Women At Peak Fertility Rate Other Female Walkers Less Favorably – A Brief Report
Christopher Philip
In a study conducted by Australian researchers Rick van der Zwan and Natasha Herbert it was found that female subjects were able to discerned the walks of men versus women based on point-light sources only.
In the study, male and female walkers were converted to a ‘point light’ model which reduces the body to key points with reflective tape. The technique involves placing markers on the feet, knees, hips, shoulders, arms and legs. This serves to eliminate other variables which may serve to confound results.
Interestingly women do not use symmetry to judge male walkers. This contradicts previous research showing the importance of symmetry in the face with respect to male attractiveness. Thus, perhaps symmetry of the body and body movement is not as important as it is in the face.
However, women did show an effect across the menstrual cycle, in that they rated all female walkers more poorly than at other times of their cycle.
While no conclusions were drawn from the study on this finding, it does suggest that women discriminate against nearby females with respect to their gait. This suggests that women become more competitive nearing ovulation as they compete for the attention from high quality potential mates with female rivals.
The extent to which these desire affect the behaviour is not known, however, understanding that they exist is source for further research.
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van der Zwan, Rick and Natasha Herbert. “I Like The Way You Move”: How Hormonal Changes Across The Menstrual Cycle Affect Female Perceptions of Gait. Research Notes. 2019; 5: 453.