Recently, a controversial hypothesis has been put forward, which proposes the presence of a teaching period in women, as is the case in other mammals. This implies that women in the optimal fertility of the menstrual cycle have behaviours aimed at maximising the genetic quality of their offspring. Research supports this hypothesis by finding that women in the fertile phase prefer men with traits that denote higher phenotypic quality, such as a higher degree of masculinisation or greater symmetry. Our aim has been to test some of these observations in a population of 810 young Spanish citizens. We analyse whether, as stated in the literature, the preference for male faces is affected by (i) the stage of the menstrual cycle, (ii) stable partner and (iii) hormonal contraceptive employment. We have not been able to replicate the effect of the first two factors, but we do find that women who use hormonal contraceptives preferred faces of less male men. These results do not refute the protest hypothesis in humans, but indicate that some of the evidence underpinning it needs to be reconsidered, incorporating data from ethnically and socio-culturally different populations.