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By Root 408 0

there are very good evolutionary reasons why women would have developed an unconscious preference for these markers of genetic superiority. Intriguingly, women do not show a preference for the smell of symmetrical men when they are not ovulating. This may be due to the unconscious realization that men with the best genes often don’t make the most faithful partners, which suggests just how subtle our evolutionary tendencies can be. Even the smell of other women can influence female behavior. In one study, women exposed to the smell of other women who were breast-feeding found that their sexual desire spiked 17-24 percent. Truly bold women can try to pull off a daring stunt with their copulins, which are fatty acids found in vaginal secretions. In one study, while men did not rate the smell of copulins as pleasant, they had a dramatic effect on how the men viewed women. After being exposed to the smell, the men gave higher ratings for attractiveness to photos of women, and their testosterone levels spiked. The less attractive the woman, the more her rating went up. If men want to pull off a similar feat, they can try to plant some sweat under a woman’s nose. In one study, women rated men’s faces and then were exposed to a small amount of underarm sweat and asked to rate the faces again. After smelling the sweat, the women raised their ratings substantially.

It’s not simply how we judge looks that can be affected by things like smell and ovulation—these things can also alter what sort of personality a woman finds attractive. In a study run by Geoffrey Miller and Martie Haselton, women read stories that described either a creative, poor man or an uncreative, rich man. When women were near their peak fertility, they preferred creativity to wealth for a short-term relationship, offering evidence that ovulation can dramatically affect a woman’s mate choice by pushing her to choose good genes over a good dad, particularly when she is not making a long-term decision. Marriage itself influences a woman’s preferences. In another examination of the influence of smell on female choice, a woman with a partner preferred the smell of more dominant men, while single women showed no preference. Researchers have suggested that single women were interested in securing a partner, but once that was taken care of, women turned to the pursuit of the best genes. Ovulation may even provide an explanation for the female complaint that all the good men are taken. According to a 2008 study, women with partners found men in a relationship more attractive during periods of low fertility, but they preferred single men (if they displayed masculine traits) during periods of high fertility. Again, this shift in preference seems to correspond to a good genes/good dad split, with ovulation increasing a woman’s attraction to single, masculine men for their genes but with low fertility shifting their attraction to men who show an ability to commit to a long-term relationship (i.e., a man already in a relationship). So, the next time a woman finds herself lamenting the lack of available men, she can perhaps blame it on her fertility cycle.

MEN GET MOODY, TOO

Don’t worry, ladies. A man is ruled just as much by his own body chemistry, although it does not function in the same way that a woman’s does. Let’s return to that odiferous object of scientific inquiry, the sweaty T-shirt. Researchers decided to run a similar smell test on men. They gave women cotton T-shirts to wear during different phases of their menstrual cycle and then had men smell the results. What men honed in on was not a woman’s MHC profile but her ovulation cycle. Rating T-shirts for pleasantness and sexiness, men gave women who were ovulating or about to ovulate a much higher rating than women who were approaching menstruation. According to another study, women reported that their partners became more loving and attentive during their ovulations as well as more jealous of other men. In other words, men aren’t particularly focused on finding a woman with a different immune profile, but