Kelly Loretta
From Drmills
Topic: The Strength of Male Sex Drive.
Contributor: Kelly Loretta
Class: Psych 310
Sexual desire exists in both males and females but there is significantly more desire in males. Many studies have revealed that men have more frequent and more intense sexual desires than women as reflected through spontaneous thoughts about sex, various sexual fantasies, and crave for high frequencies of intercourse. This strong sexual desire among men compared to women is not necessarily a result from sexual capacity or overall enjoyment and motivation of sex. Rather, male sex hormones, such as androgens, are more intense and women have larger consequences resulting from copulation. Some of the strongest evidence that males have a stronger sex drive than females is represented in the homosexual community. Studies have shown that gay males engage in sexual activity significantly more than lesbians, who do not experience the consequences that heterosexual females do. Through evolution, males have always had less investment in copulating than females because they do not have the ability to bare children. Intercourse for females can be very taxing on their body because they may become pregnant and have a long term investment. The bottom line is that males have a stronger sexual libido than women which is due to multiple outside sources, physiological factors and evolution.
The human sex drive “refers to the sexual motivation, usually focused on craving for sexual activity and sexual pleasure. Desire is probably the most precise rendition” (Baumeister, 2001). Outside sources that can influence male sex drive includes the desire of relief from stress, desire to procreate, or feelings of power. In studies, men have reported having thoughts about sex more frequently than women; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels (1994) found that over half the men in their national sample reported thinking about sex every day, whereas only one fifth of women reported thinking about sex that often” (Baumeister, 2001). Men are also much more likely to sacrifice resources for sex. Men have a history of paying women for sex which is almost nonexistent in women. Pornography is another type of sexual fantasy that men spend more money and time on than women. Sexual fantasy is often looked at in assessing the amount of sex drive a person has and it has been concluded in many studies that men have fantasies more frequently than women. These fantasies often include more sexual partners and a broader range of sexual acts than those of women.
In terms of marriage, husbands tend to report that they are not quite satisfied with the amount of sex that they are having with their wives while the wives report that they are satisfied. “In marriage, women often get more pleasure out of kissing and cuddling than out of intercourse. In and out of marriage, women say they engage in sex to share emotions and love. Men give reasons that are more narrowly physical, such as need, sexual gratification and sexual release. And when deprived of sex, men are much more likely than women to become morose and irritable” (Rhoads, 2004). M. Brown and Auerback (1981) found that a majority of husbands said that they would prefer to have sex more often at 60% compared to women at 32%. Among non married couples, it has been evident that women are not ready for sex as early in the relationship as men. “McCabe (1987) found that the category of people who were in a committed relationship, who wanted to have sex, but who were not having sex, consisted almost entirely of men. For example, among 25-year-olds, 28% of men but only 2% of women were in this category of ‘reluctant virgins’” (Baumeister, 2001). In another study conducted by Cohen and Shotland in 1996, it was found that men expected to have sex with a woman after going out with them on about eight dates while women expected it after about 12.
Various biological and psychological factors contribute to women being more willing than men to forgo sex. Having sexual intercourse may very well result in pregnancy. Men do not have to worry about this possible effect on their body and therefore have nothing holding them back because they do not have to take on the consequences. Reproduction is much less demanding of men than of women who have to bear the child and then nurse it. A man can impregnate a woman and then go off and impregnate a few more that very same day. The women who are impregnated must put in a large amount of time into a single child. In ancient times, it was desirable for men to produce many offspring because their genes would be passed on. The more sex drive a man had, the more genes they could pass on. This causes men, still today, to have intense sexual urge because it is how they evolved.
Women have also had a history of being looked down upon in society for being sexually active with more than one partner. “In many cultures women endure sanctioned beatings for adultery, immodest dress or talking to strangers. Even in places where female sexuality is less constrained, social pressures tell women that they are odd and foolish if they seem inordinately interested in sex in the way that many men are” (Rhoads, 2004). It is prevalent in society that men are praised for having more sexual partners while women are considered sluts. This is another big factor that works towards men having a stronger sex drive.
Evidence that men do in fact have a stronger sex drive than women can be found in homosexual relationships. In heterosexual couples, copulation can result in pregnancy. This is not an issue in lesbian relationships. However, it was still found that gay males have sex more often than lesbian females. Blumstein and Schwartz (1983) found that “two thirds of gay men but only one third of lesbians were in the maximum category (of the study) of having sex three or more times per week” within the first two years of a relationship. Along with this, it has been found that gay men in committed relationships were much more likely than lesbians to cheat on their significant other (82% vs. 28%). The significance of this study is that it reveals that even without the possibility of getting pregnant, females are still less sexually driven than males.
Androgens, especially testosterone, are crucial in producing sex drive. Testosterone is one of the main organizational and activational hormones that differentiate men and women. Baumeister (2004) states that androgens are responsible for active initiation of sexual activity whereas estrogens are responsible for passive acceptance of sexual activity. A study in which women who had their ovaries and adrenals removed and were given more testosterone to improve sexual function revealed that only 3% of the women who were given low amounts of testosterone reported masturbation at least once a week compared to 10% of the women who received high testosterone treatment (Shifren, 2000) (Baumeister 2001). Additionally, in a study on butch lesbians versus femme lesbians, butch lesbians, having higher testosterone levels, reported having more sexual relationships in the past two years than femme lesbians. Butch lesbians were also found to enjoy erotica more so than femme lesbians. The style of sexual behavior in butch lesbians were found to be typical of men, thus concluding that testosterone is a crucial factor of sex drive (Singh 1999). “[Testosterone] makes you want sex, but it also makes you want to be alone, or thoroughly in control of sexual situations so it specifically promotes masturbation or one night stands” (Rhoads, 2004).
Overall, males are naturally more sexually driven than females. Evolution has praised men for their sexual activity while it has caused hardships among women. Testosterone causes sexual gratification to be a physical need among males. This is seen in the homosexual communities where lesbians do not have to worry about pregnancy but are still less sexually active than males. Females often misunderstand why men are so sexually driven, but they cannot help it. “Sexual strategies theory (Buss & Schmitt, 1993) proposes that because the investment costs of sexual activity are so much higher for women than men, women should be sexually more selective and less promiscuous than men” (Baumeister 2001). Strong sexual desire in men is driven by biological, psychological and evolutionary factors.
References:
Baumeister, R. (2001). Is There a Gender Difference in Strength of Sex Drive? Theoretical Views, Conceptual Distinctions, and a Review of Relevant Evidence. Personality & Social Psychology Review (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 5(3), 242-273.
Bristow, J. (1997) Sexuality, Florence, KY, USA: Routledge. April, 2008,
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/loyolamarymount/Doc?id=5001618&ppg=2.
Denman, C. (2004) Sexuality : A Biopsychosocial Approach, Gordonsville, VA, USA: Palgrave Macmillan. April, 2008, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/loyolamarymount/Doc?id=10103753&ppg=48.
Rhoads, S. E. (2004) Taking Sex Differences Seriously, San Francisco, CA, USA: Encounter Books. April, 2008, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/loyolamarymount/Doc?id=10064610&ppg=57.
Relevant Website Links:
http://www.webmd.com/sex/features/sex-drive-how-do-men-women-compare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqgsD-IhFtw
Rating scale:
Ratings ( 1 - 5):
- found appropriate research references relevant to a topic 5
- discovered, integrated and synthesized relevant information about the topic 5
- writing is of high quality: interesting, flows, analytic, organized 4
- used APA style referencing appropriately (including reference list) 5
- included as a list of web links to the original articles cited (if available), and included a list of additional resources relevant to the topic on the web 5
Total points: 24
