The research: After Kristina M. Durante, PhD, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas, San Antonio, found that women dress sexier near ovulation—a choice motivated by other attactive women, she says—she wanted to dive deeper. Are women pulling out all the stops simply to impress men, or are they doing it to compete with, and intimidate, other women for a better shot at potential suitors, she wondered? To find out, she and her team recruited more than 300 women (all of whom were using non-hormonal birth control methods) to participate in a study asking them to choose between two luxury products. One option gave them relative position over other women (e.g., you have a $20,000 car, while other women have $12,000 cars), while the other option maximized the gain (better product) but came at the cost of other women having an even better product (e.g. you have a $25,000 car, other women have $40,000 cars). The results: “Near ovulation—when estrogen was high—women were more likely to choose the positional advantage option,” Dr. Durante says. What it means: “Women become more materialistic near ovulation, and they’re particularly concerned with what kind of products they have compared to other women, like better houses and jewlery. They’re looking to position themselves ahead of rivals so that they have access to the best men in town,” she says. Why? Because women can only get pregnant when they’re ovulating, they’re going to pull out all the stops if they’re in the market for a mate. The bottom line: The stakes are high for finding a family man—or at least that’s what your old-fashioned hormones seem to think. Near ovulation, women are not passive when it comes to competition, says Dr. Durante, they just might use more subtle ways than men, like buying a luxury car. Of course, you might just actually like nice things. More from Prevention: The Hormone Ruining Your Relationship
