Men may not actually be attracted to fertile women’s scent, study finds

It remains unclear how chemical information about female fertility might manifest in body odour

Scientists have debunked the popular myth that men were more attracted to the smell of a woman at the peak of their fertility in a new study.

Previous research, including one published as recently as 2018, suggested straight men’s attraction to women’s body odour may likely vary over the ovulation cycle, peaking around the fertile window.

Unlike other female primates, women do not physically advertise their fertile periods, however, it remains unclear whether and how chemical information about female fertility might manifest in body odour.

Counter to the popular myth, the new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, showed no significant effect of the menstrual cycle on men’s attraction towards women based on odour.

The findings question men’s ability to detect menstrual cycle-related shifts in women’s body odour.

In the research, 91 straight men aged from 19 to 40 rated the scents of 29 unfamiliar women – at different stages of their menstrual cycle – on attractiveness, pleasantness and intensity, simulating a first encounter.

Researchers ensured none of the men in the study sniffed the same woman’s odour twice.

The state of each woman’s fertility was confirmed by urinary tests as well as their saliva levels of oestradiol and progesterone hormones.

Researchers could not find any evidence that males prefer the odour of fertile women.

They also did not find any link between the molecular composition of the women’s odour and their fertility status.

These findings, according to researchers, show “no convincing support” for a chemical fertility cue in women’s odour.

“We are certainly still at the beginning of understanding the physiological interaction between the gradual fluctuations in fertility and ovarian hormones across the ovulatory cycle and women’s body odour,” scientists wrote.

The study results counter the myth that men‘s attraction towards women during first encounters may be subconsciously driven by their perception of fertility status.

“Our results revealed no evidence that men’s attraction to women’s body odour is positively predicted by female fertility,” scientists wrote.

“We strongly encourage further disentangling the physiological basis as well as the social function of olfactory cues to female fertility in humans,” they said.