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Human Reproduction, Vol. 14, No. 3, 579-580, March 1999
© 1999 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Opinions

Menstrual synchrony pheromones: cause for doubt

Beverly I. Strassmann

Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109-1382, USA This opinion was previously published on Webtrack 47, December 17, 1998

Stern and McClintock's (1998) recent finding of `definitive evidence of human pheromones' and `confirmation' of the mechanism underlying `menstrual synchrony' is indeed spectacular. However, they disregarded the methodological critiques (Wilson, 1992Go; Strassmann, 1997Go) and negative evidence (Jarett, 1984Go; Wilson et al., 1991Go; Trevathan et al., 1993Go; Strassmann, 1997Go) that undermine the original report of McClintock (1971), as well as subsequent studies (Graham and McGrew, 1980Go; Quadagno et al., 1981Go; Preti et al., 1986Go). When flawed statistical methods are taken into account, there is scant empirical evidence that the phenomenon of menstrual synchrony exists in the first place.

Popular belief in menstrual synchrony stems from a misperception about how far apart menstrual onsets should be for two women whose onsets are independent. Given a cycle length of 28 days (not the rule—but an example), the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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