Apparently, Michael Phelps does everything he does in order to get laid

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently came across this article, which stroke me, because of this theory that to my eyes seems ridiculous, but i’d like to hear your opinion, since you’re probably better informed than me.

[QUOTE=http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200808/apparently-michael-phelps-does-everything-he-does-in-order]
In a recent article in the Times of London, the journalist and former two-time Olympian (table tennis) Matthew Syed reveals just how much casual sex goes on in the Olympic Village, especially among swimmers.

In the article, Syed appears initially puzzled by why so much sex goes on between athletes in the Olympic Village, but eventually reaches the conclusion that evolutionary psychologists have known all along (and I have written about in a previous series of posts: Men do everything they do in order to get laid I, II, III, IV, V, and VI): “Can it be that one of the underlying drivers of sporting greatness is also the very thing that produces an overactive sex drive?”

Matthew SyedOf course, I know better than to believe everything I read in a British tabloid (and all British newspapers are tabloids by the American standards). However, I assume Syed’s article contains a kernel of truth, especially since a lot of what he says reflects an undeniable evolutionary psychological reality.

For example, Syed notes that winning the gold medal has the opposite effects on male and female athletes. Winning the gold medal increases male athletes’ sexual desirability tremendously, whereas it appears to have no effect, if not a negative effect, on the female athletes’ sexual desirability. “Sport, in this respect, is a reflection of wider society, where male success is a universal desirable whereas female success is sexually ambiguous.”

Syed is also very conversant in the latest scientific findings in evolutionary psychology and biology. He is aware that testosterone simultaneously increases achievement and sexual desire, and he is familiar with the findings that men ejaculate much more sperm during copulation when they have been away from their wives and girlfriends for an extended period of time.

Anyway, if you are interested, you can read Syed’s article in the London Times here.

P.S. Thanks to my friend and fellow PT blogger Jay Belsky for alerting me to the London Times article and encouraging me to write about it. I think a blogger is supposed to say a “hat tip,” but I ain’t saying that because I ain’t no “blogger.”
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2

He’s wondering why very fit people of both sexes, who are at an adrenalin high and largely unsupervised, are having lots of sex? Does he also wonder if the Pope is Catholic?

3

Makes sense to me. Humans used to need to be incredibly fit in order to be the best hunter or farmer. It was the epitome of attractiveness - and still is.

So put all of the world’s most fit people into one place - people who are also high on adrenaline - and there’s bound to be a lot of sex.

As for the gold medal winners…I dunno. I believe it, I suppose. Men win and want to get laid and women win and want to be left alone.

4

You sure about that? If I was a 24 year old medal winner…err…I’d definitely take advantage of the situation.

I’m female, incidentally.

5

:dubious:

:smiley:

6

I think the evolutionary psychology theory is that when men win they can have more opportunities; and when women win they can be more choosy, although not less active.

Note that I am not actually promoting this theory

7

Yeah I’m female too. I don’t understand it…but I can’t say I have ever been particularly close to being a person of the Olympian mind or body. Perhaps they are different from us :slight_smile:

8

Well, evolutionarily speaking (not that I place more trust in such reasonings beyond speculative interest), very fit women with low body fat also have great difficulty conceiving. In which case I could see how “very fit” women have lower sex drives, as the physiological burden of pregnancy would be a big strain on their reserves.

9

IMO An equally true headline would be:
**
“Apparently {Insert name of famous guy here} does everything he does in order to get laid”**

10

Wait Griffin. We can broaden that to:

“Apparently {Insert name of random guy here} does everything he does in order to get laid”

11

My only change would be: **
“Apparently {Insert name of guy here} does everything he does in order to get laid”**

ETA: great minds, and all dat.

12

I think there would be easier ways for a young good-looking charismatic man like Michael Phelps to get laid, if that was his sole motivator. I’d wager the brutal training schedule he endured severly cut into his tail-chasing time.

I don’t understand how people get from “Men like sex” to “Absolutely everything a man does has the sole purpose of getting him sex.”

13

I guess a more nuanced way to put it would be… Men (and women) are motivated by a desire for status and recognition. But for guys the “status and recognition” and “getting tail” are inextricably linked.

14

I don’t think everything we do is for status and recognition. I think people like Phelps could only do what they do if they valued the task as an end in itself. There’s no way anyone is going to work that hard just for a little status, even if that includes sex. The status and sex is a nice side benefit, but you really have to love what you’re doing to work that hard at it.

15

Oh come on, people. It’s

“Apparently {insert name of sexually-reproducing lifeform here} does everything it does in order to get laid.”

16

Late Night Olympics. Coming to a cable station near you Winter 2010.

17

Phelps is a young, inexperienced guy who has been pretty isolated. During the olympics his short interviews seemed coached. “I uh, am honored, and uh, I did my best and just wanted to win and uh, I’m at a loss for words.” I think someone was telling him what makes a good sound bite and what to say instead of too much.

Now the olympics are over and we’re going to get a young, inexperienced but wildly successful young man talking shit. Nothing wrong with that, but his agents are probably cringing.

18

I doubt this. Otherwise, he would swim all his events upstream, and wind up in the pool where he first learned to swim.

Regards,
Shodan

19

Moving this to IMHO, where you can get factual answers, opinions, theories, etc.

samclem General Questions Moderator

20

What do you base this on? Nothing in that blog, nor the London Times article it references, has anything about Phelps commenting on this at all.

Unsurprising, since Phelps apparently has a girlfriend and left the Olympics immediately after his events. And according to the stories they air every Olympics about how many condoms the athletes go through, they do not participate in the Olympic village bacchanal until after their events.

But this is kind of a non-revelation. At every Olympics. Fit, attractive people like to have sex with each other. Who knew?