Looking for an evening partner? Here's an advice, hunks - women are more likely to go on a date with a stranger when they are likeliest to get pregnant, says a new study. Researchers at University of South Brittany in France have carried out the study and found that a woman's fertility does affect her receptivity to male advances, according to a report in the 'New Scientist'. "Large amounts of research have shown that women are more responsive to masculine voices, faces, and odours when they're fertile but no studies have probed the obvious outcome of such inclinations. "These studies didn't focus on women's behaviour. It's the first study to test the role of the menstrual cycle on courtship request, in a real social context and not in laboratory," lead researcher Nicolas Guguen said. The researchers came to the conclusion after carrying out an experiment that got five handsome romeos to ask women on the street for a date. After an encounter between a female stranger and the subject, the researchers approached the woman and clued her into the experimental nature of the meeting, asking her to fill out a short survey. Questions gauged age, contraception use, days since her last period or pregnancy status - none of which measured her likely dismay at the deception. And, after analysing responses from 455 women – only 51 declined the survey - the researchers noticed a couple of trends. Overall, 8.6 per cent of the women who filled out the survey gave out their phone numbers. Rough odds, considering the men were judged as hunks. In fact, women off the pill accepted offers twice as often as women on the pill (5.8 per cent as opposed to 12 per cent) perhaps a reflection of the likelihood that women on the pill are more likely to have men in their lives than women not taking birth control. A more interesting trend emerged when the researchers analysed the data according to a women's fertility. Those in their fertile phase accepted 21.7 per cent of advances, while women in the midst of their periods gave out their numbers to just 7.8 per cent of men, a significant statistical difference that did not exist for women on the pill.
