AHS19

Women’s fertility is fleeting, spanning just a few days each month. Because sex can only lead to conception on these few fertile days, it is likely that important adaptations affecting women’s health and well-being are sensitive to information about fertility within the ovulatory cycle. In this talk, I synthesize findings concerning these hormonal shifts. I argue that women, like our animal cousins, possess an estrous-like state, though it has unique human features. I address recent controversies, including a concern that there is a “false-positive problem” in these literatures. I also argue that filling gaps in our knowledge of hormone-behavior links will benefit women and inform crucial theoretical questions about the understudied nature of women’s sexuality and its consequences for health and well-being.