Does Interest in Sex Peak at Mid-Cycle in Ovulatory Menstrual Cycles of Healthy, Community-Dwelling Women? An 11-month Prospective Observational Study
Women's Reproductive Health, 8(2), 79-91, 2021
Abstract
Women's interest in sex is asserted to increase at the mid-cycle pre-ovulatory estradiol peak. We explored this belief in healthy, spontaneously normally menstruating/ovulating women. Women recorded "interest in sex" in a daily diary; validated Quantitative Basal Temperature analysis documented ovulation. Interest in sex showed no mid-cycle peak in 61 normal-weight, nonsmoking women, ages 33.7 ± 5.6 years, over a mean of 311 consecutive days. The cycle-plotted diary "self-worth" factor (including feelings of energy, interest in sex) also showed no mid-cycle peak. Thus, interest in sex is related more strongly to women's feelings/experiences than to hormones, challenging deterministic or sex-hormone-dependent cultural and sociobiological understandings.
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Cite this article
Allison B Macbeth, Azita Goshtasebi, G William Mercer, & Jerilynn C Prior (1900). Does Interest in Sex Peak at Mid-Cycle in Ovulatory Menstrual Cycles of Healthy, Community-Dwelling Women? An 11-month Prospective Observational Study. *Men's reproductive health*, *8*(2), 79-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/23293691.2021.1901519
Allison B Macbeth, Azita Goshtasebi, G William Mercer, Jerilynn C Prior. Does Interest in Sex Peak at Mid-Cycle in Ovulatory Menstrual Cycles of Healthy, Community-Dwelling Women? An 11-month Prospective Observational Study. Women's Reproductive Health. 1900;8(2):79-91. doi:10.1080/23293691.2021.1901519
Allison B Macbeth, et al. "Does Interest in Sex Peak at Mid-Cycle in Ovulatory Menstrual Cycles of Healthy, Community-Dwelling Women? An 11-month Prospective Observational Study." *Men's reproductive health*, vol. 8, no. 2, 1900, pp. 79-91.