Hormonal: The Hidden Intelligence of Hormones -- How They Drive Desire, Shape Relationships, Influence Our Choices, and Make Us Wiser

by Martie Haselton

Overview

The hidden intelligence of hormones and their role in empowering women to succeed sexually, reproductively, and socially.

Did you know women walk more, eat less, socialize more, meet more men, dance more, and flirt more when they're ovulating? Or that PMS may have evolved to get rid of boyfriends with unfit sperm? Behind the "fickle" differences in what women find sexy about men, or what they like to wear, there's a hidden adaptive intelligence that has been shaped over eons.

In this provocative and paradigm-shattering book, Martie Haselton, the world's leading researcher on sexuality and the ovulation cycle, takes a deep, revealing look at the biological processes that so profoundly influence our behavior and sets forth a radical new understanding of women's bodies, minds, and sexual relationships, one that embraces hormonal cycles as adaptive solutions to genuine biological challenges.

At the core of Hasleton's new Darwinian feminism is her remarkable discovery that humans, like our animal cousins, possess a special phase of sexuality, called estrus, which comes with a host of physiological and behavioral changes. Rigorously researched, entertaining, and empowering, Hormonal offers women deep new insights into their bodies, brains, relationships, and affairs, allowing them to make better-informed choices about sex, marriage, friendship, contraception, and more. Above all, Hormonal is a clarion call to appreciate and embrace the genius of female biology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316369206
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	02/19/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	195,845
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Martie Haselton, PhD, is the world's leading researcher on how ovulatory cycles influence women's sexuality. She is a professor of Psychology at UCLA and the Institute for Society and Genetics, edited the leading journal in the field, Evolution and Human Behavior, and directs the Evolutionary Psychology Lab at UCLA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The New Darwinian Feminism 3

1 The Trouble with Hormones 11

2 Heat Seekers 29

3 Around the Moon in Twenty-Eight Days 58

4 The Evolution of Desire 87

5 Mate Shopping 112

6 The (Not Quite) Undercover Ovulator 145

7 Maidens to Matriarchs 169

8 Hormonal Intelligence 203

Acknowledgments 241

Notes 245

Index 267

What People are Saying About This

Author of I've Been Thinking - Maria Shriver

“Deep, thoughtful, and eye-opening, this book teaches us that the more we know about hormones, the more we can manage our lives.”

Author of five New York Times bestsellers and host of the Waking Up podcast - Sam Harris

“Women and men are different—in all sorts of ways. And yet discussing these differences has become taboo. Happily, there are still courageous scientists who will not let a moral panic stand in the way of their intellectual interests. In Hormonal, Martie Haselton gives us a brave and fascinating tour of what we know we know about sex differences, but are often afraid to discuss. Read it, whether or not you have a uterus.”

Author of Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert

“A smart and engaging scientific story about the molecules that make us human.”

Editorial Reviews

"What a refreshing book. Finally, a feminist with the courage to discuss women not as victims of their hormones but as elegantly built captains of their minds and lives. In this solidly scientific yet graceful book, Haselton shows how women's evolved hormonal activities help them shop for Mr. Right, compete with rivals, and raise healthy, productive young. Hormonal also informs on vital current issues-from bearing babies in middle age to taking hormone supplements in later life. This is the real story of women. It's an honest, accurate, important, and captivating read.—Helen Fisher, author of The First Sex and Why We Love

"Martie Haselton has written the book many of us have been waiting for: a genuinely feminist exploration of what we know about how our hormones shape the way we feel, love, and behave. I thought I knew a lot about the biology she covers, but Haselton gave me a much deeper understanding of our sexual and reproductive lives. Whether you're wanting to understand your hormonal teenager, your life as a college student, your desire to protect your babies, your sexual peaks and valleys, or how we women just keep developing sexually into our sixties and on, this is the book for you. With lively prose and healthy skepticism, Haselton takes us a fascinating tour of our hormones."
—Alice Dreger, author of Galileo's Middle Finger

"Hormonal is a brilliant book. It takes readers on a fascinating journey through the hidden molecules that influence women's bodies and minds. Anchored in deep science, Haselton takes the reader on a mesmerizing tour from the stirrings of puberty to the aftermath of menopause, from sexual fantasies to the ways in which women often call the shots in the game of mating. Required reading for all who seek to understand the hidden forces of hormones. It shows how all women are linked to a long and unbroken chain of wise ancestral mothers, and how modern women can control their own mating destinies."—David M. Buss, author of The Evolution of Desire

"A book about the effects of hormones on the behavior of female rodents might be dull, but it would not be controversial. Substitute humans for rodents, and prepare for a storm. In Hormonal, Haselton takes on this challenge and explores the complex roles that hormones play in women's lives as we choose our mates, cultivate our relationships, rear our children, and transition to menopause. Written with passion and wit, Hormonal provides important insights about the female experience."—Joan Silk, professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, and coauthor of How Humans Evolved

"Written by a leader in her field, Hormonal beautifully exposes the powerful and unrecognized influence hormones play in our lives. The book is essential reading for both women and men interested in a deeper understanding of the influences contributing to our choices and preferences. Hormonal is engaging, clever, very funny at times, and always scientifically impeccable."—Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, MD, coauthor of Zoobiquity

"Women and men are different — in all sorts of ways. And yet discussing these differences has become taboo. Happily, there are still courageous scientists who will not let a moral panic stand in the way of their intellectual interests. In Hormonal, Martie Haselton gives us a brave and fascinating tour of what we know we know about sex differences, but are often afraid to discuss. Read it, whether or not you have a uterus."—Sam Harris, author of five New York Times bestsellers and host of the Waking Up podcast

"A smart and engaging scientific story about the amazing molecules that drive our behavior."—Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

"Deep, thoughtful, and eye-opening, this book teaches us that the more we know about hormones, the more we can manage our lives."—Maria Shriver, author of I've Been Thinking...

From the Publisher

2017-11-21
All the latest findings on women's hormones and "a call to action for more information on…female brains and bodies."In this comprehensive analysis, Haselton (Psychology/UCLA; co-editor: Evolution and the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Social Cognition, 2007), who directs the Evolutionary Psychology Lab at UCLA, offers readers in-depth scrutiny of the many types of hormones women have and their effects during the menstrual cycle. She shows how women have high and low points during their monthly cycles and respond more enthusiastically toward men during their high periods and less favorably during their low. She compares the way hormones influenced women thousands of years ago and discusses how these same instincts often still apply when it comes to finding a mate. She also chronicles research techniques involved in the study of hormones, such as sniff tests to discover how women respond to the sweat scents found in men's clothing and also how they react to other women's scents during their high or low cycles. Essentially, this semitechnical treatise covers everything anyone could ever want to know about the hormonal cycles of women, from birth through puberty and the childbearing years and into menopause. "Every girl and woman benefits from understanding the scope of hormonal cycles, the hows, whens, and whys," writes the author. "We should become familiar with the potential nudges that affect our behavior. And we should know that choosing to act on those behaviors is an individual choice, dependent upon our own preferences and goals. Being naïve to our hormonal natures will not help us. Being hormonally intelligent, on the other hand, will." Haselton provides a useful tool for women in that quest to become better informed about a significant aspect of their lives.Well-researched, occasionally dense explanations of women's hormones and how they affect them on a regular basis.

Kirkus Reviews