Paying special attention to the lady in your life’s needs between the sheets won’t just earn you an extra brownie point or two.
It really will make you feel like a real man, boosting self-esteem and mental health, experts have found.
Orgasms are the ultimate when it comes to sexual fulfillment for women, a symbol of a healthy sex life.
But, now new findings show women who reach climax are actually also helping boost their male partners‘ self-esteem – and psychological well-being.
Selfless you might say!
Psychologists at the University of Michigan say men feel more masculine and have higher sexual esteem “when they imagined that a woman orgasmed during sexual encounters with them”.
They added: “These results suggest that women’s orgasms do function – at least in part – as a masculinity achievement for men.”
Advise on how to give women an orgasm, how to best receive one, make them more frequent, more mind-blowing and more multiple is abundant.
It marks a shift in society from a historically bloke-centric perspective, “to one that celebrates pleasure and sexual liberation for women”, the authors note.
But gals… before it begins to sound like your sexual pleasure is all for the benefit of your man, read on.
For the researchers said their findings, published in the Journal of Sex Research, suggest the female of the species will reap the rewards.
To investigate, researchers designed a questionnaire for 810 men aged 18 or older, who were sexually attracted to women.
They asked men to imagine certain sex scenarios involving them and a female partner.
In some their lady friend climaxed, while in others she was left hanging.
The experts then asked the guys taking part to rate how masculine they felt in each situation.
The psychologists noted several ways a gal’s sexual pleasure would affect her man:
- guys would report feeling more masculine when their partner climaxed during sex
- men would feel “most successful” making a woman orgasm when she had previously not enjoyed it with other men
- a “major failure” – where a girl orgasmed with another guy but not them – would trigger feelings of not being masculine enough
- the word masculine would be linked to success
- men who feel their masculinity is more fragile would feel most manly in situations where their female partner climaxed
The authors, led by Sara Chadwick, concluded: “Overall, the results support that women’s orgasms functions as a masculinity achievement for men.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly knowing they had helped their partner reach the heady heights of sexual bliss, men felt more at one with their manly selves.
But, the researchers were surprised to see a woman’s sexual history, and how frequently she had achieved orgasm with past partners, made no difference to her current partner.
They added: “High-stress men felt more masculine when a woman orgasmed and less masculine when she did not compared to low-stress men.”
While the results may suggest a woman’s orgasm is almost more important to her male partner, the authors argued their findings could have a positive effect on gender differences.
“Many men who experience women’s orgasms as a masculinity achievement may also be genuinely invested in women’s pleasure,” the added.
“And men’s self-interest in women’s orgasms could result in women experiencing more orgasms generally, compared to beliefs that women are uninterested in orgasms or unable to experience pleasure, or that women’s pleasure is unimportant in anyway.”
Win win.