David Puts01 December 2022

What Use Is The Female Orgasm? - David Puts - #559

0Frameworks

10Insights

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster41:00

Brow Ridges May Protect Against Punches

The prominent brow ridge in human males may have evolved as protection against facial injuries from punches or weapons, not just for display. This supports the idea that male anatomy was shaped by physical competition.

Brow ridges may protect eyes and face from punches or blunt trauma.
Male skulls are more robust, especially in mandibles and supraorbital regions.
Suggests male anatomy evolved under pressure from physical combat.
Fits with high rates of facial injury in young males historically.

“A slightly larger brow ridge could protect eyes from punches or hits from other things too.”
David Puts · 42:00

#brow ridge#facial evolution#male aggression#combat adaptation

Explainer· 4

Explainer01:00

Why the Female Orgasm May Be for Mate Choice

David Puts suggests the female orgasm likely functions in mate choice, helping women select partners with better genes or greater willingness to invest in offspring. It may increase conception odds when partnered with higher-quality males, rather than being merely a byproduct of male orgasm evolution.

Female orgasm may help select mates with high genetic quality or long-term investment potential.
It could increase the probability of conception, especially with preferred partners.
Evidence contradicts the idea that it's just a byproduct of male orgasm evolution.
Orgasm frequency correlates with partner traits like masculinity and emotional closeness.

“It functions in mate choice... to choose mates of high genetic quality or long-term investing partners.”
David Puts · 01:00

#female orgasm#mate choice#evolutionary biology#sexual selection

Explainer15:00

Women Orgasm More Easily With Masculine Partners

Women tend to orgasm sooner and more frequently with partners who are more masculine and dominant. Facial ratings and objective measures of masculinity correlated with faster female orgasm, suggesting mate quality influences sexual response.

Women had earlier and more likely orgasms with masculine, dominant partners.
Facial masculinity was rated by unfamiliar people and correlated with orgasm timing.
Suggests female orgasm may function to select genetically fit mates.
Traits linked to high testosterone may signal underlying genetic quality.

“Women whose partners were more masculine... took less time to have an orgasm during sex and were more likely to have an orgasm.”
David Puts · 15:30

#female orgasm#mate quality#masculinity#dominance

Explainer24:00

Male Traits Evolved for Fighting, Not Attracting

David Puts argues human male traits like deep voices and large bodies evolved primarily through contest competition—intimidating rivals—rather than attracting females. Perception of dominance is affected 15x more by voice pitch than female attraction.

Male traits like deep voices evolved more for intimidating rivals than attracting mates.
Voice pitch affects perception of fighting ability 15x more than female attraction.
Men's phenotypes resemble weapons and armor, not ornaments.
Contest competition likely dominated sexual selection in human evolution.

“The effect of the same pitch manipulation on other men's perceptions of a guy's fighting ability was 15 times as big as the biggest effect…”
David Puts · 26:30

#sexual selection#contest competition#male dominance#voice pitch

Explainer66:00

Deep Voices Signal Low Stress, High Testosterone

Lower male voice pitch correlates with higher testosterone and lower cortisol, suggesting it signals underlying hormonal profiles related to competitiveness and stress resilience.

Deeper voices linked to higher testosterone and lower cortisol.
Suggests voice pitch may signal physiological quality.
Larynx descent at puberty exaggerates perceived size.
Voice may be an honest signal of male competitiveness.

“Guys who have both low cortisol and high testosterone have especially deep voices.”
David Puts · 66:30

#voice pitch#testosterone#cortisol#hormones

Story· 2

Story08:00

Oxytocin Moves Sperm Toward the Egg

A study treated women with oxytocin and tracked a semen-like fluid, finding it moved more efficiently into the fallopian tube near ovulation. This suggests orgasm-related oxytocin release may enhance fertility by aiding sperm transport.

Oxytocin treatment increased movement of sperm-like fluid toward the fallopian tube.
Transport was more pronounced closer to ovulation.
Suggests orgasm may boost fertility through hormonal mechanisms.
Provides indirect evidence for orgasm's adaptive role in conception.

“The closer that the women in the study got to ovulation... the more transport you had just into the oviduct.”
David Puts · 10:00

#oxytocin#fertility#orgasm#reproduction

Story71:30

Men Change Voice Pitch Based on Rival

In a lab study, men lowered their voice pitch when they felt superior to a competitor and raised it when feeling inferior, showing voice modulation is context-dependent and tied to dominance perception.

Men lowered pitch when they felt more dominant than a rival.
Men raised pitch when they felt less dominant.
Shows voice is used strategically in social competition.
Reflects real-time signaling of dominance or deference.

“If guys perceive themselves as less good fighters than their competitor, they tended to raise their pitch... if better, they lowered it.”
David Puts · 72:30

#voice modulation#dominance#social signaling#competition

Q&A· 1

Q&A48:00

Why Dominance Predicts Male Mating Success

In a study of college men, peer-rated dominance predicted number of sexual partners better than women's attractiveness ratings. This suggests male competition, not female choice, drives mating success in certain contexts.

Peer-rated dominance predicted sexual partners more accurately than female attraction ratings.
Attractiveness ratings added no additional predictive power once dominance was accounted for.
Dominant males may deter rivals, increasing mating access.
Suggests male social hierarchy strongly influences reproductive outcomes.

“Guys' average rankings of dominance predicted number of sex partners... attractiveness didn't explain any additional variation.”
David Puts · 50:00

#male dominance#mating success#social hierarchy#sexual competition

Tool· 1

Tool76:30

Studying Hormones' Role in Behavior and Voice

David Puts' lab is researching how sex hormones influence psychology, behavior, and voice across the ovulatory cycle and in individuals with hormone conditions like IHH.

Studying people with low sex hormones (IHH) to understand hormone effects.
Tracking women's psychology and voice changes across ovulatory cycle.
Examining voice perception across cultures and primates.
Aims to link hormonal variation to behavior and mate signaling.

“We're looking at how having low sex hormones from gestation to puberty influences psychology and behavior.”
David Puts · 77:00

#hormones#IHH#ovulatory cycle#voice research

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway55:00

Men Better at Mental Rotation, Women at Memory

On average, men outperform women in mental rotation tasks, while women excel at object location memory. These differences may reflect ancestral roles in hunting and foraging.

Males have ~1 standard deviation advantage in mental rotation.
Females show advantage in remembering object locations.
Differences may stem from ancestral foraging vs. hunting strategies.
Testosterone exposure influences spatial task performance.

“On average males do better at mental rotation... females have an advantage in object location memory.”
David Puts · 56:00

#spatial cognition#mental rotation#memory#sex differences