How valid are assessments of conception probability in ovulatory cycle research? Evaluations, recommendations, and theoretical implications

Over the past two decades, a large literature examining psychological changes across women's ovulatory cycles has accumulated, emphasizing comparisons between fertile and non-fertile phases of the cycle. While some studies have verified ovulation using luteinizing hormone (LH) tests, counting methods – assessments of conception probability based on counting forward from actual or retrospectively recalled onset of last menses, or backward from actual or anticipated onset of next menses – are more common. The validity of these methods remains largely unexplored. Based on published data on the distributions of the lengths of follicular and luteal phases, we created a sample of 58,000+ simulated cycles. We used the sample to assess the validity of counting methods. Aside from methods that count backward from a confirmed onset of next menses, validities are modest, generally ranging from about .40–.55. We offer power estimates and make recommendations for future work. We also discuss implications for interpreting past research

Meta-analytic and Experimental Investigations of Shifts in Women's Mate Preferences and Attractiveness across the Ovulatory Cycle

The high-fertility period of the ovulatory cycle is the only time when sex can result in conception. In nonhuman mammals, this period is often marked by dramatic changes in females' social interactions, especially with males. For example, two widespread patterns are that females exhibit increased sexual interest in certain males at high fertility relative to low fertility, and males exhibit increased sexual interest in females currently exhibiting cues of high fertility. Scientific interest in whether the ovulatory cycle has similar impacts on human social behavior has surged in the past two decades, producing a large body of published evidence that is largely supportive of this possibility. Two prominent findings in this literature are that women's sexual attraction to men possessing characteristics historically associated with high genetic quality increases at high relative to low fertility and that women's attractiveness to men also increases at this time. However, studies have varied widely in the methods they have used to examine these effects, findings have been somewhat mixed, and additional nonreplications could remain unpublished. In addition, several important questions have yet to be answered. For example, can women detect cues of high fertility in other women, and do they perceive these cues as attractive? To address these questions, I conducted two meta-analyses and a laboratory study. The meta-analyses quantitatively evaluated and synthesized evidence across published and unpublished findings for a) changes in women's mate preferences and b) changes in women's attractiveness and other possible fertility cues across the ovulatory cycle. Both analyses revealed robust support in the extant empirical literature for the hypothesized cycle shifts. The laboratory study examined women's perceptions of other women's high- and low-fertility body scents and found that, like men, women perceive other women's high-fertility body scents as more attractive than their low-fertility scents. Taken together, these studies have potentially important implications for understanding the role of the ovulatory cycle--and psychological adaptations that evolved or have been maintained in the context of cyclic variation in human female fertility--in human social cognition, motivation, and behavior

Queer disorientations in Only the Brave, Head On, and Blessed

In this article, we explore the orientation of queer bodies to the city – and to Lisa French’s (2013) motif of ‘looking from the largely industrialised west at the city’ in particular – in three films directed by Ana Kokkinos: Only the Brave (1994), Head On (1998), and Blessed (2009). In doing so, we take up Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenological approach to focus on Alex (played by Elena Mandalis) in Only the Brave; Ari (played by Alex Dimitriades) in Head On; and Arthur/‘Roo’ (played by Eamon Farren) in Blessed. We argue that when each queer protagonist looks to the city they are not only multiply disoriented, their disorientations are also specifically triggered by earlier enunciations of queer desire. We argue that these physical, psychological, temporal, and spatial disorientations serve multiple purposes across these films. They symbolise the phenomenological disorientations of queer embodiment; disorientate viewers to offer them a queer spectatorial opportunity; and proffer the ‘hope of new directions’ [Ahmed, Sara. 2006b. Queer Phenomenology. Durham, NC: Duke UP] in the depiction of queerness in Australian cinema

Class, rage, and staging the revolution: Tsiolkas's theatre

From 1996 to 2002, the renowned Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas worked collaboratively with the Melbourne playwrights Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, and Melissa Reeves and the musician Irine Vela to write Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? (1998) and Fever (2002) for the Melbourne Workers Theatre. While Tsiolkas’s prose work is the subject of extensive study, these collaborative and highly successful plays are largely ignored, despite their undisputed influence on the subsequent Australian theatrical canon and the light they shed on his broader oeuvre. In this article, we posit that these two theatrical works draw on Tsiolkas’s political rage to deliberately challenge Australians’ perceptions of class warfare by problematizing political ideology through the exploration of race and religion. A historical context of Australian playwriting is provided and positions Tsiolkas as a key contributor in bringing queer and immigrant experiences from the margin to the center of Australian stages. Tsiolkas’s key contributions to both theatrical works are discussed in detail, and the implicit calls for revolution in the plays are put in the larger context of his career and its political and social preoccupations, including the themes of his later, more commercial works. The authors’ arguments are framed in notions of Tsiolkas provocatively calling for a revolution within Australian national identity

Class, rage, and staging the revolution: Tsiolkas\u27s theatre

From 1996 to 2002, the renowned Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas worked collaboratively with the Melbourne playwrights Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, and Melissa Reeves and the musician Irine Vela to write Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? (1998) and Fever (2002) for the Melbourne Workers Theatre. While Tsiolkas’s prose work is the subject of extensive study, these collaborative and highly successful plays are largely ignored, despite their undisputed influence on the subsequent Australian theatrical canon and the light they shed on his broader oeuvre. In this article, we posit that these two theatrical works draw on Tsiolkas’s political rage to deliberately challenge Australians’ perceptions of class warfare by problematizing political ideology through the exploration of race and religion. A historical context of Australian playwriting is provided and positions Tsiolkas as a key contributor in bringing queer and immigrant experiences from the margin to the center of Australian stages. Tsiolkas’s key contributions to both theatrical works are discussed in detail, and the implicit calls for revolution in the plays are put in the larger context of his career and its political and social preoccupations, including the themes of his later, more commercial works. The authors’ arguments are framed in notions of Tsiolkas provocatively calling for a revolution within Australian national identity

Do women expose themselves to more health-related risks in certain phases of the menstrual cycle? A meta-analytic review

Researchers have increasingly examined the menstrual cycle as a potential source of day-to-day variation in women’s cognitions, motivations, and behavior. Within this literature, several lines of research have examined the impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health (alcohol and tobacco consumption, sexual behavior, risk recognition). However, findings have been mixed, leaving it unclear whether women may expose themselves to more health-related risks during certain phases of the cycle. We conducted a meta-analysis of 22 published and four unpublished studies (N¿=¿7529, https://osf.io/xr37j/). The meta-analysis revealed shifts across the menstrual cycle in women’s sexual behavior with others and risk recognition (higher in ovulatory phase), whereas there was no consistent pattern of difference for alcohol and cigarette consumption. These findings help to clarify the proximate physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying women’s health-related risk-taking and may inform new interventions

Do Women Expose Themselves to more Health-Related Risks in Certain Phases of the Menstrual Cycle? A Meta-analytic Review

Over the past three decades, researchers have increasingly examined the menstrual cycle as a potential source of day-to-day variation in women’s cognitions, motivations, and behavior. Within this literature, several lines of research have examined the impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health, including sexual behavior and alcohol and tobacco consumption, as well as their ability to recognize and avoid potentially threatening people and situations. However, findings have been mixed, leaving it unclear whether women may expose themselves to more health-related risks during certain phases of the cycle. To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of 23 published and 4 unpublished studies (N = 7,527). The meta-analysis revealed some shifts across the menstrual cycle in women’s sexual behavior and risk recognition and avoidance, whereas patterns were less clear for alcohol and cigarette consumption. These findings help to clarify the proximate physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying women’s health-related risk-taking and may inform new interventions