The extreme power of the female orgasm has long perplexed scientists because the body-shaking orgasm many women experience is not necessary for reproduction/conception, it’s something purely sensual. For decades scientists have labored over this female orgasm conundrum, all vying to be the first to put forth a truly reasonable explanation of why women experience pure bliss when it has no place in the reproductive roots of sex.
Well, scientists Mihaela Pavlicev and Günter Wagner have just published the world’s first evolutionary explanation of the female orgasm in the Journal of Experimental Zoology and it’s making waves all throughout the fields of Sociology and Psychology. Here’s the abstract from their study published on July 31st titled ‘The Evolutionary Origin of Female Orgasm‘, and in it I’ve highlighted the areas in which they put forth the world’s first explanation:
The evolutionary explanation of female orgasm has been difficult to come by. The orgasm in women does not obviously contribute to the reproductive success, and surprisingly unreliably accompanies heterosexual intercourse. Two types of explanations have been proposed: one insisting on extant adaptive roles in reproduction, another explaining female orgasm as a byproduct of selection on male orgasm, which is crucial for sperm transfer. We emphasize that these explanations tend to focus on evidence from human biology and thus address the modification of a trait rather than its evolutionary origin. To trace the trait through evolution requires identifying its homologue in other species, which may have limited similarity with the human trait. Human female orgasm is associated with an endocrine surge similar to the copulatory surges in species with induced ovulation. We suggest that the homolog of human orgasm is the reflex that, ancestrally, induced ovulation. This reflex became superfluous with the evolution of spontaneous ovulation, potentially freeing female orgasm for other roles. This is supported by phylogenetic evidence showing that induced ovulation is ancestral, while spontaneous ovulation is derived within eutherians. In addition, the comparative anatomy of female reproductive tract shows that evolution of spontaneous ovulation is correlated with increasing distance of clitoris from the copulatory canal. In summary, we suggest that the female orgasm-like trait may have been adaptive, however for a different role, namely for inducing ovulation. With the evolution of spontaneous ovulation, orgasm was freed to gain secondary roles, which may explain its maintenance, but not its origin.
I guess it makes sense. The massive endocrine surge accompanied by the female orgasm used to coincide with ovulation, so the female orgasm signified when a woman was ready to make babies. Back in the caveman days it was all about making babies and ensuring your bloodline continued. But over time ovulation changed and with it so did the actual layout of the female anatomy with the clitoris distance shifting.
So now we know, the intense female orgasm used to be an integral part of the reproductive process. Just maybe don’t bring this up in bed the next time you’re flicking a bean to release because it will most certainly be an immediate mood killer.
(h/t TheGuardian via Journal of Experimental Zoology)