Has The Mystery of the Female Orgasm Been Solved?

The purpose of the euphoric sensation of a female orgasm has long puzzled scientists—it is not necessary for conception, and is often not experienced by women during penetrative sex itself.

But experts believe they may have cracked it, and say their research suggests our female ancestors would only release an egg after being stimulated by a male just before or during sex. So, orgasms were once crucial for reproduction.

Once stimulated, our prehistoric sisters would have released certain hormones causing her to ovulate and the egg was then fertilized by sperm, according to scientists. This is still the case for numerous species of mammals—including rabbits, ferrets, camels and cats. But over hundreds of thousands of years their bodies evolved to ovulate by themselves—once a month.

Professor Gunter Wagner, who specializes in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale, believes that in the past all female mammals ovulated after having an orgasm. It was only later on that some species—such as humans, dogs, cows and rats—evolved to ovulate by themselves during cycles.

Wagner, whose discovery is published in the journal JEZ-Molecular and Developmental Evolution, focused on the hormones released by different female mammals during sex. Most release a surge of the “feelgood” hormones prolactin and oxytocin and in many cases this triggers ovulation.

Dr. Mihaela Pavlicev of the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, in the U.S., who was also involved in the research, said: “We think the hormonal surge characterizes a trait that we know as female orgasm in humans. This insight enabled us to trace the evolution of the trait across species.

“[Similar] traits in different species are often difficult to identify, as they can change substantially in the course of evolution.”

Other scientists have come up with other controversial explanations as to why women have orgasms when they perform no function. One of the most obvious is that they simply encourage them to have more sex, and reproduce. Another theory is that they create a stronger bond between the woman and the man, making it more likely they will stay together and have more children.

Finally, some scientists claim it is down to the “mate-choice” hypothesis whereby females chose a mate on the basis of sexual satisfaction. Theoretically, a male who gives them a better orgasm has stronger sperm and will help her to produce more offspring.