Valentines day, lapdancers and doing it all in the name of science

Well, the fateful day is here again- Valentines day in all its sexed-up, loved-up, tacky glory. Rather than regale you with the 'love myth', seratonin levels, phenethylamine, animals that mate for life or depressing suicide statistics, I have chosen to offer a study which could help those of the single persuasion improve their chances for next year- or at least give them a good laugh. In 2007, Geoffrey Miler, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan published the provocatively titled "Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earning by lap dancers: economic evidence for human estrus?" Their chief aim is to disprove the standing theory that estrus- a phase of increased female receptivity, proceptivity, selectivity and attractiveness at the fertile peak of the menstrual cycle- has become hidden in humans: "to promote males provisioning and paternal care in long term bonded relationships" (translation: women got good at faking it so that they could get the best genes from the good looking bastards and and a safe relationship with a nice guy). Miller and co decided that lap dancing clubs were the best place to evaluate this because men can thoroughly 'evaluate' a number of women and because women can continue to perform during menstruation- leading to this gem of a quote "Dancers in these clubs perform topless but not bottomless; law requires them to wear underwear."
Their sample size consisted of 18 women who they used to test the hypothesis that dancers not on the pill would show an increase in earnings during the fertile phases compared to other phases and women on the pill.
They found that earnings for women increased significantly during estrus and dipped during menstruation if they were not on the pill but that no similar peak was observed in women on the pill (although they still earned less in the menstrual phase). The implication is, of course, that men can still subconsciously detect estrus and menstruation in females.
For those of you that have been convinced by this research, I can only advise sticking your menstrual cycle in your diary and planning dates and evenings out accordingly- anything that will automatically increase your attractiveness without involving large amounts of pain, time, effort or money is worth giving a go. For those less convinced I reccommend reading the article anyway- if only for the pleasure of reading a scientific description of what goes on in a lapdancing club.
The researchers indicate a desire to investigate this effect in other avenues of the sex trade. All in the name of science no doubt.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6H-4PS640T-4&_user=1495569&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1207468654&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000053194&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1495569&md5=8487da4918e600bab31ed9b6f2a88f08