Origin, Function, and Effects of Female Orgasm: All Three are Different

Wagner, Günter P.; Pavličev, Mihaela

doi:10.1002/jez.b.22737

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…All of these hypotheses generate clear predictions regarding features such as the dependability of orgasm per copulation event, the placement of the clitoris relative to the vagina, and numerous physiological responses. From this point of view, the most important challenge with regard to the female orgasm is to individuate the evolutionary "character" that it represents a variant of (Pavličev & Wagner, 2016;Wagner & Pavličev, 2017). An alternative account, though, is consistent with all the data.…”

Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Much evidence favors the notion that the female orgasm should be studied as non-independent of selection on the male orgasm, and that the developmental unit under selection remains to be characterized in detail. Lloyd (2005Lloyd ( , 2013) (see also Pavličev & Wagner, 2016;Wagner & Pavličev 2017) Fontanel Assuming that selection favors delayed cranial closure, then understanding why requires identifying the quasi-independent developmental fields in the bones involved.…”

Section: Spandrels Are Not "Parts"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The whiteness of bones is not a feature that varies independently of calcium content (or even one that has been proposed as being under selection). Park (2007) Various hypotheses have been proposed to account for the current adaptive value of orgasm in women, ranging from its ability to increase pair bonding and therefore parental care, to increasing sperm retention or stimulating ovulation (Gould, 1987;Komisaruk, 2016;Lloyd, 2005Lloyd, , 2013Pavličev & Wagner, 2016;Wagner & Pavličev, 2017). All of these hypotheses generate clear predictions regarding features such as the dependability of orgasm per copulation event, the placement of the clitoris relative to the vagina, and numerous physiological responses.…”

Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males and females share much of their early morphological development, and as a result the precursor of the penis, with its dense nerve supply and excitability, is present in both male and female embryos. Any males in which orgasm were not dependably associated with intercourse would have low mating success and thus selection favors dependable male response (see also Pavličev & Wagner, 2016;Wagner & Pavličev, 2017). No adaptive hypothesis positing current utility is able to explain why, in contrast, female orgasm is not as dependably associated with fitness.…”

Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spandrels and trait delimitation: No such thing as “architectural constraint”

Olson

2019

Evolution and Development

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Forty years ago, Gould and Lewontin used the metaphor of a building's "spandrels" to highlight that organismal traits could be the inevitable consequence of organismal construction, with no alternative configurations possible. Because adaptation by natural selection requires variation, regarding a trait incapable of variation as an adaptation could be a serious error. Gould and Lewontin's exhortation spurred biologists' efforts to investigate biases and limitations in development in their studies of adaptation, a major methodological advance. But in terms of the metaphor itself, over the past 40 years there are virtually no examples of "spandrels" in the primary literature. Moreover, multiple serious confusions in the metaphor have been identified and clarified, for example, that the "spandrels" of San Marco are pendentives, and pendentives are perfect examples of adaptation. I look back over the sparse empirical fruits of the "spandrels" metaphor, and ask what the clarifications of the past 40 years mean for biological theory and practice. I conclude that if there is anything to be rescued from the clarified spandrels metaphor, it is not "constraint" at all. Instead, it is the still-unresolved issue of trait delimitation, which is how to parse organisms into subsets that are tractable and biologically appropriate for study.

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Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Spandrels Are Not "Parts"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sympathetic Changes In Serial Homologuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Spandrels and trait delimitation: No such thing as “architectural constraint”

Olson

2019

Evolution and Development

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“…Some such vestiges disappear, but others may be so tightly integrated in the organism's development that they (secondarily to the original function) play a structural role and persist across generations. For these reasons, it is important to ask whether a trait is adaptive in the first place, rather than assuming that this is the case (Lloyd, ); and to confirm adaptation, it is not sufficient to show that a trait affects fitness in one species, or that it has been maintained in evolution, as the current role might not have been its original function (Wagner & Pavlicev, ). Most work on female orgasm has not focused on studying the origin, but rather on the role that the female orgasm plays in humans or in the primate lineage.…”

Section: Introduction: the Enigma Of The Female Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female orgasm and the emergence of prosocial empathy: An evo‐devo perspective

Kennedy¹,

Pavličev

2018

J Exp Zool Pt B

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In human females, direct or indirect stimulation of the clitoris plays a central role in reaching orgasm. A majority of women report that penetrative coitus alone is insufficient for triggering orgasm, puzzling researchers who expect orgasm to be an outcome of procreative intercourse. In the present paper, we turn our attention to the evolutionary role that such unreliability of orgasm at coitus might have played in human evolution. We emphasize that we do not thereby attempt an explanation of its origin, but its potential evolutionary effect. The present proposal suggests that the variable female orgasm, the position of the clitoris remote from the vagina, and the mismatch of the male refractory period with the female capacity for multiple orgasms, may have contributed to the evolution of human prosocial qualities.

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The female orgasm and the homology concept in evolutionary biology

Basanta

Rosa

2022

Journal of Morphology

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The definition of homology and its application to reproductive structures, external genitalia, and the physiology of sexual pleasure has a tortuous history. While nowadays there is a consensus on the developmental homology of genital and reproductive systems, there is no agreement on the physiological translation, or the evolutionary origination and roles, of these structural correspondences and their divergent histories. This paper analyzes the impact of evolutionary perspectives on the homology concept as applied to the female orgasm, and their consequences for the biological and social understanding of female sexuality and reproduction. After a survey of the history of pre‐evolutionary biomedical views on sexual difference and sexual pleasure, we examine how the concept of sexual homology was shaped in the new phylogenetic framework of the late 19th century. We then analyse the debates on the anatomical locus of female pleasure at the crossroads of theories of sexual evolution and new scientific discourses in psychoanalysis and sex studies. Moving back to evolutionary biology, we explore the consequences of neglecting homology in adaptive explanations of the female orgasm. The last two sections investigate the role played by different articulations of the homology concept in evolutionary developmental explanations of the origin and evolution of the female orgasm. These include the role of sexual, developmental homology in the byproduct hypothesis, and a more recent hypothesis where a phylogenetic, physiological concept of homology is used to account for the origination of the female orgasm. We conclude with a brief discussion on the social implications for the understanding of female pleasure derived from these different homology frameworks.

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Origin, Function, and Effects of Female Orgasm: All Three are Different

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Spandrels and trait delimitation: No such thing as “architectural constraint”

Spandrels and trait delimitation: No such thing as “architectural constraint”

Female orgasm and the emergence of prosocial empathy: An evo‐devo perspective

The female orgasm and the homology concept in evolutionary biology

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