Hormones associated with the menstrual cycle appear to drive sexual attraction more than we know.
…Most animals aren’t shy about showing their interest in mating. The male frigate bird puffs out his throat into a gigantic red balloon. Female cats yowl and spray urine during estrus, their time of ovulation and sexual receptivity. And in female chimps, estrus swellings of the external sex organs can get as large as a cantaloupe — not something a male could easily miss.
In humans, signs of sexual interest aren’t nearly so obvious. The male of the species generally doesn’t broadcast his constant readiness for sex, and during her window of fertility at ovulation, the female doesn’t display any outward signs. Some biologists and anthropologists have theorized that this “loss of estrus” in people makes us less driven by sex hormones than other animals.
But according to a steady stream of new studies by evolutionary and biological psychologists, that may not be the case. This research indicates that the hormonal changes of a woman’s monthly cycle may be more powerful than we’ve ever conceived — compelling women to advertise when they’re ovulating, and men to notice. Although women aren’t showing off swellings, yowling or spraying, studies suggest they may dress more provocatively, flirt more, and possibly become more sexually excitable, for roughly six days mid-cycle, before and after ovulation. They even show minuscule shifts in voice pitch, scent and skin tone, some studies suggest.
Law, B. M. (2011, March). Hormones & desire. Monitor on Psychology, 42(3).
