Women ‘on heat’

I’ve just noticed a great little article in New Scientist. It is a brief introduction into the work of Randy Thornhill (what an appropriate name!) at the University of New Mexico. He presented his theory about female oestrus at the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour meeting at Newcastle University.

He claims that women don’t become more aroused on heat, but change their mating preferences to “good genes“. Outside of their peak fertility they prefer men with traits indicating willingness to invest in child-rearing.

“Oestrus doesn’t indiscriminately increase sexual desire,” Dr Thornhill said. “It functions to get good genes.”

He and colleague Steve Gangestad say there are many examples of mammals that don’t mate with just any male when on heat. Mice, for example, try to mate with males that have different immune systems from their own, while female elephants go for the most dominant male.

Thornhill believes applying the concept of oestrus to women resolves the apparent paradox that they are concerned with getting good genes at peak fertility, and outside of this time – when he says they are in a phase of “extended sexuality” – they are concerned with getting material benefits.

Source: New Scientist (15 September 2007) 2621:18

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Posted by Oliver in Psychology, Sociobiology

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 9:44 PM and is filed under Psychology, Sociobiology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Women ‘on heat’”

1. Jonathan says:
   

   This article has turned out to be quite an education, because I’ve seen it reported in several other publications now, And in pretty much each case the story has been something along the lines of “Women want a bodybuilder”.

   Being fit is certainly a good thing, and I’m sure there are even a few women that have a thing for bodybuilders. But only a moron (or perhaps the media) would confuse nature with nurture, and attempt to claim that someone’s decision to build muscle was genetic.

   If we consult the scientist’s earlier book – A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion (Thornhill and Palmer 2000) – The good Doctors (talking about ‘good genes’) state, on page 48:

   The three most important categories of physical-attractiveness traits in human males are age, bilateral symmetry, and hormone markers. (Hormone markers are the traits of the face and other areas of the body that are proximately caused by the actions of sex hormones – androgens in men, estrogens in women – during young adulthood.) All else being equal, elderly men are not preferred by women because they are less able to provide resources (including protection) and probably because their DNA has a higher incidence of deleterious mutations than that of young men (Ellegren and Fridolfsson 1997). However, older men who have accrued disproportionate wealth can be very attractive to women (Kenrick at al. 1996).

   I suppose it all boils down to there being no money to be made, if people realise there’s not a lot they can do about their age, bilateral symmetry or hormone markers. But if the media can twist the facts to tell the story they want to sell, then their advertisers will flog far more Gym memberships, Exercise equipment, Steroids, Dietary supplements, Sports wear, Personal trainers, Counselling, Holistic therapies and even Plastic surgery.

   September 30th, 2007 at 11:44 PM

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