The male competitive urge extends beyond sports to sex. . . and baby-making.
“Winning isn't the most important thing; it's the only thing,” famed football coach Vince Lombardi is reported to have said. That competitive spirit apparently blazes brightly within the male heart–and testicles. A study by researchers at the University of Western Australia in Perth has shown that men produce better sperm samples with a higher percentage of motile sperm after looking at images that depict ‘sperm competition.’
In plain English, sperm samples improved after men looked at pornographic pictures of heterosexual encounters. As explained in the online version of the science journal, Nature, the implication of the study is that humans—like other animals such as the stickleback fish–produce better sperm in situations where they observe competition for reproductive access to a desirable female.
While some relationship advisors have long suggested pornography as a means to get in the mood, these new findings may give conception-oriented couples an incentive to watch something steamy together. And for men caught surfing sexy sites after hours, they’ve got a new excuse: “But honey, I just did it for the sperm!”
Winter 2005
