers chose the "high fertility" subject nearly 60% more of the time than would be expected by chance.

Comments

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[FST]

Looks like kdawson isn't too fertile right now.

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Corporate Troll]

Is that a KDE application?

What does this mean for men?

[atari2600]

Like you uhh know you we are (most of us) are at the 100% fertility rate most of the time and uhhh we don't care about advertising it. I am not sure where i am going with this. Oh snap, i need to shave the 4 month old beard. Wonder where dad keeps his razor...

Re:What does this mean for men?

[Tackhead]

> Like you uhh know you we are (most of us) are at the 100% fertility rate most of the time and uhhh we don't care about advertising it. I am not sure where i am going with this. Oh snap, i need to shave the 4 month old beard. Wonder where dad keeps his razor...

Apparently, for at least four times during that interval, it's been in Mom's drawer.

(Sorry, that was too easy.)

Re:What does this mean for men?

[kalirion]

What it really means for men is that the more attracted you are the the woman you're having sex with, the greater the chances that you'll need to use protection.

Of course the only true way to be safe is to abs^H^H^Hread slashdot.

Re:What does this mean for men?

[Viper Daimao]

I know it means little for /. men, since we don't appear to be in their target audience.

Re:What does this mean for men?

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL, great troll! You almost had me with the girlfriend thing, then I realized which website I was reading.

My Evolutionary Disadvantage

[good soldier svejk]

According to my wife I have a genetic defect which causes me to be more attracted to her when she is menstruating. This has obvious disadvantages in that she is both unlikely to get pregnant and unlikely to not kick my ass when fondled in that state. Good thing I don't want kids, or a genetic legacy.

Oh, no. Not again!

[DrMindWarp]

A similar study was conducted about 10 years ago, if not more. Slashdot! News for amnesiacs. Stuff that mattered long ago.

Women?

[suv4x4]

Dear stranger, what is this "women" you speak of?

Re:Women?

[Anonymous Coward]

google it. There are lots of web sites with pictures of them advertising their fertility.

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[good soldier svejk]

Per my comment below, my wife and I have the inverse relationship. And I always know her schedule because if I find myself humping her leg, she is probably menstruating.

Come on

[chanrobi]

What a jip. I wanted to see the pictures they used not the boring words they used in their study write up :)

Re:Come on

[WhyDoYouWantToKnow]

What do we want? Pictures of women with obscured faces.
When do we want 'em? Now!

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[Kiaser Zohsay]

But then again, how many guys know their wife's monthly schedule?

This works both ways. When she's near the end of her cycle, I'm near the end of my rope! Of course, women in general tend care less about everything near the end of their cycle, not just personal grooming. Does the phrase "Oh, to hell with it all, where's the Haagen Das?" ring any bells?

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[doktor-hladnjak]

But then again, how many guys know their wife's monthly schedule?

Just another reason, I'm glad I'm gay.

False Advertising

[Anonymous Coward]

So they'll advertise, but never actually have any for sale? It's like shopping at Best Buy.

Re:False Advertising

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

So they'll advertise, but never actually have any for sale? It's like shopping at Best Buy.

No, when you buy something at Best Buy, you can return it if the product is defective.

Re:False Advertising

[Anonymous Coward]

So they'll advertise, but never actually have any for sale?

Remember, though: sex is kind of like software. It's better when it's free.

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[Rob T Firefly]

But then again, how many guys know their wife's monthly schedule?

I know your wife's monthly schedule.

Inferior Humans

[OrangeTide]

If HUMAN FEMALES really wanted to advertise fertility they have their nose light up and breasts double in size.

Re:Inferior Humans

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

If HUMAN FEMALES really wanted to advertise fertility they have their nose light up and breasts double in size.

It's called "plastic surgery" (at least for the breast size), and it's designed to advertise fertility at some unconscious level. As for the nose thing, only female clown performers do that to attract male clowns.

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[Anonymous Coward]

But then again, how many guys know their wife's monthly schedule?
Just another reason, I'm glad I'm gay.

Yes, but then you have to know your partner's daily tri-therapy schedule...

Re:No, 60% more

[WilliamSChips]

42 judges. That number is important.

Re:There's a reason for that

[Gospodin]

...which admittedly shouldn't surprise anyone who actually knows any women.

Ah. So that's why this made it as a news item on Slashdot.

"who did not know what the study was about"

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

Doc: Thank you for volunteering for our experiment
Subject: That's fine. What's it about?
Doc: We can't tell you. But could you tell me what part of your menstrual cycle you're in?
Subject: So it's about menstrual cycles?
Doc: No. We ask everyone that quaestion.
Subject: I believe you.

Re:No, 60% more

[EraseEraseMe]

the partner chosen by the woman has some quality that the husband/boyfriend lacks

Like a Porsche...

Re:Researchers should pay more attention

[Anonymous Coward]

> Knowing when she ovulates means knowing which days I can skip shaving and don't have to clean up before giving her a kiss after doing yardwork.

I've heard cunnilinguis called a lot of things before, but "yardwork" wasn't one of 'em.

Until tonight.

It means...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the one type of advertising where you don't want your pop-up to be blocked.

Re:Yes but

[bcattwoo]

does it really mean anything for us humans? I mean, if women actually attracted more men when they look attractive, then we wouldn't have had a surge of babies 9 months after the northeast power blackout, quite the contrary.
Sure we would. Everyone looks better in the dark.

Can I take your picture?

[Anonymous Coward]

What woman in her right mind would allow someone to take photos of her based on her freakin' period?

"Will you be menstrating in the next week?"

*smack*

"I take that as a yes."

Re:Interesting...

[Anonymous Coward]

The start of a period indicates that her partner has failed to impregnate her, so in terms of natural selection, that is the time to seriously reconsider the relationship.

At the start of her period, my girlfriend still wants to fuck my brains out. She just doesn't get eaten that week. Yeah, menstrual fucking is a little messy, but she's also a squirter so we're used to having a towel or two between us and the waterproof matresspad.

In any case, it is deeply alarming to see such mounting evidence that most of our "free choices" are impelled from below, from the parts of our brains that still believe we are living in the jungle.

Anyone deeply alarmed by this, hasn't been paying much attention. This study is a mere drop in the bucket of evidence that people are basically no different than other animals. We are still in the jungle, it's just one part of your brain that is deluded enough to think we ever left.

Be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

When you allow a plug-in root access, there's always risk of spawning child processes.

Re:NS article is missing a comma

[uhlume]

In other words, having missed the comma, the NS article suggests a higher probability of a missed period?