Oh dear. It looks like our ladybrains are subject to rampant baby-making urges after all. At least they might be when it comes to chat-up lines.
A recent study suggests that fertile women are more likely to give their numbers to strange men (more after the jump).
Psychologist Nicolas Guéguen sent five men out onto the street to ask unsuspecting young women for a date. A second wave of researchers then approached the women to gather information about their menstrual cycles.
Must have been an odd day for the women.
But Guéguen thinks hormones play a part. Women who weren't on the pill accepted twice as many offers as those on it. And of those not on the pill, women "in their fertile phase" accepted 21.7% of advances, whereas those in the middle of their periods only accepted 7.8%.
However. The researchers didn't seem to record why the women said yes or no - so we don't know if any of them were gay, straight, already in a relationship, just ducking out to buy tampons, etc. Also, the five would-be suitors were chosen from a group "rated for their attractiveness" by 28 women, which may have skewed the results.
And it's a good thing we're not taking any of this as read, because it gets worse.
Another study has found that women on low-carbohydrate diets may suffer memory problems. Can you imagine the possibilities?
BACHELOR NO. 1: "Hello, beautiful. You know, if I was in charge of the alphabet, I'd put U next to I."
LOW-CARB GIRL: "No, thank you. Goodbye!"
(Three weeks and/or a few minutes later)
BACHELOR NO.1: "Hey there. Say, did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?"
LOW-CARB GIRL: "Why, yes it did! What's your name?"
Brrrr. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Or don't, obviously.
Image courtesy of Scootie's Flickr stream.
