It never failed. Every time the two of them got together, E & L would argue and at times had to be pulled apart. They both wanted J. J wanted neither of them, especially after they kept fighting over him. He didn’t like the drama at all. But nothing J said got this thru to the two women. Things would settle down for a few weeks, then they roared at each other again. J started marking his calender. Yep hormones. He threw up his hands and walked away from the whole thing. Bleeding women, literally!.
You would think it would be two men fighting over the woman in heat, but no. These women were true to type. J spent all of college hiding from E & L. He wasn’t ready to be a father yet, and surely not with them as the baby mama!
The fights got more and more violent when they saw J was around less. They thought their posturing would attract his attention. Make him think they loved him more if they won the fight. They couldn’t grasp that J was truly repulsed by their behaviour. Especially when he figured out that they were wanting to breed.
Meanwhile, J had his eyes on another woman. Apparently she had a different cycle, because M never competed with E & L. She was barely aware they existed.
J liked it better that way. E & L also weren’t that interested in M because she wasn’t in heat when they were.
Despite J’s lack of interest, E & L were storing the things they would need for when they finally got ahold of J. J made dang sure he was never caught near them alone. And just to be safe, he made sure M wasn’t either in case they were faking their lack of interest in her. J just prayed that they set eyes on a better breeder. Funny how his lack of interest seemed to be working against him. But nobody was going to make him be a dad before he was ready!
The day came when he graduated, and he practically ran out the door. And out of town too for that matter. E & L wailed and dressed in black for a year. He would have laughed, but his teeth were still chattering over his close call.
…
competition and aggression between women
Notes:
scarcity principle
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-joint-adve…
The scarcity principle is the very same principle that salespeople use routinely to increase the purchasing interest of potential consumers (“We have one more left in the warehouse…someone else expressed interest in this house earlier today, so we’d better submit the highest offer you can afford as soon as possible…Call now—the remarkable ‘thneed’ is available only while supplies last…”).** So, in the context of a bar that is closing, when our options are scarce, what is available becomes more attractive.
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/368/…
Females compete for resources needed to survive and reproduce, and for preferred mates. Although female aggression takes diverse forms, under most circumstances relatively low-risk competitive strategies are favoured, most probably due to constraints of offspring production and care
.adult females may require safe nest sites or other limited resources for reproduction , whereas adult males often compete for mating opportunities with a limited number of sexually receptive females
For both sexes, living in groups intensifies competition for limited resources, such that selection favours traits that enhance competitive ability. Similar competitive traits, including displays and ornaments, as well as weaponry and aggression, are found in both sexes to varying degrees, and competition for resources is mediated by social mechanisms that operate both within and between groups.
female competitive interactions include a broad repertoire of aggressive strategies, tailored to social conditions at both population and individual levels..
In each case, the intensity of aggression is correlated with population density, and aggressive behaviour can be interpreted as a strategy to reduce competition for space and resources. Aggressive behaviour often involves ‘ganging up’ by females or coalitionary attacks, presumably to minimize risk of retaliation or injury.
game theory https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-b…
So the fitness of an individual organism can’t be measured in isolation; rather it has to be evaluated in the context of the full population in which it lives.
female rivalry https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-therap…
Men demonstrate and promote their physical abilities and social status (masculine traits favored by women). Women tend to promote their youth and physical attractiveness (feminine traits favored by men). Men try to derogate their rivals by disparaging their economic and physical strength, while women criticize the age, appearance and character of their opponents.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beas…
Women are more competitive, more risk-taking, and more socially dominant, if they are affected by high levels of sex hormones (both estradiol and testosterone). Surprisingly, the hormone that plays the clearest role in female social competition, and in feminine lust, is not an estrogen, but an androgen – testosterone.
http://www.prevention.com/sex/how-hormones-affect-y…
hormones surge just before ovulation,
Female sex drive may actually increase as a woman’s sex hormones and fertility decrease,
“By 40, a woman’s testosterone levels will be about half the level they were at 25,”
mspeachierocks 