Ovulation is when a mature egg is released from the ovary and pushed down the fallopian tube… making it available to be fertilised.
So far, so boring biology book, right?
Wrong. Over the years, science has proven that ovulation is responsible for a variety of other weird happenings and bizarre behaviours too… and not just in women. Turns out, we are sending a LOT of sneaky signals.
Here are six things that are happening while you’re ovulating:
1. It makes us smell better to the opposite sex
This is a bit grim but stick with me; the sweat of women who are ovulating smells sweeter (and therefore more attractive) to men. When men rated the sexual attractiveness and intensity of T-shirt odours worn by 42 women using oral contraceptives (pill users) and by 39 women without oral contraceptives (nonusers), they rated the sexual attractiveness of nonusers highest at midcycle. The results indicate that men can use olfactory cues to distinguish between ovulating and non-ovulating women.
2. Ovulation makes men more possessive
All this extra sexiness oozing from your every pore is likely to make Himself a little more attentive than usual (they can’t help it – even lapdancers who kept track of their cycle discovered they made significantly more money in tips when they were ovulating) but his extra woo-ing could be a little more self-serving than you think. According to this study, ‘mate retention tactics’ come into play when he (subconsciously of course) suspects other blokes could be about to make a move on his lady, making him a little more jealous than usual.
3. It makes us dress to impress
In 2006, a group of researchers managed to prove that women subconsciously spend more time on ‘ornamentation behaviour‘ (getting dressed and beautifying ourselves) when we are most fertile. We are also more likely to wear more make-up and choose sexier and more revealing clothes – a trick scientists believe may be more about outperforming other women than nabbing a baby-daddy.
4. We get more protective over good-looking fellas:
New research shows that because ovulating women are both more attractive to men and also more attracted to (desirable) men, they are perceived to pose heightened threats to other women’s romantic relationships. When partnered women were exposed to photos of other women taken during either their ovulatory or nonovulatory menstrual-cycle phases, they consistently reported intentions to socially avoid the ovulating (but not nonovulating) women—but only when their own partners were highly desirable.
5. It makes our voices a little higher
Studies have revealed that the pitch of a woman’s voice undergoes a subtle but perceptible change when she’s ovulating. Scientists believe a higher voice (our pitch is at its highest the day the egg is released) could be more attractive to men.
6. Ovulating make us more likely to wear pink
Yes, seriously. Women who are ovulating are three times more likely to wear a red or pink shirt than women who are not. Ovulation had no effect on the prevalence of any other shirt colour.
