The central theme of Elisabeth Lloyd’s influential book, is that scientific research into female sexuality has been deeply compromised by two main types of prejudice: adaptationism and androcentrism . Core Biases Identified
Lloyd favors the theory that the female orgasm is an evolutionary by-product rather than an adaptation. Just as men have nipples because they are a developmental requirement for females, women have the capacity for orgasm because the clitoris and penis develop from the same embryonic tissue. In this view, male orgasm was selected for its reproductive necessity, and female orgasm was "carried along" as a happy accident. The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Scie...
She highlights that a large percentage of women do not regularly achieve orgasm during vaginal intercourse, a fact that adaptationist theories often fail to account for. If it were a critical reproductive adaptation, one would expect it to be more reliably linked to the act of procreation. Scientific and Social Impact The Case of the Female Orgasm - Harvard University Press The central theme of Elisabeth Lloyd’s influential book,