Like a dog in heat

Every time I hear the commercials for the period-eliminating contraceptives, I find it a little disconcerting. I tend to embrace being a woman, and believe that even if this pill proves "safe" over the long term (which I doubt), that eliminating the menstrual cycle in adult women will have other lasting ill effects on the psyche, the circadian rhythm, and who knows what else. Well now we've come to realize that it may have an even more dire effect. Tips! A new study has shown that lap dancers in their fertile stage get better tips than their counterparts on contraceptives. (FYI, periods while on the pill are kind of "faux" periods anyway." From the study:

But the study does appear to show that the dancers somehow advertise their fertility to men, who then consider them more attractive during this fertile phase, as reflected in their tips. How they advertise, however, and whether they do it consciously, is unclear. "We don't know the mechanism of attraction," says Thornhill, who is also at the University of New Mexico but was not involved with the study. "Are the men detecting the scent of oestrus? Or does the women's behaviour change?" he asks.