Nature

Genes drive ability to orgasm
Roxanne Khamsi
Scientists say DNA exerts strong influence on whether women climax.


A woman's pleasure isn't all down to romance.
© Punchstock
A woman's genetic make-up accounts for at least a third of her ability to climax during sex, say researchers, and may even account for as much as 60%.

Further investigations into the genetic differences that influence orgasms in women could help produce drugs to treat female sexual dysfunction, they say.

Relatively little is known about the female orgasm, the peak of sexual excitement normally marked by vaginal contractions. "It's a taboo subject," explains Tim Spector, who directs the Twin Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and co-authored the report.

Women do not need to climax in order to conceive and give birth, a fact that makes the evolutionary cause of their orgasm slightly mysterious. In contrast, men who cannot orgasm miss the chance to pass on their genes and fall victim to natural selection.

So what function does the female orgasm serve? As well as making women more interested in the activity of procreation, recent investigations have found the contractions it involves can bring sperm closer to the egg, increasing the chance of conception.

Evolutionary psychologists have also suggested that the female orgasm might help women to select caring partners: those who are particularly attentive in the bedroom may also be more supportive in other aspects of life.

Twin peaks

To find out which factors most affect a woman's ability to climax, Spector and his colleagues sent a questionnaire to more than 4,000 female twins to complete anonymously. Recipients included nearly 700 pairs of identical twins, who share the same DNA.

The researchers asked how often the women climaxed during sex. Only 14% of the women reported always achieving an orgasm. At the other end of the spectrum, 16% of them said they never reach orgasm or are unsure about whether they do or not.

As in other studies of twins, the scientists assume that twins share similar family environments. The overall difference between trends in identical twins and fraternal twins is thus attributed to genetic influences. The analysis suggests that genes explain at least 34% of the probability that a woman orgasms during sex. When it came to masturbation, this number climbed to 45%, the researchers report in Biology Letters1.

This number could go even higher, they add, if one could account for other variables, such as the different techniques of the women's partners. Genetic influences have been seen to account for as much as 60% of variability in other complex traits, such as obesity.

Pleasure in a pill

The number of genes that influence the female orgasm remains unknown. But researchers reason that comparing the DNA of women who always orgasm with that of those who never do could shed light on the biological pathway behind the process. Drugs could then be developed to target the most influential genes or gene products in this pathway.

Medications for male erectile problems, such as Pfizer's Viagra (sildenafil citrate), have already given men more options, says London-based relationship therapist Ruth Mitchell. But she says women lack a similarly popular and effective treatment.

Even with the promise of drugs, Mitchell cautions that many factors besides biology affect the ability to orgasm. "There's such a huge impact from conditioning and expectation," she says.





See and all this time she was insisting it was because I was a lousy lover. Science vindicates me. It is all the fault of those lousy parents of hers.

You're probably still a lousy lover.

There are quite a few women that cannot climax from intercourse alone, the responsibility then falls to you to make sure you do enough pre-game to get her going well enough to ensure she climaxes.

There's more to being a good lover than just sticking your dick in her.

all this prooves is that people with advanced molecular biology degrees are good in bed.


*looks in mirror and smiles contentedly*


but seriously, remember the whole nature vs nurture debate.


Recently nature has been kicking ass. What with the lazy gene in monkeys being identified, and others i cant remember right now.

It does nothing of the sort. Bringing yourself to climax doesn't count.

No sense of humor.

And the article makes the point that there are quite a few women who simpily cant seem to climax at all. But reading comprehension isnt exactly a strong suit of yours...

Though trolling as a moderator seems to be one of yours.

As for not being able to climax at all, I seem to be yet to meet one that truly fits the bill.

Sometimes a woman truly has Female Orgasmic Disfunction. . . but most of the time it's just a shitty lover. Kimmy gets hers whenever we kick it.

Women are like diesel engines. Once you get them warmed up properly they can run for a long longgggggggggggggggggggg. Time.

It is up to us to properly warm up that engine.

Probably because you have yet to meet one at all. Your mom doesn't count.

Mum jokes are so overdone, toy soldier.

And more often than not, done better.

That was a joke?

There are some women who for genetic reasons, cannot climax. It's been documented many times over. After work, I will see what I can find for you to peruse.

In other cases though, I do believe that a lot of the fault doesn't necessarily fall upon the mans shoulders. Simply put, I don't believe some women truly and fully understand how their bodies work. They aren't "in touch" with their own bodies and aren't aware of what their own bodies respond to. So how in the world can they articulate what "works" for them, when they themselves, don't know.

Some of it is mental hangups. Being men don't seem to have this ingrained upon them by society at a young age - but for women - it's a tad different. As young girls, most times we are led to believe that sex is "dirty" or not something that "nice girls" do. Most women come to realize with age, that just simply isn't the case... however there are women who tend to hang on to that throughout their adult lives.

As far as the mental aspect of sex and orgasm is concerned - I have heard and put a little credence into - men have [need] sex to feel loved... and women must feel love in order to have [need] sex.

That is not saying that it applies in all cases, because it certainly doesn't. But it's something worth entertaining, if nothing else.

This post has been edited by LadyInRed: Oct 17 2005, 02:33 PM