Female orgasms are simply artifacts
» Gender Studies
Dr. Elisabeth A. Lloyd, author of The Case of the Female Orgasm : Bias in the Science of Evolution favors this theory:
That theory holds that female orgasms are simply artifacts - a byproduct of the parallel development of male and female embryos in the first eight or nine weeks of life.
In that early period, the nerve and tissue pathways are laid down for various reflexes, including the orgasm, Dr. Lloyd said. As development progresses, male hormones saturate the embryo, and sexuality is defined.
In boys, the penis develops, along with the potential to have orgasms and ejaculate, while "females get the nerve pathways for orgasm by initially having the same body plan."
A Critic Takes On the Logic of Female Orgasm
Wonder if Richard Dawkins has a theory?
Earlier: Evolutionary theorists and the female orgasm
Comments
There’s a huge problem with her theory that I don’t see really addressed in the article: the clitoris has something like twice as many nerve endings as the head of the penis. Therefore it continues developing after the initial “non-gender dependent” development of the embryo.
Posted by: hangedwoman | May 17, 2005 12:15 PM
Evolutionary biology is sometimes just a guessing game, albeit on occasion an elegant one.
Pleasure was probably a good motivator for the act that leads to offspring.
Posted by: Not Richard Dawkins | May 17, 2005 12:53 PM
So all the brouhaha about the G-spot and vaginal vs. clitoral orgasms is just so much trivia in the scheme of biology? Well, a few years ago it was biology telling us me were hard-wired for infidelity. And what has all this knowledge gotten us?
Posted by: W. S. Cross | May 19, 2005 9:24 PM
It is entirely possible that the female of the species was equipped with pleasure apparatus by a genetic accident so subtle that the difference was merely a partial control failure in the foetal development cycle. The effect of this on reproductive tendency would rapidly make it a dominant trait. Thus both perceptions are likely correct: that female humans are equipped to enjoy congress, and the organ involved is a penis subverted early in foetal development. This recycling of designoid phenomena is a hallmark of evolving systems.
There might easily have been evolutionary pressure to richer and richer concentrations of clitoral nerve endings. Regarding what men are hardwired for… men, like women, are a mire of contradictory drives. From an evolutionary perspective it is desirable for a woman to have many partners, but it is also desirable for her to have a stable relationship in which to rear them. For a man it is desirable to sire offspring on as many women as possible but highly undesirable to allow oneself to be cuckolded. The double-standards of society are nothing on the double standards of evolution. Oh and this may help people understand that evolution is only partly a matter of chance: how well would you do if you were playing p0ker but you were allowed to photocopy good cards and keep them across hands? Yes. And you’re quite right: all the other players are also doing this. And every now and then someone tries having six cards, or nine.
Posted by: Peter W | June 4, 2005 5:58 AM