Do Orgasms Give Women Feedback about Mate Choice?

Abstract

The current study represents a preliminary investigation of the extent to which female orgasm functions to promote good mate choices. Based on a survey of heterosexual female college students in committed relationships, how often women experienced orgasm as a result of sexual intercourse was related to their partner's family income, his self-confidence, and how attractive he was. Orgasm intensity was also related to how attracted they were to their partners, how many times they had sex per week, and ratings of sexual satisfaction. Those with partners who their friends rated as more attractive also tended to have more intense orgasms. Orgasm frequency was highly correlated (r = .82) with orgasm intensity, and orgasm intensity was a marginally better predictor of sexual satisfaction than orgasm frequency. Sexual satisfaction was related to how physically attracted women were to their partner and the breadth of his shoulders. Women who began having sexual intercourse at earlier ages had more sex partners, experienced more orgasms, and were more sexually satisfied with their partners. We also identified an ensemble of partner psychological traits (motivation, intelligence, focus, and determination) that predicted how often women initiated sexual intercourse. Their partner's sense of humor not only predicted his self-confidence and family income, but it also predicted women's propensity to initiate sex, how often they had sex, and it enhanced their orgasm frequency in comparison with other partners.

Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses Regarding Individual Differences in Human Mating Strategies

“…This is broadly referred to as the sire-choice hypothesis of female orgasm. In keeping with this theory, a number of studies have observed that orgasm rate is higher with more attractive and masculine partners (Andersson, 1994;Gallup Jr, Ampel, Wedberg, & Pogosjan, 2014;Grammer, Fink, Møller, & Thornhill, 2003;Shackelford et al, 2000), though it is unsurprising that women are more likely to orgasm with males they are more attracted to.…”

“…Additionally, Gallup Jr et al (2014) found women reported greater orgasm frequency when their partner's family income was higher, suggesting a role of resource provision potential. The case of the female orgasm is far from closed, however, and there a number of considerations to be taken into account.…”

“…Under this model, known as the pair-bond hypothesis, female orgasm should respond to male traits that are likely to benefit offspring such as faithfulness, emotional warmth, and resource acquisition via traits such as earning potential (Buss & Barnes, 1986;Gallup Jr et al, 2014;Scheib, 2001). While this aspect of female orgasm variation has been investigated less than 'good genes' traits, some research suggests that 'good dad' traits may also contribute to female sexual responsiveness.…”

“…Most research investigating partner traits and female orgasm rely on women's ratings of their partner (Andersson, 1994;Grammer et al, 2003) or their partner's perceived attractiveness to others (Gallup Jr et al, 2014;Shackelford et al, 2000). Such designs introduce alternative explanations regarding causality as women may grow to view their partners more favourably if they experience more orgasms with them, which could cloud subjective reporting of attractiveness and masculinity.…”

“…Several studies have found that orgasm rate is higher with more attractive partners (Andersson, 1994;Gallup Jr et al, 2014;Grammer et al, 2003;Shackelford et al, 2000). Most relied on women's reports regarding her own partner, or women's reports of how attractive her friends would find her partner (Gallup Jr et al, 2014;Shackelford et al, 2000), though Thornhill et al (1995) and found the same effect with independent ratings of partners.…”