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Women prefer funny guys, but only once a month
The angels have answered my prayers
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he angels have answered my prayers. A bit late. Where you been, guys!? For a few days, once a month, women prefer funny guys to rich, handsome ones, scientists have discovered.
Researchers at the University of California showed 41 women pictures of two types of men, a creative but penniless group, and a wealthy, successful group. They asked: Who would you date?
For most of the month, the results showed no particular preference. But if women were asked when they were ovulating, the results skewed themselves to one side: women greatly preferred the cheeky-but-poor guys.
I often complain about scientists wasting public money, but in this instance, this study is so important that it should instantly be given the entire research budget of every university on earth.
Why do women like witty guys during their fertile period? Christine Nicholson, contributing editor of Scientific American, explained in a commentary: 'Humor is a sign of creativity and intelligence and hence an indicator of high-quality genes.'
Men and women both list 'sense of humor' in their list of essential characteristics for the perfect date. But they mean opposite things, scientists said. Women mean: 'I want a guy who makes me laugh.' Men mean: 'I want a woman who laughs at my jokes.'
I showed this to Sandy Gandhi, a female comedian who is cute and funny but complains about not getting dates.
'So that's why I'm still single,' she sighed. Guys weren't charmed by her humor because they were waiting for her to be charmed by theirs.
'All the men I've gone out with had that certain something, which I call the X factor,' she grumbled. 'Everyone one of them became quickly an 'ex'.'
I told her the scientific reason: women are the choosier sex. Sandy said that a girlfriend once told her: 'There are only three words to describe a woman of your beauty and talent who is still single: picky, picky, picky.'
Anyway, these scientific discoveries are interesting, but tough to apply. I mean, how do you find out if a woman is ovulating when you haven't even got to the dating part yet?
Can you just slide it into the conversation and hope she doesn't think you're weird?
'Hi, come here often? Fancy a drink? Hungry? Ovulating?'
It would be better if one could make a general announcement at social events. 'Call all ladies who are in the fertile part of their monthly cycle kindly line up next to the guys who are poor and ugly but kind of funny.'
A couple of days after I read about this study, I got an invitation to do some comedy for a women's group. I was a bit wary about speaking to an all-female audience.
'May I ask a question? Is there any way of finding out if they will be at the ovulating stage of their cycles?' I asked.
There was a long pause. The agent asked: 'I don't know. Is that an issue?'
I told him that it might be. He said that he would contact the event organizer and see if he could find out.
He never called back.
The writer is a columnist and journalist.
