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The signals of romantic attraction and flirtation

single women

Most single women enjoy looking at attractive men pretty much throughout their monthly cycle

Photo credit: Samuel Muigai | Nation Media Group

Men simply can’t stop themselves from checking out the girls, as everybody knows. It’s a deeply instinctive behaviour that’s not easy for them to control. But a woman’s interest in the opposite sex is much more complex. It especially depends on where she is in her monthly cycle and whether or not she’s in a relationship. Though maybe not in quite the way you’d expect.

So, most single women enjoy looking at attractive men pretty much throughout their monthly cycle. But a woman in a relationship will pay far more attention to men other than her partner on the days she’s most likely to get pregnant. That behaviour is deeply subconscious, and she’s probably completely unaware of it.

So, for example, she’s generally more sociable around the time she ovulates, tends to spend less time with her partner, and seeks opportunities to go out without him. She’s also more likely to fantasise about other men, travel further afield and wander around more. She really does, it’s been measured! She’ll tend to hang out around the guys and do a little advertising.

She’ll be less interested in food, become subtly more attractive, prefer more masculine faces and be pushier towards other women, as if she’s competing with them. And she’ll flirt more, especially with highly masculine men. Such men have powerfully male genes and make notoriously poor long-term partners. But a brief affair with one can provide the best of both worlds. So long as her regular partner doesn’t find out!

His body does notice her changed behaviour, though he’s unlikely to be conscious aware of it. So on her fertile days, he’ll be more attentive and loving toward her, more possessive, call her more often, and try to spend more time with her. What he’s really doing, of course, is trying to stop her from going out on the tiles.

Because married women aren’t nearly as faithful as their husbands would wish. It’s one thing to have a lifelong partner to help bring up your children. It’s quite another to have all your children by him.

So women in relationships groom themselves better on their fertile days and wear more attractive clothes. They tend to choose more fashionable hairstyles and jewellery then than during the rest of the month. They’ll tend to show more skin, wear skirts instead of trousers, wear tops with nice trim or add scarves or jewellery. The effect peaks at ovulation although of course all sorts of things like their job will affect their choices as well. And needless to say, none of this is for the benefit of their regular partners!

Because our subconscious bodies are pretty ruthless when it comes to getting hold of the best genes. So the women who show these behaviours most clearly tend to be the ones who would gain the most genetically from an affair. Perhaps because their partners are less successful or attractive.

As if our lives weren’t complicated enough already!