It has long been recognized that men have stronger sexual desire than women, and this discrepancy is often attributed to innate biological and evolutionary causes. However, an article recently published in the Personality and Social Psychology Review argues that the difference in sexual desire is a learned behavior with its origin in adolescent sexual experiences: girls are more likely to be anxious over pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, which carry higher costs for them than for male partners, and their first experience of intercourse is more likely to be painful, coerced, or pressured. Girls are more likely to be exposed to humiliating behaviors like choking or slapping than either boys or older women and face stronger social stigma from both peers and parents if they are sexually active. The “orgasm gap” is greater at sexual debut than for more experienced women, and they report less pleasure than males at this age. That females get the worst sex at the most formative stage of their sexual development has a crucial impact on their expectations and perceptions later in life. The impact of anti-depressants (more commonly prescribed to adolescent girls) on testosterone suppression may also affect development of sexual interest differentially.
Recognizing that less pleasure in adolescence engenders less interest in adulthood has implications for sex education, which in the US frames adolescent sexual exploration as risky, immoral, abnormal, and harmful, but seldom discusses how to enhance pleasure. If early life represents a key window of opportunity for sexual incentive learning, abstinence education may itself pose a risk to sexual health, especially for girls.
