The Dean

Fascinating article from Slate.com, particularly the four key changes bit..........

I particularly like No 4...............

http://www.slate.com/id/2281138/pagenum/all/#p2

Hello.Kitty

it's actually pretty well known that a group of women who see each other a lot (group of good friends, workmates, etc...) will actually somehow align their cycles so that they are all fertile at the same time...

kittycat1

Interesting article Dean- however, what the article fails to mention is whether women are more prone to sexual assaults during their ovulation period- you would think that if you are releasing more pheromones during ovulation then you would be drawing more attention from the opposite sex- ie a dog on heat. I can remember reading an article on womens sex drives, and how they peak at the time of ovulation; your body knows when it is easiest to fall pregnant- ie when you are ovulating, and this is when women become the most sexually active and also when they are most likely to have indiscretions. If a woman hasn't fallen pregnant to her partner then they will start to look elsewhere. There is also a surge in sex drive just before a womans period in a last ditch attempt to fall pregnant.

Going back to basics so before we became civilized, men would go around trying to fertilize as many women as possible, and women would have sex with as many men as possible trying to become pregnant choosing strong 'stock'- note why men are big and strong- so they can fight off other competition. When you look at chimps- who are the closest to humans, they live in groups with a dominant male and the females will mate with strange rogue males to bring in fresh DNA and are in fact more likely to fall pregnant to rogue sperm, which is also true in humans- women in long term relationships are more likely to fall pregnant to a stranger than to their long term partner.

I'm not sure when we decided that we as a race, should be monogamous and people say that men are designed to sow their oats, however its as unnatural for women to be faithful as it is for men.

lionheart

I'm not 100% convinced. As women are more likely to be mothers and therefore more closely bonded to their children, I still believe that women are slightly more inclined to support monogamy even if only for the sake of the children and other family members. Men are generally not quite so closely attached to the family unit. You may disagree KK but I will not be dissuaded otherwise.

kittycat1

Lionheart- of course people (men and women) can be monogamous- it is a choice after all, we all have will power. I'm just not sure why one day someone decided that that is the best thing for us when it goes against what we naturally would do.

Hello.Kitty

It's a bit of an interesting fact that the first-born of a family is more likely to look like the father than the mother. This is apparently meant to cement the male to the new family unit and basically, make sure he carries on bringing home the wildebeest.

The Dean

Nobody has admitted to becoming more racist during ovulation.....

........ come on girls!

Blue Cat

shut it white trash

stuart6078

Nice nod to Trish Keenan from The Dean there.

Kelli28

Load of bollocks, that article is talking about strange men! Women are mostly raped by someone they know.

The Dean

The interesting point of the article - surely - is the suggestion that, during ovulation, women become more suspicious of males, make a conscious effort to avoid lonely or dark places, etc? I'm fascinated by the whole thing.........

Kelli28

I do know that women become more attracted to men with softer features around ovulation as they make better fathers. Whereas they are more attracted to males with more rugged features at other times as they make better protecters. As an evolutionary mechanisim to be suspicious or avoid dark and lonely places....Not sure? Faced with that combination I'd be scared no matter what time of the month, so maybe it's just about overall protection or it could also be learned fear from media or parents.

It wouldn't really help with modern day rapes anyway as most either happen in the victim or the perpetrators home.