Many studies have reported that the female orgasm is related to certain male characteristics. For example, males who are viewed as funny, creative, warm, faithful and better smelling elicit more orgasms in their female partners, and put in more effort to induce partner orgasm. Women with more masculine and dominant partners report more frequent and earlier orgasms, and women with more attractive male partners are more likely to have experienced orgasm during their most recent sexual encounter. Relatedly, women with partners their friends find attractive report greater orgasm frequency. This particular finding provides support for the sexy sons hypothesis, which posits that a male whom other women find attractive will sire offspring that inherit this quality (“sexy sons”), who will be deemed attractive by women of the following generation.

One study found that a woman’s orgasm frequency was associated with her partner’s family income, self-confidence and attractiveness. The authors reported that “love” came in at only fifth place, following qualities like how protected the women felt by their partners or how much of a catch they thought their partners were.