“Female Intrasexual Competition Is Affected by the Sexual Orientation of the Target and the Ovulatory Cycle”, 2022 (; similar):
This study examined the mechanics of selective transmission of social information as an intrasexual competition strategy. The results suggest that straight women exhibit greater competitive behavior against same-sex peers who constitute sexual rivals (straight and bisexual women) as opposed to non-rivals (lesbian women). They also suggest that the menstrual cycle is linked to intrasexual competition, as women showed greater denigration of other women while in the estimated high-estrogen phase of their cycle than the low-estrogen phase. These findings shed light on how a substantial part of the population socializes and competes, and they provide greater insight into an understudied effect of the menstrual cycle.
Research suggests that women use indirect aggression strategies to compete with same-sex peers and improve their mating prospects. One such tactic involves strategically transmitting reputation-damaging information as opposed to reputation-enhancing information, to lessen the appeal of sexual rivals.
The present study further examined whether this strategic information transmission constitutes an intrasexual competition strategy, by comparing denigration of same-sex peers who constitute sexual competitors or non-competitors as determined by their sexual orientation. This study also explored the impact of the ovulatory cycle on this strategy, following research suggesting that hormone fluctuation drives subtle behavioral changes near ovulation, amplifying other forms of intrasexual competition between women.
Results: indicated that among women identifying as straight, exposure to a same-sex peer who constituted a sexual rival (straight/bisexual target) led to greater transmission of reputation-damaging information relative to reputation-enhancing information, compared with exposure to a non-competitor (lesbian target). The ovulatory cycle was found to be associated with denigration, but this did not depend on the sexuality of the target. Participants in the estimated high-estrogen phase showed greater denigration overall than participants in the low-estrogen phase, regardless of the target’s sexuality.
[Keywords: intrasexual competition, strategic information transmission, menstrual cycle, estrogen, indirect aggression]