# Moaning during sex **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629 "2016-11-04T18:49:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/21 "2016-11-05T00:54:24Z")
I edited that post to change the word pleasurable from pleasure bowl. My voice dictation is not very good on the phone ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/22 "2016-11-05T00:54:51Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I same to remember reading a book at some point in college that talked about this and at least this humans go the thought it was that making it a pleeasurrable experience would be a good thing to keep the male and female together. Maybe help raising the kid as a family unit since children take so long to meet your into adulthood or at least reproductive age. > > I wanna day the book was The Water Ape. The book also talked about the presents of breast that hang outside the body in a female was a bonus for the male to look at so he was likely to mate face to face and that would imprint the desire to care for the female whilst she is pregnant for 3/4 a year. I wonder if oxytocin had anything to do with it. You spend more time having sex, you get that pair-bonding thing going, which results in overall more stable communities? Something like that, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/23 "2016-11-05T00:58:05Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think most animals (other primates, probably, but few others) have a lot of fun when they’re doin’ it. What makes you think that? Why would animals be so compelled to do it if they weren’t enjoying it? I guess it depends how you define “fun” but any species that didn’t really want to have sex would quickly die out. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/24 "2016-11-05T01:19:47Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > What makes you think that? Why would animals be so compelled to do it if they weren’t enjoying it? I guess it depends how you define “fun” but any species that didn’t really want to have sex would quickly die out. > > –Mark Need and enjoy are two different things. Instinct can make animals do things they may not really enjoy. I don’t enjoy scratching but if I have an itch, my instinctual reaction is to scratch. I don’t enjoy defending myself against someone trying to kill me either but if I’m sure I would instinctually do so. Animals are no different but it’s certainly possible some or even all animals may perform the act of sex purely out of instinct rather than enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/25 "2016-11-05T02:31:47Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I same to remember reading a book at some point in college that talked about this and at least this humans go the thought it was that making it a pleeasurrable experience would be a good thing to keep the male and female together. Maybe help raising the kid as a family unit since children take so long to meet your into adulthood or at least reproductive age. > > I wanna day the book was The Water Ape. The book also talked about the presents of breast that hang outside the body in a female was a bonus for the male to look at so he was likely to mate face to face and that would imprint the desire to care for the female whilst she is pregnant for 3/4 a year. You’re probably thinking of Ian Sanderson’s “The Aquatic Ape”. But I don’t remember those kinds of details in the book, but it’s been a long time. > **[Aquatic ape hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis)** > > The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH), also referred to as aquatic ape theory (AAT) or the waterside hypothesis of human evolution, postulates that the ancestors of modern humans took a divergent evolutionary pathway from the other great apes by becoming adapted to a more aquatic habitat. While the hypothesis has some popularity with the lay public, it is generally ignored or classified as pseudoscience by anthropologists. > The theory developed before major discoveries of ancient hominin fossils in E... ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/26 "2016-11-05T02:43:48Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > You’re probably thinking of Ian Sanderson’s “The Aquatic Ape”. But I don’t remember those kinds of details in the book, but it’s been a long time. > > [Aquatic ape hypothesis - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis) Not to derail this thread - here is a Straight Dope article on that topic: [Did humans descend from “aquatic apes”?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1991/did-humans-descend-from-aquatic-apes) ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/27 "2016-11-05T11:16:11Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > _It’s a quote from Seinfeld, when Elaine told Jerry she faked all her orgasms with him 😉_ that was one of the more endearing episodes of the **seinfeld** franchise. true … while she said “fake, fake, fake” … what elaine did not mention was the fact that the pure act(sex) was a motivating force for her own self-esteem … _ **“i am sexy and that very fact makes me feel as a woman”** _. so … at least part of elaine’s act was _not_ fake. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/28 "2016-11-05T12:00:54Z")
Actually, enjoyment is precisely how instincts work. To say that we have a mating instinct is exactly the same thing as to say that we derive pleasure from mating. > [@](#): > > Quoth **Spice Weasel** : > > Consideration of this makes me wonder: at what point did sex come to be regarded as a mutually pleasurable experience between humans? I don’t think most animals (other primates, probably, but few others) have a lot of fun when they’re doin’ it. Why do we? What is the evolutionary advantage? Ostensibly humanity could get the same reproductive result from clubbing and raping. Even “clubbing and raping”, as you put it, still requires that it at least be pleasurable for the male. But doing it that way means that the woman is likely to resist, and even though males are stronger, resistance will at least sometimes be successful. The whole process is easier if the female is willing or even eager, and she’s more likely to be willing and eager if she enjoys it, too. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/29 "2016-11-05T13:34:58Z")
If you react with pleasure they’ll keep doing it to you. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/30 "2016-11-05T14:38:19Z")
Food mentioned upthread. Me, massage, more than sex.Even at the barber, massaging the wall after a shampoo. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/31 "2016-11-05T16:50:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > You’re probably thinking of Ian Sanderson’s “The Aquatic Ape”. But I don’t remember those kinds of details in the book, but it’s been a long time. > > [Aquatic ape hypothesis - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis) I totally could be mixing up two books I read at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/32 "2016-11-06T03:52:47Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Consideration of this makes me wonder: at what point did sex come to be regarded as a mutually pleasurable experience between humans? I don’t think most animals (other primates, probably, but few others) have a lot of fun when they’re doin’ it. Why do we? What is the evolutionary advantage? A few possible advantages: IIRC, women are more prone to conceive if they orgasm. If she likes it, she’s more likely to sneak out to have sex with you instead of screaming for help. Or show up later with her three brothers and have them hack you to tiny pieces. Or cave in your skull with a rock while you are asleep. It selects for clever, persuasive men over stupid, crude ones. It’s a useful test for identifying men more likely to be willing to invest emotionally in a relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/33 "2016-11-06T03:59:50Z")
Sounds legit. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/34 "2016-11-06T04:22:57Z")
I wonder whether, on some level, a male praying mantis screams during sex, as he’s being eaten by the female. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/35 "2016-11-06T07:37:33Z")
My male cat was neutered as an adult; he’s still a horny thing, and regularly tries to “make it” with various soft items in the house (pillows, blankets, my wife’s sweaters, etc.) While he’s in the middle of the act, he growls and moans – muffled, because he’s biting his “girlfriend” of the moment the entire time. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/36 "2016-11-06T11:31:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, enjoyment is precisely how instincts work. To say that we have a mating instinct is exactly the same thing as to say that we derive pleasure from mating. Couldn’t it also be “cessation of painful / annoying sensations” or something? (Assuming that doesn’t count as pleasure in and of itself.) Oh, that reminds me of a Greg Egan book, **Incandescence** I believe, where one of the main characters was from an alien species where the males produced seed pods that made them uncomfortable, and eventually became painful, if they didn’t find a female to remove the pods with a specialized “mating claw”. To the males in that species, there was certainly a mating instinct, but there was no pleasure involved. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/37 "2016-11-06T14:04:56Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Because barking out orders only turns on some people and “You’re getting warmer” seems inappropriate. “Is this better, or is this worse?” “Is this better, or is this worse?”… How an optometrist makes love. [I wouldn’t have, but **Loach** started it] ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/38 "2016-11-06T14:19:23Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > “Is this better, or is this worse?” > “Is this better, or is this worse?”… > > How an optometrist makes love. > [I wouldn’t have, but **Loach** started it] And “number 1, or number 2?” takes on a whole 'nother meaning. . . . ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/39 "2016-11-06T16:11:21Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Male rabbits also squeal at orgasm ( and promptly fall over afterwards ). > > Lions also get noisy. That explains why Friedman’s rabbit died. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629/40 "2016-11-06T18:18:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Red Foxes are fairly well known for screaming during sex. Yiff! Yiff! Yiff! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moaning-during-sex/770629.md?page=3)