We humans aren’t just motivated to have sex for pleasure and procreation (although those are two very common motivators). A new study from Evolutionary Psychology reveals that men and women perform “duty sex,” which is when one engages in sexual activity out of obligation or “a desire to maintain one’s romantic relationship.” There could also be duty sex engagement if someone views their partner as more attractive than they are, and therefore more appealing to other people.
The Study
The peer-reviewed journal conducted a study with 252 participants (176 women and 76 men), with ages ranging from 18 to 24 and the average being 19. As for orientation, most identified as heterosexual. Participants were in relationships ranging in length from 0 to 84 months. One of the criteria was that they must have been sexually active over the past four weeks.
Participants had to complete a 45-minute survey that assessed factors such as “age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, sexual orientation, current relationship status, number of lifetime romantic and sexual partners, and current sexual activity (vaginal, anal, or oral sex).” They also filled out a questionnaire about how often they would engage in duty sex to maintain their relationships.
The Factors
Evolutionary Psychology tested the following factors to see if they predicted duty sex: “perceived probability of partner infidelity, mate value discrepancy, and neuroticism.” Both men and women engage in duty sex at the same rate when there’s a fear of cheating and paranoia involved, particularly if the relationship is at risk of falling apart. In fact, worrying about infidelity and “neuroticism” were associated with higher rates of duty sex than the other factors.
Relationship length had no influence on the frequency of duty sex. In addition, “tests comparing the strength of each association between women and men found no significant sex differences.”
F. Sid Dougan, the lead author, partnered with Kate B. Metcalfe and Cindy M. Meston on this study. Here’s what Dougan had to say to PsyPost about it:
“Some past research had looked at certain factors that are associated with greater engagement in Duty Sex, but what I thought was missing from the puzzle was ‘why’ people engage in Duty Sex. To an Evolutionary Biologist/Psychologist like me, this means asking questions about ultimate evolutionary function—that is, what reproductive advantages might this behavior have provided over our evolutionary history? I wanted to know if Duty Sex serves an ultimate function, and if so, what that function is.”
The Conclusion
The study concluded that men and women perform duty sex at around the same frequency, which is intriguing when considering that men typically have higher sex drives than women. Of course, this can vary by individual, and the above study is by no means the be-all and end-all, especially since it tested only a small group of college-aged students. Still, it’s an interesting read all the same.
