User:EmPhillips/sandbox

Women’s preferences for body odour change across their menstrual cycle. The ovulatory shift hypothesis argues that women experience elevated immediate sexual attraction on high relative to low fertile days of the cycle to men with characteristics that reflect good genetic quality. Body odour may provide significant cues about a potential sexual partner’s genetic quality, reproductive status and health, with preferences for particular body odours becoming heightened during a woman’s most fertile days. ). As certain body odours can reflect good genetic quality, woman are more likely to prefer these scents when they are fertile as this is when they are most likely to produce offspring with any potential mates, with conception risk being related to a preference for the scent of male symmetry . Men also prefer the scent of woman at their fertile cycle points.

There are several scents that reflect good genetic quality that females prefer during the most fertile phase of their cycles. Women prefer the scent of symmetrical men more during the fertile phases of their menstrual cycle than during their infertile phases, with estrogen positively predicting women’s preferences for the scent of symmetry. Women’s preferences for masculine faces is greatest when their fertility is at its highest, and so is the preference for attractive faces. Other scents found to be preferred by women in the most fertile phase of their cycle are, the scent for developmental stability, and the scent for dominance.

If women are taking the contraceptive pill the changes in mate scent preferences over the menstrual cycle are not expressed. If odour plays a role in human mate choice then the contraceptive pill could disrupt disassortative mate preferences. Those taking the contraceptive pill show no significant preference for the scent of either symmetrical or asymmetrical men whereas normally cycling women prefer the scent of shirts worn by symmetrical men. Males’ preferences for women’s scent may also change if the woman is taking oral contraceptives. When women take the contraceptive pill this has been found to demolish the cycle attractiveness of odours than men find attractive in normally ovulating women. Therefore, the contraceptive pill affects both women’s preferences for scent and also affects their own scents, making their scents less attractive to males than the scent of normally cycling women.