Pulling Back The Curtain On Sexual Motivations

What other book might you compare Why Women Have Sex to and why?

Sex at Dawn, where the authors try to expand our concept of female sexuality, but they get the science embarrassingly wrong. Where the writers of Sex at Dawn make the usual mistakes and misunderstandings that come with public misconceptions with evolutionary theory, Meston and Buss get the science right, and back it up with data.

Which scene was your favorite?

Couldn't pick just one, but my favorites were the moments of insight I gained when they hit on the circumstances of my past relationships. I could see many of my past girlfriends described or explained across several motivations they cover. The girlfriend that obsessed over other women and the threat they posed to her, the non-girlfriend that cheated on her husband with me, and the girl that cheated on her previous boyfriend with a celebrity. It's also nice to know I what I did right while pursuing the woman who is now my wife.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but my bluetooth ran out of juice.

Any additional comments?

I only have two criticisms of the book, the authors rely heavily on self report, questionnaires given to women, and while they get the evolutionary psychology right, it may not be accessible to the layman. Self-reporting is notorious for failing to track the underlying causes of behavior, and really amounts to "How Women Rationilze/Justify Sex" rather than why they really do it. The authors clearly compensate for this by augmenting the data with other studies, independent evaluations and evolutionary psychology, however the distinction between the underlying evolutionary logic and the actual personal logic of the individual woman is not always clear. This can make the book misleading for someone unfamiliar with evolution.

Should be called "Why women THINK they have sex"

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The name of David Buss lured me into buying this book. Unfortunately it seems to be composed mainly by Cindy Meston.

Although first part was interesting - based on what characteristics women choose sex partners the rest is outright boring, full of fluffy words, long romantic descriptions.

I was not buying a chick flick!

Besides, whole idea of research - asking women why they had sex seems flawed to me as women tend to lie about reasons (often unconsciously). Their replies are based on context, upbringing, even time of the month!

I would rather see experiments where actual women sexual desire was measured without having to ask them.

Also, very little is described in terms of evolutionary psychology. It seems that name of David Buss is just used to push this on the market.

Interesting Read

If you could sum up Why Women Have Sex in three words, what would they be?

Educational, Interesting, Captivating

What other book might you compare Why Women Have Sex to and why?

None

What does Renee Raudman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator allowed me to pay attention to different parts that I may have read through quickly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I do not have the attention span to listen to any book in one sitting if I intend to gain anything from the book.