A new German study has combed the scientific literature to determine who, between men or women, has the most libido.
- According to the researchers, a large majority of studies converge on this same observation: men are more motivated by sex than women.
- Nevertheless, some women (between 24% and 29%) seem to have a higher libido than the average man.
According to new research recently published in the journal Psychological Bulletinmen have a much stronger libido than women.
After reviewing over 200 studies, the researchers “found that men consistently reported a higher libido”said study lead author Julius Frankenbach, a doctoral student in psychology at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, in a communicated.
Men say they spend a lot more time thinking about sex, fantasizing, feeling sexual desire and masturbating, compared to women.
A higher libibo for men, but there are exceptions
“What surprised usnotes Dr. Frankenbach, is that the finding was consistent across countries, age groups, ethnicities, or sexual orientations. Men with a higher libido than women seem to be a fairly universal psychological model.”
The 211 studies reviewed were published after 1996 and the participants were at least 14 years old. In total, more than 621,000 people were involved. After accounting for some differences, the researchers concluded that male libido is stronger than female libido, with a “medium to large effect“. Frankenbach compares the overall degree to which libido differs by sex to the standard differences between male and female bodies. Thus, according to him, “the difference in libido between the sexes is approximately equal to the difference in body weight between the sexes”.
However, the researchers pointed out the exceptions to the rule: between 24% and 29% of women seem to have a higher libido than the average man. So while on average men may have a stronger libido than women, “there are many women who love sex more than many men”adds Dr. Frankenbach.
Libido: what explains this difference between the sexes?
The study authors explain that these findings likely boil down to a complex interplay between social norms, gender roles and upbringing on the one hand, and genetics, physiology and biology on the other. Testosterone, a hormone whose levels are much higher in men, may play a key motivating role throughout their lives, according to the study authors.
But, when discussing one’s own sexual inclinations, are individuals always honest? “Sexuality is a sensitive subject.admitted Frankenbach. So we also considered the possibility that people’s self-reports might not be entirely accurate. There was also evidence of inaccurate responses in our data.”
“For instancehe remarks, men reported having had more sexual partners than women, which by simple logic is almost impossible. However, we concluded that this response bias was relatively small and could not explain all of the sex drive difference we observed. So we think the gender difference is real.”
