(credit: Jonathan Keller)
The existence of women’s orgasms has given scientists and philosophers a lot to chew on over the centuries. The pleasurable climax is neither required for reproduction nor particularly easy to achieve during heterosexual intercourse, based on simple mechanics. Yet it inexplicably evolved and persists.
Researchers have come up with a variety of theories to try to explain women’s big ‘O’ mystery. Some hypothesize that it does, in fact, subtly benefit reproductive success. Others put forth the “by-product” theory, which suggests that women experience orgasms only because they share developmental stages with men, in whom orgasms are an explosive adaptation critical for human reproduction.
Now, evolutionary biologists Mihaela Pavličev, of the University of Cincinnati, and Günter Wagner, of Yale, offer an entirely different theory that they argue fits with the evolution of fellow mammals. They suggest that female orgasms used to be the trigger for readying eggs for fertilization but became obsolete and then co-opted to serve primate-specific roles—such as enabling bonding and partner choice—after cyclical egg-releasing evolved in ancestors.
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Source: Ars Technica – New evolutionary theory suggests women co-opted orgasms for happy endings