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Genes drive ability to orgasm: Scientists say DNA exerts strong influence on whether women climax
Nature Magazine ^ | 8 June 2005 | Roxanne Khamsi

Posted on 06/08/2005 3:40:51 AM PDT by PatrickHenry

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: crevolist; gettingintoyourgenes; o; orgasm
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To: ken5050
Actually, it just proves that men named "Gene" are fantastic lovers...

Shudder.....

81 posted on 06/08/2005 7:09:17 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: VadeRetro
If lying is a turn-off to sex...

How does anyone explain Bill Clinton?

82 posted on 06/08/2005 7:09:56 AM PDT by VadeRetro (Liberalism is a cancer on society. Creationism is a cancer on conservatism.)
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To: dread78645
Wine and Barry White ...

At least you didn't say "Manilow."

83 posted on 06/08/2005 7:14:02 AM PDT by VadeRetro (Liberalism is a cancer on society. Creationism is a cancer on conservatism.)
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To: Just another Joe
When ELSE would a woman climax other than some type of sex?

A man in an airplane is sitting next to a young woman. Every so often, the woman sneezes into a handkerchief and shudders violently. The man asks the woman, "Are you ok?" The woman replies, "Yes .... I've been diagnosed with a rare condition. Whenever I sneeze, I have an orgasm." The man asks her, "Are you taking anything for it?" and the woman replies "Pepper."

84 posted on 06/08/2005 7:14:37 AM PDT by ccmovrwc
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
Does that mean she is having at least a third and maybe 60% of an orgasm? Isn't that called premature articulation, or something like that?

I donno. Then again, maybe she's faking it.

85 posted on 06/08/2005 7:31:54 AM PDT by dread78645 (Sorry Mr. Franklin, We couldn't keep it.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Better Living Thru Chemistry:

I decided to prescribe Wellbutrin, a different class of antidepressant that has shown some ability to counteract sexual dysfunction caused by S.S.R.I.'s.

Little did I know.

Two weeks later, Susan called from her cellphone to say that the antidote was working. While shopping, she said, she spontaneously had an orgasm that had lasted on and off for nearly two hours . She was more delighted than alarmed, but I was stunned. I have had my share of therapeutic surprises, but this was hard to believe.

I knew a woman, who took Wellbutrin, sneezed and had an orgasm and almost drove off the road.

86 posted on 06/08/2005 7:34:04 AM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (Jabba the Hutt's bigger, meaner, uglier brother.)
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To: Allan
Ping

Wrong direction.

87 posted on 06/08/2005 7:34:49 AM PDT by ARridgerunner
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To: stuartcr; ken5050; Sir Francis Dashwood
Gene Simmons


88 posted on 06/08/2005 7:56:03 AM PDT by dread78645 (Sorry Mr. Franklin, We couldn't keep it.)
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To: PatrickHenry

As Popeye might say. "Ohhh Olive, I yam havink an organism ak ak ak ak".


89 posted on 06/08/2005 8:03:37 AM PDT by Vaquero (an armed society is a polite society (Heinlien).)
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To: PatrickHenry
That's from post 23. Anyone else find that to be a bit strange?

A little. -maybe it's a scene left out of Animal House?

Otter: Let me give you a hint. She's got a couple of major-league yabbos.
Boon: Norma!
Otter: No. But you're getting warmer. Here's another: "Oh God, Oh God, OH GOD!"
Boon: Marlene! You're gonna pork Marlene Desmond!
Otter: Pork?
Boon: You're gonna hump her brains out, aren't you?
Otter: Boon, I anticipate a deeply religious experience. 

90 posted on 06/08/2005 8:04:17 AM PDT by dread78645 (Sorry Mr. Franklin, We couldn't keep it.)
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To: Just another Joe

Erm,
ahhh,
they can happen in other settings.

Really. :)


91 posted on 06/08/2005 8:05:47 AM PDT by najida (Toilet, two sinks, now---the rest of the story (er, house).)
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To: PatrickHenry
Funny how a thread about female orgasm has chick pictures...
Per usualy
This needs to be remedied...

OK, now here we have a major, necessary component.

92 posted on 06/08/2005 8:08:13 AM PDT by najida (Toilet, two sinks, now---the rest of the story (er, house).)
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To: PatrickHenry
Anyone else find that to be a bit strange?

The visual imagination boggles.

93 posted on 06/08/2005 8:08:39 AM PDT by js1138 (e unum pluribus)
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To: VadeRetro
At least you didn't say "Manilow."

Barry "Marshmallow" Manilow?
Pass.

94 posted on 06/08/2005 8:14:56 AM PDT by dread78645 (Sorry Mr. Franklin, We couldn't keep it.)
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To: nmh; PatrickHenry
"I now click on evolution threads expecting humor."

Me too!

95 posted on 06/08/2005 8:19:32 AM PDT by Matchett-PI (Bad news for atheists: Postmoderns reject all meta-narratives including yours (macro-evolution))
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To: PatrickHenry

Written by fridged women looking for ane excuse from sex with their beer-belly fat old husbands.


96 posted on 06/08/2005 9:08:15 AM PDT by shellshocked (They're undocumented Border Patrol agents, not vigilantes.)
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To: PatrickHenry

Personally, I'm gonna require DNA testing on all my partners in the future to make sure I get one of those "14 percenters", the 'hot mamas' of the world.

At my age, I could get a stroke (pardon my pun)from trying to deliver with one of the 16% on the other end of the scale.

Romance, phoooey! Ain't Science grand.


97 posted on 06/08/2005 9:26:22 AM PDT by wildbill
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To: PatrickHenry

Well now, we finally get to an important subject ......


98 posted on 06/08/2005 9:38:28 AM PDT by narby (Ignorance is God’s gift to Kansas.)
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To: narby
You don't bump this thread, you stroke it.
99 posted on 06/08/2005 9:42:14 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. The List-O-Links is at my homepage.)
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To: evets

I always thought the "O" girl looked kind of like dressed up trailer trash. She looks ok in the pix, but when she opens her mouth, trailer trash.


100 posted on 06/08/2005 9:42:29 AM PDT by narby (Ignorance is God’s gift to Kansas.)
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