There are many differences between men and women, but none more so than in the bedroom if rumours are to be believed. Men want sex all the time, women want commitment; men go for looks, women go for personality…the list goes on. But is it really accurate? According to psychologists, gender-essentialist statements such as these aren’t really true. A new study carried out at University of Michigan found that gender differences aren’t always so clear cut. Here are some gender differences that may not be innate after all, and the reasons behind them all.
Men think about sex more than women
It’s a classic cliche, but do men really think about sex more than women? The belief has always been that men think about sex every seven seconds, and while it may be true that men are more likely to think about the act than women are, they also think about other things more than women too. For example, food and sleep. In a study published in 2011, psychologists asked research participants to record their thoughts for an entire day. The data found that men think about sex, on average, 18 times a day whereas women think about it just ten times. But men also think proportionately about sleep and food more than women too.
Men want more sexual partners than women
If you were to ask men and women how many sex partners they would want in a set period of time, the numbers would average out that men would want more. But it seems that in the past some men have skewed the results for everyone else. Averages don’t always give the clearest figures and this is one such example. In fact, the typical response to such a question was simple and the same: one. Young men are eager to conform to the stereotypical view of masculinity though, which means the figures for everyone else aren’t always what they should be.
Men want ‘sexy’ and women want ‘status’
It’s an evolutionary thought that men want sexy and attractive women to provide them with healthy offspring, whereas women want men who are have a high status and who will be a good provider. And this is generally the case when researchers ask participants this very question. But when people in an actual speed dating event were asked to rate the importance of attractiveness and status, these gender differences disappeared. There was, in fact, no real difference between the way they rated people they were interested in. The real world, it seems, may go beyond these stereotypes we’ve relied on for years. Thinking about the ideal mate elicits more stereotypical thoughts about people, and what men and women ‘should’ do. But when people evaluate each other in real life, this is a little different and the answers show that.
Women have fewer orgasms than men
Studies suggest that men have more orgasms than women, but there is one very large caveat attached to this theory – the difference in one night stands and hook-up relationships. For women in long-term relationships, the results look far more appealing. Furthermore, the studies don’t include the ease that men have in reaching climax, compared to women. Women reach orgasm only about a third as much as men during first time sex, but in committed relationships women have orgasms 79 per cent as often as men. This suggests that a partner who cares about a woman’s sexual satisfaction is more important than biology after all.
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