自此,所谓的"社交性调节同步性"又在许多女性群体中得以深入研究,如室友,同事,同性情侣以及高生育率地区的女性.人们还在一些动物中对此进行研究,比如老鼠,狒狒和黑猩猩.
The theory goes that synchronisation leads to females becoming sexually receptive - which is known as being 'on heat' in the animal kingdom - at the same time.
理论认为同步性使得女性在同一时间易于交配,在动物世界里,这也叫做"处于发情期".
The most popular one is that it enables females to minimise the risk of being monopolised by a single dominant male, and thus make it easier for them to have more than one mate.
其中最普遍的理论是经期同步使得女性把她们被一个占主导地位的男性完全控制的危险降到了最低,因此她们更容易拥有一个以上的伴侣.
In fact, one analysis of 19 primate species found a dominant male had less control over reproduction if all females were receptive at the same time.
实际上,一项对十九种灵长类生物的分析显示：如果所有的雌性都在同一时间处于发情期,唯一的占主导的雄性对于繁殖的控制力会减弱.
However, there is now accumulating evidence that casts serious doubt on the existence of the phenomenon.
然而,越来越多的证据对此现象的存在提出了深深的怀疑.
First, the original 1971 study was criticised on methodological grounds.
首先,有人批评了1971年原始研究的方法依据.
Second, a number of studies with both human groups and non-human species failed to replicate the initial findings, with at least as many studies reporting positive results as studies reporting negative ones.
其次,一系列的研究,无论是在人类群体还是非人类物种,都没能复证当初的结果.得到肯定结果的研究数量和得到否定结果的数量一样多.
Mathematical analyses have also revealed that some degree of synchrony is to be expected given shifts in female reproductive system over time.
数学分析也显示,考虑到女性月经周期一直在不停变化,某些程度的同步性是完全有可能的.
No adaptive process needs to be invoked to explain what is observed.
不需要任何的适应性过程来解释观察到的现象.
In other words, synchrony - or the overlap of cycles between females - is best explained by chance.
也就是说,解释同步性,或者女性之间经期的重叠最好的理由就是偶然性.
There is now overwhelming evidence to suggest that menstrual synchrony in humans is no more than a quirk derived from a study using flawed methods that has since turned into an urban myth.
现在越来越多的证据表明,经期同步只是因为当初研究方法错误,随后成为了一个谣传,实际上它只是一个偶发的事件.
英文来源：每日邮报
