A study is attempting to define how common, how frequent, and under what circumstances women have orgasms.
Appearing in the latest edition of Evolution and Human Behavior, women with dominant or masculine men as partners were found to have a greater frequency of orgasms.
Conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, the study involved surveying heterosexual woman about the frequency and timing of their orgasms, along with which male attributes they found appealing.
These ranged from overall attractiveness, facial symmetry, genital size and dominance.
“Women indicated ‘more frequent and earlier-timed’
orgasms when paired with dominant men.”
Women indicated “more frequent and earlier-timed” orgasms when paired with dominant or muscular men. More female orgasms were also reported among women dating “attractive” men, as defined by the study.
The males classified as attractive, both by researchers and partners alike, had strong markers for facial masculinity and partner-rated dominance.
These attributes were found most common in partners among the women with higher orgasm counts.
In terms of masturbation or non-coital sex, the attractiveness or masculinity of a partner was not found to be an important factor.
Plans are underway to replicate the results, though the authors remind that the results “are consistent with the hypothesis that female orgasm is a copulatory mate choice mechanism, perhaps for selecting high-quality genes for offspring.”
