CNN endured the ridicule of the Internet yesterday for running a story about women’s votes being ruled by their menstrual cycles. The article was based on unpublished research, and was pulled within hours.

According to a report, this was some of the information that was included in the article:

New research suggest that hormones may influence female voting choices differently depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship. When women are ovulating, they ‘feel sexier,’ and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality. The researchers found that during the fertile time of the month, when levels of the hormone estrogen are high, single women appeared more likely to vote for Obama and committed women appeared more likely to vote for Romney.

Social media and other media didn’t take long to get involved in the debate.

Here are a couple of choice headlines to enjoy, from the Huffington Post:

CNN Reports That Women Voters Are Apparently Incapable Of Cognition, According To LOL Science

And this, from Jezebel, a popular female-orientated blog:

CNN Thinks Crazy Ladies Can’t Help Voting With Their Vaginas Instead of Their Brains

When the article was removed, CNN replaced the text with an apology of sorts:

A post previously published in this space regarding a study about how hormones may influence voting choices has been removed.

After further review it was determined that some elements of the story did not meet the editorial standards of CNN.

We thank you for your comments and feedback.

There were defenders of the article too, including the writer, Elizabeth Landau:

For the record, I was reporting on a study to be published in a peer-reviewed journal & included skepticism. I did not conduct the study.

Another defender said:

There is absolutely nothing in the CNN piece on Kristina Durante’s study on voting and ovulation that suggests that women are weak little creatures who need to be protected from themselves, or that they are slave to all that estrogen coursing through their silly brainplaces.

[Source: SMH]