The Gu-ah-ardian (1996) reported the beginnings of negative scientific findings on the Pill. Originally, the 1996 studies noticed that women-on-the-Pill were less likely to chose the best BOyfriend/mate. That old 1990’s study had women-on-the-Pill smelling men’s dirty t-shirts. The t-shirts were worn by a different selection of men, and when the t-shirts were BO drenched, they were proffered to the women. The women smelled each BO-ed t-shirt, and chose what t-shirt they preferred. The t-shirt that an individual woman picked represented what sort of man/BOyfriend that she would date/mate with. In the 1996 study, women-on-the-Pill chose the BO-smelly t-shirts of partners that didn’t suit them and, were more prone to pick the t-shirt of a man that didn’t meet their needs. While women-not-on-the-Pill usually went for men that did suit them, and these men were more certain of themselves.
How can this be? How does the Pill make women less likey to find ‘Mr. Right’?
A new study from Sheffield University has more sophisticated findings. Without going into scientific nitty-gritty, the study has found that women-on-the-Pill are less attracted to ‘manly’ or masculine men. Women on the Pill are (for the time they wish to remain on the Pill) chemically infertile. The Pill essentially makes women voluntarily infertile. Some women stay on the Pill for the time they want this ‘infertility’, other women find that they stay infertile after coming off the Pill... One way the Pill works is by fooling the woman’s body into thinking that the woman is in a permanent pregnancy. Never fertile. Always winter, never spring. The Pill halts the production of the fertile juices in a woman that nourishes sperm. Another way it works is by suppressing ovulation, preventing the fertile time when the woman pops an egg.
Now hold the thought of the egg popping. Women-NOT-on-the-Pill are not taking a daily pill to dry their ovaries, and so most of them pop an egg every month. Each month they have a few days when hormones run high, and they are most likely to conceive a baby. The Sheffield University study has found that during the egg-popping time (‘ovulation’ to be exact) fertile women are more likely to go for masculine men, than women-on-the-Pill. The Daily Mail picked Sean Connery as an exemplar of such a manly man.
Women-on-the-Pill however (no monthly egg popping) are attracted to more feminine types of men. The Daily Mail picked Michael J. Fox and the High School Musical cast as exemplars of such softer, more emasculated men. To be blunt, women-on-the-Pill go for more feminine men who are genetically more similar to women, and ergo more genetically similar to themselves. Women-NOT-on-the-Pill go for mannish men who are genetically dissimilar to themselves. It works both ways though. Men are more likely to be attracted to women who are, each month, temporarily fertile during ovulation each month. A study on lap-dancers found that when the lap-dancers were ovulating, they got higher tips from men.
Now, I’ve written about a dodgy experience that I had with a rotter, let’s call him X. But I wasn’t on the Pill when I went out with him. But interestingly, Mr. X’s past girlfriends had all been on the Pill. And they stayed with him for years. They tolerated his ‘wimpy’/cowardly bullying. And what’s more when his girlfriends dropped spineless X, they stayed on the Pill and met other such less-than-proper men.
To analyse the attraction I had for X, it does correlate with the Sheffield University findings. I didn’t find X attractive when I was ovulating. I always found there was something ‘missing’ in my attraction for X during those days each month when oestrogen was at its highest, my energy levels were high, my mood was high, and frankly X seemed very low on everything, including testosterone. It was during ovulation, that I was most likely to resent his comments such as; ‘you know that I’m not with you just for your body. If I wanted a sexy body, I could always get a prostitute.’ We fought more when I was ovulating. During menstruation however, when the hormones drop and when my mood, energy, appetite, and libido dropped, that was the time that I got on best with X. His waspy ways just seemed more acceptable. X wasn’t masculine. With a good eyebrow plucking and the right skirt, he coulda done drag.
Ah, maybe I misjudged him. Maybe X wasn’t a rotter after all. Maybe he was a bitch.
This is just the anecdotal evidence, but nonetheless what about all the millions/billions of women on the Pill who keep wondering ‘why am I always attracting the losers? Why can’t I find the man for me? Why can’t I get a man?’
One thing’s certain from the perspective of the most endearing love story of all time: Juliet wasn’t on the Pill.
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