CAUSE OR EFFECT OF SETTLING?

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Does The Birth Control Pill Make Women Settle For ‘Less Beneficial’ Men?

Credit: A Lofty Existence

RESEARCHERS IN NETHERLANDS ASSERT that birth control pills may makes partnered women less competitive for men, possibly resulting in them settling for “less beneficial” males.

But don’t throw out the baby-deferring meds with the bathwater yet, because the study’s sample was very small — 28 women — and raises more questions than it answers.

Social scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands queried the subjects — women between the ages of 20 and 31 already enrolled in a pre-existing pharmaceutical trial — on three separate occasions: While on the pill, during non-fertile periods in their menstrual cycle, and during fertile periods. Half the women were in relationships while the other half were single.

The questionnaires aimed at measuring the women’s “scale of intrasexual competition,” — how much they viewed other women as competitors for mates. The women were asked to respond to questions like, “I want to be just a little better than other women,” and “I tend to look for negative characteristics in women who are very successful.”

According to a href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333052/How-Pill-make-let-Mr-Right-New-study-claims-makes-women-competitive.html”>published reports, women in relationships taking birth control “were less competitive when they were on the Pill, making them less likely to fight to keep their partner if another woman comes along to turn his head.”

Researchers hypothesized this is because the pill “suppresses testosterone, a hormone that fuels rivalry in both sexes,” as the Daily Mail reported.

“If hormonal contraceptive use reduces a natural propensity for partnered women to compete for mates,” writes Ph.D. candidate Kelly Cobey in Evolution and Human Behavior, “it may mean that many women in our contemporary population, where hormonal contraceptive use is widespread, have a reduced ability to attract new mates or to maintain their existing partner.

“In light of our findings, women using hormonal contraceptives may be at a disadvantage in that they are less likely to seek out or switch to a new partner from whom they might acquire additional benefits. Women who use hormonal contraceptives may settle and start families with partners who they otherwise would not.”

Here’s a thought from a nonscientist: maybe women already in partnerships are more realistic of what they’re competing for, decreasing their drive for mates, a la ta take my husband, please!.