The Estrous or Oestrous Cycle

The estrous cycle is used to describe changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most female mammals. In humans it is called the menstrual cycle. There are important differences.

Here is a description of the 'estrus phase' of the cycle in mammals.

Estrus refers to the phase when the female is sexually receptive ("in heat," or "on heat" in British English).

Under regulation by gonadotropic hormones, ovarian follicles are maturing and estrogen secretions exert their biggest influence.

The animal exhibits a sexually receptive behavior, a situation that may be signaled by visible physiologic changes.

A signal trait of estrus is the lordosis reflex, in which the animal spontaneously elevates her hindquarters.

It was believed that the human female didn't come 'on heat'. But the study below contradicts this. It is a significant finding.

The results constitute the first direct economic evidence for the existence and importance of estrus in contemporary human females, in a real-world work setting.

They have clear implications for human evolution, sexuality, and economics.

"The female spontaneously elevates her hindquarters." Bring it on, girl!

Research Paper

Exotic dancers make more money during the week or so before they begin menstruating than at any other time of the month.

This according to New Mexico psychology professor Geoffrey Miller, who studied the ovulatory cycle of several dancers and found that during estrus, when women are considered most fertile, dancers made roughly $354 per shift.

Almost twice what they took home in tips during menstruation and roughly a quarter more than they made during the luteal phase, directly after menstruating.

So it appears that exotic dancers, and perhaps all women, can best win the hearts and wallets of men in the days just before their periods.

Naturally, industry insiders are interested.

"If you could emulate that subconscious sense, that scent, and put it in a cologne, maybe we could wear it all the time and get more tips," said Angelina Spencer, a former dancer now serving as executive director of the Association of Club Executives, a national trade association for adult nightclubs. "I think it warrants more research."

Miller calls his study the first real-world economic evidence that men are subconsciously sensitive to the female cycle.

Dancers appear more attractive to club patrons just before ovulation because they "signal" or "leak" signs of their peak fertility, Miller writes.

The more attractive a woman is perceived to be, the better chance she has of enticing her client into a lap dance, and then another, and then another.

It Seems That Women Do Come 'On Heat'

Lap dancers who are taking the contraceptive Pill get fewer tips from the punters, apparently because men prefer more fertile women.

Geoffrey Miller and his team at the University of New Mexico compared the earnings of eighteen naturally cycling lap dancers, from clubs around the New Mexico area, with lap dancers who were taking the contraceptive pill, over a 2 month time span.

Lap dancing is the most intimate form of sex work that is legal in most American cities, and therefore probably as close as researchers can get to studying actual sexual activity.

In their study, the researchers found that during the non-fertile periods of the dancer’s menstrual cycles, both sets of dancers earned similar tips.

But when naturally cycling lap dancers entered their fertile period, they earned significantly more in tips than their pill taking co-workers.

Dancers who weren’t on the pill made about $70 an hour from admiring men, during peak fertility, versus about $35 while menstruating and $50 in between.

Whilst girls who took birth control averaged about $193 per shift, with a performance peak which was almost a third less than women who were not using the contraceptive.

These normally cycling lap dancers earned an average of about $276 per shift (a gain of more than $80 per shift), the study showed.

Dr Miller said:

"This is the first direct economic evidence for the existence of estrus in contemporary human females."

It was not made clear whether being at their most fertile made women dance any differently, otherwise ”signal” or ”leak” the fact that they were fertile.

Or whether men were somehow managing to detect the more fertile women; but the pill produces hormonal signals indicating early pregnancy, and this would not be an enticing target for a would-be suitor.

As a further criticism, this experiment used a rather small sample of dancers; but this aside, it does seem to show some very interesting preliminary evidence.

Download the complete paper as PDF

Abstract

To see whether estrus was really “lost” during human evolution (as researchers often claim), we examined ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by professional lap dancers working in gentlemen's clubs.

Eighteen dancers recorded their menstrual periods, work shifts, and tip earnings for 60 days on a study web site.

A mixed-model analysis of 296 work shifts (representing about 5300 lap dances) showed an interaction between cycle phase and hormonal contraception use.

Normally cycling participants earned about US$335 per 5-h shift during estrus, US$260 per shift during the luteal phase, and US$185 per shift during menstruation.

By contrast, participants using contraceptive pills showed no estrous earnings peak.

These results constitute the first direct economic evidence for the existence and importance of estrus in contemporary human females, in a real-world work setting.

These results have clear implications for human evolution, sexuality, and economics.

tags: sex  on heat  estrus  menstrual  cycle  lap dancing  exotic  

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