June 29, 2011

Proof I Haven't Been Ovulating for Years

Have you seen this article in Time Magazine online?

Click the screen cap for the full article.

As Gawker so eloquently put it, "Ovulating Women Have Better Gaydar."

Basically, 40 straight female undergrads where shown pictures of 80 males, half of whom were gay men. There was direct correlation to the participant's accuracy in determining whether or not they were gay based on where they were in their cycle. The closer the women were to ovulation, the more accurate their guesses became:
"The closer you get to peak ovulation, accuracy goes up, up, up, peaks at ovulation, then starts to go back down again," says Rule. "There is a linear effect."
I'm glad that I now have scientific proof I was not ovulating in my teens.

Because seriously? More than half of the boys I had crushes on in middle school and freshmen year of high school later turned out to be gay. So either I was completely oblivious and/or totally boy-crazy or my ovaries were busted WAY before I ever realized.

In all seriousness though, this study is kind of fascinating. Apparently there is a whole body of behavioral research about ovulating women, like this winning gem:

Did you know that ovulation makes you dress like a tramp a little sexier? Think lower necklines and higher skirt hems and that sexy pair of stilettos. Our bodies are apparently putting out subtle cues to our male counterparts to say, "Mrow, come get me boys - my ovaries want you!"

Or how about this fascinating piece of "I can't believe they got funding to study this" research: strippers get better tips when they're ovulating. True story

It makes me wonder about all of my readers who have used trigger shots and stims... I wonder if those meds would trigger the same behavioral effects for you. Sexy clothes and gaydar, I mean. Not necessarily earning more cash on the stripper pole (but yanno, you do what you gotta do. It's a tough economy and I'm not one to judge).

Oh science. You're so wacky.

And apparently so are ovulating women.

Oh - and researchers who totally manage to snag research dollars to head to the strip club.

14 comments:

gailcanoe said...

Love this!! Thanks for the laughs!!

Tillie said...

OMG no wonder I never know when a guy is gay!!!!!!!

Michelle D said...

LOL! Classic. This also explains the fact that I dated a guy who turned out to be gay just before meeting and marrying my husband. My gay-dar was definitely out of sorts and just before my POI diagnosis. Thanks for this :)

Jenny said...

The stripper study made me laugh when I read it a year or two ago!

I ovulate regularly (can't get anything else working on my end without interventions, but that much works) and I still don't have a good gaydar.... does that mean that my everything else affeects it?

Mrs.Slick said...

LO, great post! My gaydar is also broken. Explains a lot, actually... And now I can tell my husband the reason I never dress up or wear makeup is due to my PCOS, HA!

The Barreness said...

Hubby and I saw "The Human Animal" many years ago and Desmond Morris spoke about how women tend to show more skin the closer they are to ovulating...so our running joke now, when we head out for a night on the town, is who is ovulating tonight?

Stinky said...

thanks for this, gave me a chuckle. From this I have deduced that I have either never been in any contact with gay men when ovulating, or that I've never ovulated at all!

Gaydar is brokened!

Chickenpig said...

I'm mighty impressed with those scientists too :) Damn, that's a clever way to get to go trolling. Very, very clever.

Anonymous said...

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I look forward to following your transition to Wordpress, among the other things you will write about. It's really amazing!

Justine L said...

Too funny!

Nice to know there's some design in the universe, though, right? Or something ...

Unknown said...

Hormones are crazy!

jjiraffe said...

Hilarious! I can imagine that a social, long-term study of strippers would bring to light PLENTY of fascinating data of all kinds.

Anonymous said...

This is hilarious! Yet definitely explains why I too kept falling in love with gay men in High school! (My PCOS acted up early)

Heather said...

I'm pretty good at detecting a gay person, whether I'm ovulating or not. I sussed out the new guy at my husband's work way before that.
Having said that, I'm embarrassed to say that one of my ex boyfriends *could* have been gay (so says a friend). I guess I missed that one. :(