The reason for female orgasm

The physical justifications for the female orgasm have always seemed anti-feminist to me.

A woman is more likely to have sex if it's pleasurable, right? The only necessary evolutionary justification for the female orgasm is that it makes women more likely to want to have sex. The search for a "reason" for the female orgasm is based on the unspoken (and probably unconscious) assumption that it doesn't matter whether a woman wants to have sex or not...a decidedly patriarchal notion.

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Pardon me for being just a bit skeptical about evolutionary explanations for behavior, but is there any actual evidence showing that women who have multiple orgasms are more likely to conceive than women who have none? One of the big problems with these lines of argument is that they can be used to justify anything, if you're creative enough. Most "examples" of adaptive behavior are completely unscientific (since they can't be tested) but this one could be the subject of an experiment (assuming that you could get a willing subject pool). But I'd like to see some actual evidence rather than reasonable-sounding explanations that may or may not have a basis in the physical world.

Several females curb to sexual pressure regardless of the amount of pleasure that they actually get from the act, though. While the psychological reasons and reinforcement in having lots of sex are important, there is also a lot of important (and kinda really fascinating) physical processes happening that increase the chance of fertilization.

Approaching orgasm, a woman's cervix dialates, which facilitates the passage of sperm into the uterus. (Don't forget the "purpose" of sex is having babies.. or something..) Also, the shape of the vaginal cavity actually changes slightly to make deeper (again, get into that uterus!) penetration possible. Finally, during orgasm the muscles surrounding the cervix spasm; the contractions force the cervical opening down into the semen that's hopefully been ejaculated nearby.

There is also the matter of NumOfOrgasms: that women can more readily have more than one. The cervical spaz isn't going to do much good without any cum around, so the female orgasm must take place later in the coital process. The possibility of many orgasms increases the likelihood that they will coincide with the presence of semen. Multiple orgasms will also prolong the period of the cervical exposure to the sperm pool.


Fortunately, techonology is high enough that sophisticated techniques of preventing these evolved traits from doing their jobs have been developed.

That way, the "reason" for female orgasm is fun... or anything you want it to be.