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The use of the contraceptive pill may cause women to choose less masculine men as partners, research has found.
The article, published in the Trends in Ecology & Evolution journal, also found that taking the pill may make women less attractive to men.
Scientists have now raised fears that these effects of the contraceptive may impact on future generations by affecting the ability of couples to reproduce.
Previous studies have found that ovulating women prefer partners with more masculine features and are particularly attracted to men showing dominance and male-male competitiveness.
They are also said to prefer partners who are genetically dissimilar to themselves.
Women taking the pill are said not to exhibit these ovulation-specific attractions.
The scientists, from the University of Sheffield, reviewed these studies and also looked at research suggesting that men are able to detect a woman's fertility status and prefer those who are ovulating.
They discussed whether this meant the use of oral contraceptives influenced a woman's ability to attract a mate by reducing her attractiveness to men.
The researchers found that an increasing number of studies suggested that the pill is likely to have an impact on human mating decisions and subsequent reproduction.
They said the fact that women taking the pill did not have an ovulation-specific attraction to genetically dissimilar partners was of particular interest because some evidence has suggested that genetic similarity between couples may be linked with infertility.
Alexandra Alvergne, the author of the new article, 'Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?', said: "Although mate choice studies in humans have routinely recorded pill use during the last decade to control for its confounding effects, little effort has been invested in understanding the consequences of such effects of the pill."
Virpi Lumma, Dr Alvergne's colleague, added: "The ultimate outstanding evolutionary question concerns whether the use of oral contraceptives when making mating decisions can have long-term consequences on the ability of couples to reproduce.
"If this is the case, pill use will have implications for both current and future generations and we hope that our review will stimulate further research on this question."
Reader views (1)
Nothing will change womens preferences.At the end of the day they all drool over masculine men,most of whom are violent with no sense of humour or personality.It's just what they prefer.
- Steve, London, 09/10/2009 11:53
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