That doesn’t seem plausible though Sarah. Orgasm occurs after a sexual enconter is initiated. Once the encounter is initiated the male is going to ejaculate no matter what so female pleasure is rather pointless form a reproductive point of view. Feeling horny during ovulation makes sense since it promotes copulation, but orgasm after copulation is initiated is not likely to promote more copulation. The only was that could work is if you are suggesting that women know that their chances of orgasm on any given day even before even foreplay is initiated and seek out encounters just for te pleasure. That has not been my experience.
I suspect that the truth is that women do feel more horny when they are ovulating, and horny women are more likely to orgasm. The orgasm is an effect of the driver, not he driver itself.
You dont think a woman would be likely to repeat sexual intercourse after orgasming the first time she initiates sex during that “horny” period of ovulation?
But who here has ever noticed that coincidence? Not me (Not I? oops, that’s another post).
Although the O appears to stimulate sperm-slaying conditions I recon them to be negligible given the simple fact that the female orgasm has not been “selected against.” This and the evidence to the contrary supported by that way-cool video of the head-banging cervix (suggesting greater uptake of sperm in the presence of orgasm) seems to indicate that the two results oppose each other. Why this would be the case is a mystery–could be that a hostile environment kills off weaker sperm or sperm that is poorly matched to the genes of the receiver (I dunno, maybe Neanderthal sperm couldn’t abide the habitat at all); while the bobbing cervix “appologizes” for the chemical insult by picking up more of the survivors and thus neutralizing the initial assault.
From a practical standpoint, given the choice between two mates who are equal in other regards, who here will bet on the genes of the guy who lacks jack@ss’ dedication to satisfaction?
As for whether or not the orgasm assists with conception when it occurs before ejaculation, I suppose we would need to know how long that bobbing thing goes on. The phenomena of “multiple orgasm” and “the 30 minute” orgasm (maybe it was 3 minutes…) supports the argument that her O is important irrespective of when Tarzan gets around to it.
jack@ss , I want you to do some field research on this and report your results by this time tomorrow. We’ll need at least 10 separate experiments to draw any conclusive proof.
I can’t see why. If a woman is feeling inclined towards sexual activity then she is inclined towards sexual activity. I don’t understand why orgasm would have any influence at all. It obviously varies between individuals, but at least some women are less likely to initiate additional intercourse after a satisfying encounter than they would be if they were ‘unfulfilled’ as Barabara Cartland would have said.
I can accept that orgasm is a reward system to encourage copulation, no problem. The problem I’m having is with the need for a woman to realise that she is more prone to orgasm at the time of ovulation even before copulation is initiated.
Matchka, it’s not in any dispute that any influence of orgasm on fertility is insignificant.
Your speculation on the effect of prolonged orgasm that begins pre-ejaculation and finishes in February is interesting but flawed. Firstly such prolonged orgasm is incredibly rare. Even in women capable of such things it is not ‘standard’.
Secondly if orgasm occurs pr-ejaculation it draws vaginal fluid into the uterus. That reduces the survival probability of spermatozoa. It doesn’t matter how long it lasts. If the orgasm then continues afterwards then it still won’t counterbalance its own negative impact because the detrimental effect on sperm is greater than the beneficial effect. It’s a net loss and sperm counts in utero would be higher without any orgasm at all even if the orgasm does last for months. That puts us right back where we started. Women should be more prone to anorgasmia and frustrating sexual encounters with men they find attractive. Maybe prolonged orgasms could be invoked as a mechanism to counteract the negative effects of orgasm, but it doesn’t explain the origin of orgasm to begin with.