Elsevier

Evolution and Human Behavior

Volume 30, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 351-355
Evolution and Human Behavior

Original Article
Menstrual cycle phases and female receptivity to a courtship solicitation: an evaluation in a nightclub

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.03.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that female behaviors toward men or sexual interest are different across the menstrual cycle. However, women's receptivity to an explicit courtship solicitation still remained in question. In a field experiment, 20-year-old women were approached by 20-year-old male confederates in nightclubs and solicited to dance during the period when slow songs were played. A survey was administered to the women in order to obtain information about the number of days since the onset of previous menses. It was found that women in their fertile phase agreed more favorably to the dance request than women in their luteal phase or in their menstrual phase.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants were 211 single young women (mean=20.12 years, S.D.=1.68) who were chosen at random in three nightclubs on the outskirts of the city of Vannes in France. This medium-sized town (more than 70 000 inhabitants) is located in the west of France on the Atlantic coast of Brittany and draws a young tourist crowd. The experiment was conducted continuously in June–July 2007 for a period of 5 weeks.

Procedure

The experiment was carried out when slow songs were played in the nightclubs (songs with a

Results

The percentages and number of participants who accepted to dance with each confederate during the two sessions in which romantic songs were played are shown in Table 1.

Given the fact that the dependent variable measured was a nominal variable (i.e., the number of women who accepted to dance with the confederate) and the predictor variables were nominal too, a binary logistic regression was performed with compliance (agreeing to the request, not agreeing to the request) as the dichotomous

Discussion

In this field experiment, we found an effect of the menstrual cycle on compliance to the courtship request made by the confederates. We found that young women in their fertile phase of the menstrual cycle agreed more favorably to an explicit courtship request than women in their luteal or their menstrual phase. These results are congruent with previous research that found that during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, women expressed more verbal interest about sex (Slob et al., 1991,

Acknowledgments

The author wants to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor, Ruth Mace, for their help in improving the manuscript.

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