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It’s a pity party in their pants.
Women with no sexual desire still make whoopie on the reg to maintain their relationship, and other motivating factors beyond gratification, per a raunchy study in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy.
Researchers came to this conclusion after examining the baseline results from a decade of drug trials for hypoactive sexual desire disorder, defined by medics as a chronic lack of carnal cravings.
The drugs in question included a testosterone patch, an injectable aphrodisiac called bremelanotide and flibanserin, an oral treatment for the disorder. In 2015, the latter medication became the first ever drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for premenopausal women suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
During the multiple randomized, placebo-controlled trials, which involved thousands of women, pharmaceutical companies were required to gauge success based on the frequency of sexual events, PsyPost reported.
However, Nikita Guptan and James A. Simon, researchers at IntimMedicine Specialists in Washington, D.C., found that on average, participants suffering from the condition had sex roughly two to three times per month before undergoing treatment.
This meant that they had reached the finish line sans exhibiting any sex drive — a term the scientists dubbed “mercy sex.”
Why engage in hanky panky without a hankering? The researchers concluded that many women want to inspire monogamy by preventing their partners from seeking nookie elsewhere — the logic being that a couple that lays together stays together.
The researchers pointed to differing male and female reproductive strategies, with men seeking to procreate with multiple partners in a short timespan while women prioritize stability and resource-sharing to raise their kids.
By engaging in “mercy sex,” they helped increase the odds that their promiscu.ous partner would stick around to help rear the children, evolutionarily-speaking at least.
As men are often socially conditioned to view sex as synonymous with emotional closeness, engaging in consensual but unwanted sex can help preserve this connection, per the study.
The main caveat is that these evolutionary explanations didn’t apply to women in same-sex relationships or those without a partner.
Coincidentally, “mercy sex” is surprisingly common. According to a 2024 study from the Journal of Sex Research finding that, the majority of people consented to sex they didn’t desire at some point, including in their current relationships.
The problem arises when lower-desire partners do so solely to avoid conflict or disappointment and keep their needs silent to avoid rocking the boat, psychologists say, according to Forbes.
While their intent may be understandable, suppressing oneself in the sack can lead to depressive symptoms.
Of course, “mercy sex” should not be conflated with women initially feeling neutral desire only for arousal to emerge during the act.
This pattern is common in many healthy long-term sexual relationships, per studies on the female sexual response.
Overall, these nuances illustrate that drug trials should perhaps place equal emphasis on the quality — in addition to quantity — when it comes to measuring clinical success.
Read the full article here
