Why women are attracted to George Clooney once a month

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Once a Month, Women Seek George Clooney Instead of Tom Hanks
Women who pair with a stable but less handsome mate tend to feel distant and less attracted to him during periods of high fertility.

By Jessica Firger, Everyday Health Staff Writer

FRIDAY, Oct. 26, 2012 — Many grounded women eventually come to accept a disappointing reality: That strapping, sexy man with stellar abs, a full head of tousled hair, and piercing blue eyes, may not be the most ideal future father material and long-term mate.

While it's sensible to choose a Tom Hanks over a George Clooney, that decision may actually contradict a women's biological instincts — at least once a month — according to new research out of UCLA.

Women feel differently about their guy depending on where they are in their monthly cycle, the study says. At her most fertile time of the month — during ovulation — a woman may be more distant and critical of a lesser-sexy mate, and have diminished interest in jumping into the sack with him. During that time she may also be more attracted to men with greater sex appeal.

"Women start to notice Mr. Sexy at the time of ovulation. What we found is that women felt less close to the partners if their partners were low in sexiness," says Martie Haselton, PhD, senior author of the study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior and professor of psychology and communication studies at UCLA. "But we didn't find that women were less committed to their partner."

Dr. Haselton calls this phenomena the "dual mating hypothesis."

"Women have two overlapping sets of preferences in a mate," she says. She calls the sexiness attraction "the human equivalent of the peacock tail."

Human beings assess the health and intelligence of a potential mate by their attractiveness, says Dr. Haselton. Biologically speaking, our instincts tell us pairing with a sexy and handsome man may result in healthy, hardy, and intelligent offsprings.

For the study, Dr. Haselton and her team interviewed 41 undergrad women in long-term heterosexual relationships. They asked the women to rate the attractiveness of their mates, and answer questions such as: "How desirable do you think women find your partner as a short-term mate or casual sex partner, compared to most men?"

The researchers also asked questions to measure the mate's level of stability and compatibility, such as his financial situation.

In addition to changes in a woman's attraction to her man, the researchers also found women whose mates are less sexy and masculine tend to be more attracted to other men during the few fertile days leading up to ovulation. Dr. Haselton says women who take hormonal contraception don't experience the same flux in attraction because the level of sex hormones in their body remains consistent throughout their cycle.

Some subjects changed their behavior during times of high fertility. They dressed up more and spoke in a high pitch voice, theoretically to capture the attention of a sexier man. They also kept a distance from male relatives as a measure to avoid potential inbreeding, says Dr. Haselton.

"One way of thinking about it is, who is the guy a woman would want to talk with the least when she's ovulating? Her father."

Dr. Haselton also conducted a similar experiment on 67 other subjects, which gleaned comparable results.

Thankfully, these biologically driven feelings tend to be temporary and fleeting, and for the most part, the attraction pendulum swings the other way during points of low fertility, she says.

For subsequent studies, Dr. Haselton plans to examine the overall impact this biological pattern has on long-term relationships. "Perhaps these ups and downs take their toll. We don't know, we'll have to see," she says.