in <a href="http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_306.html">http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_306.html</a> , we read The author of this theory assumes that women in their brief monthly phase of peak fertility give off some pheromonic signal that drives men wild. could this signal be what the rapists sense (again, from maybe a mom, sister, girlfriend, or other woman whom he lives with, and not necessarily the rape victim)?