Female sexuality is as robust as men's, suggests new research

In a controversial book, What Do Women Want? Adventures in the Science of Female Desire, journalist Daniel Bergner argues that female sexual desire is just as strong and just as lustful as men’s, unsettling conventional wisdom about sexual equality and monogamy.

“Bergner profiles the work of a series of sexologists, all of whom have, after a series of fascinating studies with animal and human subjects, come to what is essentially the same conclusion,” writes Hugo Schwyzer, a writer at The Atlantic, in his review of the 2013 book. “[That] Women want sex just as much as men do.”

Bergner asks whether men are prepared to cope with female sexuality as it is increasingly decoupled from social roles that have assigned more passive traits to women. Especially as long-held views about it are tossed out the window. Indeed, as Schwyzer writes about the data Bergner compiled:

“This drive [among women] is ‘not, for the most part, sparked or sustained by emotional intimacy and safety.’ When it comes to the craving for sexual variety, the research Bergner assembles suggests that women may be ‘even less well-suited for monogamy than men.'”

What’s the Big Idea?

While some women may want to “play at passivity,” as Schwyzer notes, the research cited in Bergner’s book does seem to suggest that plenty of women, like plenty of men, are also on the lookout for sexual partners. In this regard, many women of today are more “flexible, unintimidated, and playful… in the bedroom” than many modern men may think.