On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, Charles Brown wrote:
> Finally, the modern women not having orgasms in the studies today doesn't
> mean they don't have the physical capacity. May just be a reflection of poor
> stimulation skills of modern men, as noted, and/ or sexual self-repression
> of modern women who are pissed at the individual man for particular stuff
> unrelated to sexual skills or this individual man as a representative of men
> in general for male supremacy. I missed how many orgasms they have from
> masturbation.
Well, you conveniently ignored some data that contradicts your argument! Female orgasms are far more likely to occur from masturbation than intercourse. If female orgasm is an adaptation to encourage intercourse, shouldn't it be the other way round?
> CB: Spandrel of what ? A spandrel has to be the side effect of another trait
> that is selected directly.
Pick anything. Could be a contingent, genomic link with any other gene clusters. There doesn't need to be any meaningful or functional link between the trait selected via evolution and another trait that comes along "for the ride".
Here's one plausible story: in males, the structure of the penis is a product of natural selection (intercourse is a highly effective way of encouraging reproductive behaviors in males). The clitoris is anatomically analogous to the penis, there was no direct adaptive pressure to eliminate this analogous structure in females, so it persisted.
Miles