January 22, 2012
Female Orgasm: An Evolutionary Journey
Daniel Honan in Big Think:
Take the issue of female orgasm, for instance, which some scientists do not accept as a biological necessity. Dr. Elisabeth A. Lloyd, among others, has described female orgasm as the female equivalent to male nipples, anatomy that one sex needed, while the other sex "just sort of lucked out with some lingering leftovers."
Ryan rejects this view. "When a woman has an orgasm," he explains, "the pH of her reproductive tract shifts in a way that favors sperm that enter her at that point." Why is this so important? Sperm competition. In prehistoric times, according to Ryan, women had "multiple lovers at any given ovulatory cycle, even in any given sexual event."
And so, let's say a woman is having sex with several different men, and she likes them all well enough. Now let's suppose she has a special connection with one man in particular, whether it is a psychological connection or the attraction happens on the level of smell. That man provokes her to have an orgasm, and that man’s sperm has a great advantage over the sperm of the other men "in the obstacle course to the ovum."
What's the Significance?
Is it true that women are "quality players" while men are "quantity players"? Ryan says the two sexes are hard-wired exactly that way, and the proof about our sexual proclivities is written in the human anatomy. "The female, like the male body, is a book that can be read," says Ryan. "It’s full of information about the sex lives of our ancestors."
Ryan points to some cutting-edge experiments that suggest the ovum itself is "capable of distinguishing between the sperm of different men by the DNA and choosing the sperm that is the best match for her."
Posted by Robin Varghese at 09:54 AM | Permalink
Comments
While this analysis is fine as far as it goes, a recent discovery of The Virgin Momcom (e.g. leiolepis ngovantrii) species calls for more analysis.
Orgasm in women and men are both irrelevant in a species that practices virgin birth to reproduce itself.
Posted by: Dredd | Jan 22, 2012 11:48:17 AM
What??? That's like saying food doesn't have to taste good in order for us to want to eat it. On a very basic existing level yes but we'd have died off long ago if that were the case. Even animals choose tasty treats over plain. What a stupid, stupid, stupid conclusion to come to. Anyone believing this should NOT be a scientist.
Posted by: JP | Jan 22, 2012 1:22:13 PM
Why this obsession with female orgasm, why not with male orgasm. If this is not sexist, someone please tell me what it is. If this is of medical or biological interest, what problem are we trying to solve?
Posted by: Raza | Jan 22, 2012 2:05:00 PM
Raza wrote:
Why this obsession with female orgasm, why not with male orgasm. If this is not sexist, someone please tell me what it is.
I think it's just because the evolutionary purpose of the male orgasm is really obvious (to encourage the male to have sex to completion in stead of stopping midway through), not as obvious with female orgasm.
JP wrote:
That's like saying food doesn't have to taste good in order for us to want to eat it. On a very basic existing level yes but we'd have died off long ago if that were the case. Even animals choose tasty treats over plain. What a stupid, stupid, stupid conclusion to come to.
No one is arguing that female pleasure in sex isn't an evolved feature, some just suggest that orgasm might be a "spandrel" that doesn't serve a purpose above and beyond the general enjoyment of sex. There's a good chance they're wrong but it's not as crazy a theory as you suggest, this article claims that the females of some species like gibbons don't really have them, though it probably isn't that easy to study so maybe they do but just not often enough for scientists to have seen it.
Posted by: Jesse M. | Jan 22, 2012 8:41:44 PM
The experience of orgasm is the satisfaction, the end-point, the destination, if you will, of the sex drive. It may not be the biological purpose of sex, but it is, on the experiential level, the motivation, the driving force. Perhaps some become physically aroused at the idea of parenthood, but they are most likely in the minority.
Women have sex drives. Women experience physical arousal, desire. Women get horny. If there were no orgasm to quench that desire, then what would the woman desire? If there were no release to be obtained through sexual activity, then how often would women engage in it? It IS a drive; it IS a desire.
Back to biology, if women had no innate desire for sex, how often would they engage in it? Might this affect the birthrate?
Posted by: Susan | Jan 23, 2012 4:17:48 PM
The experience of orgasm is the satisfaction, the end-point, the destination, if you will, of the sex drive.
I'm sure that's true for some people, but I don't think it's anything like a universal truth. Since partners typically don't have orgasms in sync, and many people aren't multi-orgasmic, I think it's pretty common for one partner to have an orgasm and that to be the end of the sex, without the other person finding this particularly unsatisfying provided each one gets to have orgasms with about the frequency they'd like. And as with fictional stories that hold your interest by building up mysteries and dramatic tension, I think with sex the buildup is often a lot more fun than the ending (for some people anyway). After all, there are a lot of people look for ways to prolong the experience of sex instead of getting to orgasm as quickly as and efficiently as possible. Granted most people who knows what orgasms are like would probably find it unsatisfying to never have any, but from an evolutionary point of view I don't think it's crazy to suggest that the pleasure of sex would provide sufficient motivation for a species where one or both sexes didn't know what orgasms were like because they never experienced them.
Posted by: Jesse M. | Jan 23, 2012 7:35:53 PM
We have had reads on why women menstruate,not other mammals, the female orgasms and the inches between clitoris and the vaginas.
Can somebody write about male impotency, i mean erectile dysfunction and does inches also matter. I just want to read all this on 3QD.
Posted by: Nas R | Jan 23, 2012 7:51:59 PM
Humans have a longer childhood than other animals. A foal can stand on its feet after 30 minutes, with a human child takes 12 months. Chimpanzees are sexually mature at age 7. Humans therefore require an extended period or rearing and food provision.
For women, orgasm and intense sexual satisfaction mean that she is more likely to try keep the man around so that she can repeat the experience, and if he sticks around he is more likely to help her provide for their offspring, thus increasing the chances of the latter to survive and pass on her genes. Linking the orgasm pleasure to her maternal instincts provides reinforcement that will tend to keep the relationship going.
Likewise, the male orgasm, and his acquiescence to the woman’s efforts to keep him, encourages the man to stick around for repeat performances and, as a result, help provide for and protect his offspring, so promoting the survival of his own genes. You could call this extended bonding technique – whereby ephemeral feelings lead into a prolonged survival into the future – Love.
Posted by: aguy109 | Jan 24, 2012 8:11:16 AM
"In prehistoric times, according to Ryan, women had 'multiple lovers at any given ovulatory cycle, even in any given sexual event.'"
And the evidence for this is...?
The evolutionary claims made on behalf of pre-historic man seems to be proliferating wildly, and always to justify the 'just-so' fantasies of the evolutionary psychologists.
Posted by: Tulliver | Jan 24, 2012 1:34:06 PM
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