![]() ![]() The experience of synchrony may be the result of the mathematical fact that menstrual cycles of different frequencies repeatedly converge and diverge over time and not due to a process of synchronization, and the probability of encountering such overlaps by chance is high. In a 2013 systematic review of menstrual synchrony, Harris and Vitzthum concluded, "In light of the lack of empirical evidence for MS sensu stricto, it seems there should be more widespread doubt than acceptance of this hypothesis" (pp. 238–239). The term synchrony has been argued to be misleading because no study has ever found that menstrual cycles become strictly concordant, nevertheless menstrual synchrony is used to refer the phenomenon of menstrual cycle onsets becoming closer to each other over time. More recent studies, which took into account some of these methodological criticisms, failed to find menstrual synchrony. These studies were followed by critiques of the methods used in early studies, which argued that biases in the methods used produced menstrual synchrony as an artifact. Īfter the initial studies reporting menstrual synchrony began to appear in the scientific literature, other researchers began reporting the failure to find menstrual synchrony. No scientific evidence supports the lunar hypothesis, and doubt has been cast on pheromone mechanisms. Efforts to replicate McClintock's results However, other mechanisms have been proposed, most prominently synchronization with lunar phases. McClintock hypothesized that pheromones could cause menstrual cycle synchronization. Martha McClintock published the first study on menstrual synchrony among women living together in dormitories at Wellesley College, a women's liberal arts college in Massachusetts, US. Overview Original study by Martha McClintock Reviews in 20 concluded that menstrual synchrony likely does not exist. The proposed mechanisms have also received scientific criticism. In addition, other studies were published that failed to find synchrony. Īfter the initial studies, several papers were published reporting methodological flaws in studies reporting menstrual synchrony including McClintock's study. Martha McClintock's 1971 paper, published in Nature, says that menstrual cycle synchronization happens when the menstrual cycle onsets of two or more women become closer together in time than they were several months earlier. "For example, the distribution of onsets of seven female lifeguards was scattered at the beginning of the summer, but after 3 months spent together, the onset of all seven cycles fell within a 4-day period." Menstrual synchrony, also called the McClintock effect, or the Wellesley effect, is a contested process whereby women who begin living together in close proximity would experience their menstrual cycle onsets (the onset of menstruation or menses) becoming more synchronized together in time than when previously living apart. Women's string figure depicting the "menstrual blood of three women", illustrating the Yolngu people's tribal mythology of menstrual synchrony ![]()
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