Men are not aware of and do not respond to their female partner's fertility status: Evidence from a dyadic diary study of 384 couples

Investigating cycle shifts in women's clothing style and grooming

“…At least, we can conclude that cycle shifts in clothing style and grooming, if existent, are much smaller and harder to detect than previously assumed. Effects for other, more passively occurring shifts in, for example, body odour, voice pitch or facial cues could exist independently, but recent evidence also casts doubt on strong, perceivable cues to fertility in other traits (Bleske‐Rechek et al, 2011; Catena et al, 2019; Jones, Hahn, Fisher, Wang, Kandrik, & DeBruine, 2018; Jones, Hahn, Fisher, Wang, Kandrik, Lao, et al, 2018 Mei et al, 2022; Schleifenbaum et al, 2022). Overall, it currently seems as if cues to fertility might be too subtle to be perceivable (see also Burriss et al, 2015).…”

“…These changes across the cycle were reported to be perceived by others and to impact women's social life. For example, men seem to show more mate retention behaviour when their female partner is fertile (Gangestad et al, 2002(Gangestad et al, , 2014Haselton & Gangestad, 2006; but see Schleifenbaum et al, 2022), and professional lap dancers earn more tips when fertile (Miller et al, 2007). Appearance-related shifts across the cycle that affect women's attractiveness might serve as subtle cues to fertility.…”