Why Do Women Have Sex?

Posted by majestic on October 8, 2009

Tracy Clark-Flory tackles a hard question in Salon.com:

Women just don’t think about sex all that much. They have sexual fantasies only twice a month. Sometimes, they have sex simply out of a sense of duty.

Disagree with any of that? Find those sweeping statements enraging? So did I, at times, while reading “Why Women Have Sex,” a groundbreaking new book by clinical psychologist Cindy M. Meston and evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss, two researchers at the University of Texas at Austin who have conducted a wide-ranging survey into the dark corners of our sexual subconscious. Still, I also found myself nodding vigorously and letting out crescendoed “mhm’s” as I read through the study of more than 1,000 women.

The standout finding, one that feels decades overdue, is that women have sex not for babies or emotional intimacy but rather for reasons of attraction and pleasure, because “it feels good.” In other words: the same reasons men have sex. And men aren’t the only sexual conquistadors: Women enjoy the thrill of the chase and can be just as viciously competitive with same-sex rivals. And, speaking of competition, the book posits a theory of “mate copying,” in which women are drawn to men who come pre-approved by other women. (Indeed, who hasn’t experienced a sudden tingle of attraction upon seeing another woman go after a man who was previously uninteresting?) Plenty of fascinating generalizations are made, but the book’s real takeaway is that there is tremendous individual variety among women…

[full article in Salon.com]