At least that’s what a new study published in Psychological Science could lead you to believe. Researchers surveyed 50 heterosexual couples twice (once when the woman was fertile and once when she wasn’t) and found that women were more likely to initiate sex during the infertile stage if they felt that they were more invested in the relationship than their partner was. Meaning? It was such a mystery that women would initiate sex (for any reason other than to procreate) that researchers conducted a study on the topic. Their theory: Women initiate sex even when they’re not fertile in order to increase their partner’s interest. “If women are initiating sexual advances when they aren’t fertile, it must be for a reason other than conception,” says Nicholas Grebe, PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico and author of the study. “We think it is to maintain male interest as well as male proximity.” Grebe also notes that they only see this pattern when women are highly invested, and the men are less so. Is it possible that, on some level, we initiate sex when we feel our partners straying? Sure. But after reading similar studies that so desperately try to figure out why women are capable of having orgasms—at all—and other studies concluding that female hormones influence how we vote, that men and women can’t really be friends, and that women are more likely to regret casual sex, we groaned when we saw this research. Just what we need: more researchers drawing sexist conclusions about female sexuality. But as it turns out, this could be a small step in the right direction: “I like that this study looks at female sexuality outside of the fertile phase,” says Kristen Mark, PhD, sex and relationship researcher and assistant professor at the University of Kentucky. “Much of the research on female sexuality focuses on either fertility or dysfunction (namely, a lack of sex drive and how to fix it), which paints an incredibly limited view of female sexuality.” “There’s definitely a place for evolutionary research,” says Dr. Mark. “But it’s a tiny piece of a much larger picture.” For example, it doesn’t take societal evolution into consideration, people are more open about having sex solely for pleasure, people are having more sex before marriage, and there’s less stigma associated with experimenting in the bedroom. Those are things you can’t really consider if you’re still wondering why women are capable of orgasming in the first place, as many researchers do. So take this study (and similar research) with a grain of salt. If there’s one thing we can learn from the plethora of studies on sexuality—some good, some bad—it’s that human sexuality is complicated and interesting. Now, go grab your partner and give researchers more material to investigate. More from Prevention: Have Mind-Blowing Sex Tonight!
