Zietsch et al. report [1] that in a large sample of Australian twins, “orgasm rates during masturbation, intercourse, and other sexual activities” were uncorrelated with 19 traits. The authors conclude that “female orgasm” might not have evolved by providing adaptive advantages to the woman and that female orgasmic disorder might not be a valid psychiatric construct. There are several problems ...

Research suggests that women pretend orgasm with their partner as a mate retention strategy, but the cognitive reasons behind this deception are not well known. To explore women's cognitive reasons for pretending orgasm, we first assembled a list of the reasons women report for pretending orgasm. We refined this list using independent data collected on performance frequencies for each item, fol...

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 intensi...

INTRODUCTION The criteria for "female orgasmic disorder" (FOD) assume that low rates of orgasm are dysfunctional, implying that high rates are functional. Evolutionary theories about the function of female orgasm predict correlations of orgasm rates with sexual attitudes and behavior and other fitness-related traits. AIM To test hypothesized evolutionary functions of the female orgasm. METH...

In a recent article, Wallen and Lloyd (2008) conclude that clitoral structures are not under direct selection and state that the data on clitoral length variation instead support suggestions that female orgasm in humans is not adaptive; by adaptive they seem to mean subject to selection rather than only subject to natural selection. Their conclusions are reached because (1) in comparison to mal...

In men and women sexual arousal culminates in orgasm, with female orgasm solely from sexual intercourse often regarded as a unique feature of human sexuality. However, orgasm from sexual intercourse occurs more reliably in men than in women, likely reflecting the different types of physical stimulation men and women require for orgasm. In men, orgasms are under strong selective pressure as orga...

We have demonstrated that sexual activity produces transient sympathoadrenal activation and a pronounced, long-lasting increase in prolactin in men and women. However, by analyzing endocrine alterations at 10-min intervals, a precise assignment of these changes to the pre-, peri- and postorgasmic periods was not possible. Thus, the current study aimed to accurately differentiate the endocrine r...

We investigated the hypothesis that the subjective experience of orgasmic pleasure and satisfaction depends more on psychological and psychosocial than on physical factors. Male and female participants rated adjectives to describe orgasm attained during either solitary masturbation (n = 356) or sex with a partner (n = 442). Orgasmic pleasure and satisfaction were related more to (a) the cogniti...