A recent study suggests that women may be more inclined to purchase and display luxury items during their ovulation period, a behavior researchers propose could be linked to an ancient drive to attract potential mates.
The findings, published in the journal Plos One by a team from Jeonbuk National University in South Korea, indicate that women nearing ovulation show an increased interest in luxury goods, particularly when they are publicly visible.
Researchers conducted three experiments to explore this connection. In the first, female university students were asked to draw logos of luxury brands. Analysis showed they drew larger logos during their fertile phase compared to their less fertile phases, suggesting a preference for more noticeable luxury during ovulation.
The second study involved nearly 1,500 women who reported their purchase intentions for both luxury and non-luxury brands. The results indicated that ovulating women expressed a greater desire to buy luxury items for public display, but not for private use.
A third experiment found that women close to ovulation were more likely to choose a gift certificate from a luxury brand over a high-street one. However, this preference diminished when participants were informed that men might not notice women's designer clothing.
These results suggest that the heightened desire for luxury during ovulation is not a general increase in preference for expensive products, but rather a socially strategic behavior. The effect strengthens when luxury consumption is visible and personally relevant, and disappears when women believe such signals go unnoticed by men.
"We suggest that women engage in conspicuous luxury consumption during ovulation, when they have a physiologically activated mating goal, because doing so helps women be noticed by men," the researchers wrote. "Being noticed by as many men as possible increases the likelihood of attracting a desired partner for a romantic relationship."
The study posits that buying high-end goods like designer clothing, accessories, jewelry, and luxury cars may serve as a way for women to stand out during this time of increased sexual desire and a potential drive to outshine competition.
Beyond luxury purchases, the researchers suggest other behaviors women might adopt to attract attention during ovulation include wearing brighter colors, making more distinctive choices, or engaging in storytelling and joke-telling to capture notice.
This research aligns with separate findings from last year, which suggested that women may smell more attractive to men during their fertile period. A study from the University of Tokyo monitored women's body odor compounds at different menstrual cycle stages and found an increase in certain aromas during ovulation. When men smelled these "fertile" odors, they rated them as more pleasant and associated the samples with more attractive and feminine faces.