---
title: Does sexual desire change during the menstrual cycle? | Niyora
description: Yes. Sexual fantasies become more frequent and more arousing around ovulation, and the content shifts to focus more on emotions. This is a reliable finding in
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/sexual-fantasies-and-viewing-times-across-the-menstrual-cycle-a-diary-study-2012/
---

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- Does sexual desire change during the menstrual cycle?

Lab study, 2012

# Does sexual desire change during the menstrual cycle?

Yes. Sexual fantasies become more frequent and more arousing around ovulation, and the content shifts to focus more on emotions. This is a reliable finding in this study.

 Early or limited evidence

27 single, heterosexual women not using hormonal contraceptives, average age 21.5 years

## What they did

27 single women not using hormonal contraceptives answered web-based questions every day for 30 days about sexual fantasies and behaviors. 22 of them also viewed sexual images at three different times in their cycle (early phase, ovulation, and later phase). Ovulation was confirmed by urine tests.

## What they found

At ovulation, women reported more frequent and more arousing sexual fantasies. The fantasies included more male partners during the fertile period. During ovulation, fantasy content focused more on emotions and feelings rather than explicit sexual details. However, how long women looked at sexual images did not change with cycle phase.

## What it means for you

Sexual desire and fantasy naturally shift across the menstrual cycle, with peaks around ovulation. This may support fertility. The main limits are the small sample size and that results come from women not using hormonal contraception, so these findings may not apply to everyone.

27

women in the study

22

women who completed the viewing task

30 days

duration of daily diary study

## About the study

Original title Sexual fantasies and viewing times across the menstrual cycle: a diary study Authors Dawson SJ, Suschinsky KD, Lalumière ML Journal Archives of sexual behavior Year 2012 Study design Lab study What was tested Daily diary of sexual fantasies and behaviors; viewing times at different cycle phases Read the paper [doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9939-1](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9939-1)

## Topics

[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)

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