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Homology, female orgasm and the forgotten argument of Donald Symons

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Abstract

The ‘byproduct account’ of female orgasm, a subject of renewed debate since Lloyd (The case of the female orgasm, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2005), is universally attributed to Symons (The evolution of human sexuality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979). While this is correct to the extent that he linked it to the adaptive value of male orgasm, I argue that the attribution of the theory as we understand it to Symons is based on a serious and hitherto unrecognised misinterpretation. Symons had a different explanation of why women can orgasm, and beneath this explanation lies an obscure line of argument, including a particularly obscure use of the word ‘homologous’.

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Notes

  1. This variant spelling of artefact shall be adopted from Symons’ own usage.

  2. On the bisexual brain, Beach cites M Diamond, in Human Sexuality in Four Perspectives, ed. Frank A Beach (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1976).

References

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Paul Griffiths for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper, and for the helpful preliminary discussions that have helped me to develop my case.

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  1. 25 Wattle Grove, Mulgrave, VIC, Australia

    Dean J. Lee

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  1. Dean J. Lee
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Correspondence to Dean J. Lee.

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Lee, D.J. Homology, female orgasm and the forgotten argument of Donald Symons. Biol Philos 28, 1021–1027 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-013-9399-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-013-9399-6

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