It's True: Women Have Better Gaydar

Late last week, a little study out of Tufts and Toronto Universities hit the news. Headlines went something like this:

“Is He Gay? Ovulating Women Can Tell” [Time]

“The Sixth Sense: Do Women Really Have ‘Gaydar’?” [Globe and Mail]

Apparently so. At least, according to the study, which indeed found a statistically significant improvement in the at-a-glance gaydar of some 40 undergraduate ladies around the time of their peak ovulation — i.e., peak fertility. (Part three of the report found a bonus enhancement if the women read mini-bodice rippers before testing). The sensible theory offered by the authors ties these findings back into the running notion that a maximally fertile woman is generally looking for and is therefore highly — instinctively even — attuned to the best genes for the buck, which extends to knowing which men would be, well, interested in her.

This makes sense, yes. But on a frivolous note here, can we just add this to the growing stable of cycling superpowers we ladies apparently possess? Because there is a great, big, and perennially growing pile of research suggesting that women regularly (and transiently) become superhot, hypersensory chemical sex bombs with legs, and while yes, science is serious (not counting this) I can’t help seeing some humor.

For your reading pleasure, below is a sampling of some of the hormonally-associated capabilities ascribed in studies, wherein ovulating women can:

Smell hotter and spike guys’ testosterone with the scent of their sweaty T-shirts [2010]

Dress hotter [2007]

Look hotter [2004]

Sound hotter, though this one’s been called into question lately [2008, 2011]

Smell whether a guy is symmetrically assembled [1998]

Get their men to spoil them (also results in their men keeping closer tabs on them, too) [2002]

Make way better stripper tips [2007]

And oh yeah, our brains get bigger [2011]