Paper Summary:

This paper looks at what women want and at what men want when it comes to a sexual partner. It discusses how they go about obtaining the partners they find desirable and looks at the biological defense mechanisms in place to ensure that the right outcome is achieved. The paper first looks at how physical appearance and certain body types make both males and females more desirable to members of the opposite sex. It then examines why women are relatively less promiscuous than men and why the female orgasm is not linked to the exchange of genetic material in the same way that the male orgasm is.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Sexual Reproduction and Survival of the Fittest
Physical Appearance: What Men and Women Appear to Want - and How Physical Attractiveness Might Determine Personal Mating Selections and Behavior
The Behavioral Patterns of Men and Women vis-a-vis Sexuality (Relative Levels of Promiscuity)
The Function of Orgasm in Female/Male Sexual Behavior
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The female orgasm becomes important in all of this because an ovulating woman who is sexually aroused is in a position to have an orgasm that will facilitate the impregnation process. To wit, female orgasms shortly before or shortly after male ejaculation are associated with higher sperm retention whereas the absence of female orgasm greatly increases the likelihood that no impregnation will occur; in short, the female uterus appears more receptive to the male sperm than it would be otherwise (Baker & Bellis, 887-890). In the end, it may be put forward that the female orgasm is actually a defense mechanism for women that reduces the risk of pregnancy at the hands of men they may find tolerable but not altogether desirable; conversely, the male orgasm, to the extent it is always accompanied by ejaculation (and thus climax), can be viewed as a means by which pleasure and the male biological imperative are intertwined. As a result, physical gratification is a spur driving men towards the pursuit of sexual reproduction - and men, as noted, greatly increase their reproductive chances if they have sex with large numbers of women."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Choi, P.Y.L., and Pitts, M. "In Pursuit of Male Beauty: Physical Exercise and the Desire for Muscularity." Australian Journal of Psychology, 55 (2003): 171.
• Fisher, M.L. "The Shape of Beauty: Physical Determinants of Female Physical Attractiveness." Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 5.2 (2006): 190-194.
• Gangestad, S.W., and J.A. Simpson. (2000). "The Evolution of Human Mating: Trade-Offs and Strategic Pluralism." Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23 (2000): 573-644.
• Goetz, A.T., C.W. Lamunyon, B.J. Quintus, T.K., Shackelford, and V.A.
• Weekes-Shackelford. "Sex Differences in Sexual Psychology Produce Sex-Similar Preferences for a Short-Term Mate." Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33.4 (2004): 405-410.

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