🧬 The famous “strip-club study” found a striking cycle-linked tip pattern, but it did not prove that men can consciously detect ovulation.

In 2007, 18 dancers logged 296 shifts. Naturally cycling dancers averaged about $335 in tips during the estimated fertile window, $260 in the luteal phase, and $185 during menstruation. Dancers using the pill showed no midcycle peak.

The limits matter: only 11 participants were naturally cycling, cycle phase was inferred from self-reported period timing, the data came from one club, and the study did not measure which cues affected customers.

Later evidence is mixed. A 2022 study found near-ovulation scents were rated more attractive on average, but raters were very poor at identifying fertile timing. A 2024 study using ovulation tests, hormone data, and chemical analysis found no compelling evidence for an axillary-odor fertility cue. A 2022 diary study of 384 couples found men were not aware of or responsive to their partners’ fertility status.

Best conclusion: The original result is real as published, but it is evidence of a context-specific association, not proof of a human ovulation detector. Any fertility cues appear subtle, inconsistent, and difficult to identify reliably.

Sources:
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav…
doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0026
doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2712
doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.1…

#science #womenshealth #psychology #research