What Use Is The Female Orgasm? - David Puts - #559

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The conversation explores the evolutionary psychology of the female orgasm, arguing it most likely functions in mate choice and possibly conception, rather than being a mere byproduct. It also covers how male dominance, sexual selection, voice pitch, throwing ability, spatial cognition, and testosterone shape human mating competition and sex differences across behavior and anatomy.

Main Topics: Female orgasm as an evolved adaptation (Priority: 5/5): The guest argues the female orgasm is unlikely to be a neutral byproduct and is better explained as an adaptation tied to mate choice, fertility, and possibly selecting high-quality or investing partners. Oxytocin, fertility, and conception (Priority: 5/5): Discussion of evidence that oxytocin released during arousal/orgasm may help move sperm-like fluid toward the oviduct, suggesting a mechanism linking orgasm to fertilization probability. Male dominance, masculinity, and orgasm likelihood (Priority: 5/5): The interview reviews a study finding women with more masculine/dominant partners orgasmed more often and more quickly, supporting the idea that orgasm may respond to mate quality cues. Sexual selection and human male traits (Priority: 4/5): The guest contrasts contest competition, mate choice, sperm competition, and coercion, arguing that human male traits are often better explained by contest competition than by ornamentation. Voice pitch as a dominance signal (Priority: 4/5): Lower male voice pitch is presented as a cue shaped by sexual selection, often more predictive of dominance and fighting ability than of female attraction. Sex differences in spatial and physical abilities (Priority: 4/5): The conversation covers male advantages in throwing and mental rotation, female advantages in object-location memory, and how these differences may reflect ancestral roles in competition, hunting, and foraging. Context-dependent dominance and modern dating (Priority: 3/5): The speakers discuss how dominance may matter most when rival men are present, and how online dating may alter the social cues through which dominance and prestige are expressed.

Key Arguments: Female orgasm likely evolved because it helps women choose mates of higher genetic quality or better long-term investment, rather than being an accidental byproduct of male orgasm. Orgasm may also increase conception odds, so a trait that occurs selectively rather than every time can still be adaptive if it depends on partner quality. Experimental work with oxytocin and semen-like fluid suggests post-orgasm hormonal effects can help transport sperm toward the fertilization site. Women with more masculine or dominant partners were more likely to orgasm and did so sooner, consistent with mate-choice signaling. Human male traits such as deep voices, muscularity, aggression, and robust skull features are more consistent with contest competition than with pure ornamental display. Voice pitch appears especially useful for signaling dominance and fighting ability; women may prefer it somewhat, but other men are more strongly influenced by it. Human sex differences in throwing, navigation, and spatial cognition may reflect ancestral divisions of labor, including male competition and hunting. Dominance can help mating success not only through direct fighting, but also by deterring rivals, retaining mates, and shaping female preferences for high-status men.

Data Points: Female orgasm research share in lab: ~10% - Guest says it is about 10% of his lab’s research but 90% of interview questions Male partner masculinity study outcome: More masculine partners correlated with faster and more frequent female orgasm - Study on heterosexual couples rated on facial masculinity and dominance Human male body size: ~35% more fat-free mass; ~60% more muscle mass - Sexual dimorphism discussed as part of contest competition Human aggression frequency vs chimpanzees: ~1% as frequent - Human male physical aggression compared with chimpanzees Throwing ability sex difference: ~1.5 SD - Male advantage in throwing accuracy/targeting even with practice controlled Throwing velocity sex difference by age 3: ~1.5 SD - Early sex difference in throwing velocity Throwing velocity sex difference by age 12: ~3.5 SD - Large male advantage by preadolescence Sex difference in height: ~2 SD - Used as comparison with throwing sex differences Male advantage in mental rotation: ~0.6 to 1.0 SD - Standard spatial cognition task Voice-related male advantage: ~5 SD or more - Sex difference in voice pitch after puberty Male voice tract length vs body-size prediction: ~15% longer than predicted - Larynx descent at puberty makes male voices lower than size alone would predict Male vocal fold length vs prediction: ~60% longer than predicted - Compared with the expected 7–8% size-based difference MMA fighter sample limitation: Top fraction of a percent - Voice pitch studies in professional MMA fighters note restricted variation Typical hominin evolution window referenced: ~2 million to 1.5 million years ago - Period when humans became more lethal and hyper-predatory Bipedal hominin origin reference: ~7 million years ago - Reduction in canine size with early bipedal hominins

Pivotal Quotes: "we don't know. But if I had to sort of put my money on a hypothesis, it would be that it functions in mate choice." — David: Explaining the leading hypothesis for why the female orgasm exists "why would selection have favored having an orgasm sometimes and not others? Why does it happen so infrequently?" — David: Arguing that selective occurrence suggests an adaptive function rather than a simple byproduct "those things correlated pretty well, and that women whose partners were more masculine, that those women took less time to have an orgasm during sex and more likely to have an orgasm." — David: Summarizing the couple-study findings linking partner masculinity to orgasm probability

Implications: The discussion suggests female orgasm, male dominance cues, and voice/behavioral dimorphism may all be tied to evolved mate-choice and competition systems. Future work may clarify how ecology, culture, and hormones shape these traits in modern dating and fertility contexts.