New Study Provides Answers On Whether Men Or Women Have A Higher Sex Drive

If you and your partner have mismatched libidos, you aren't alone. Whether you come home exhausted from your stressful job or just aren't in the mood very often, you might find yourself saying "no" to your partner more and more. Per Medical News Today, scientific studies have analyzed mismatched sexual desire in relationships and found it is one of the most common problems among couples.

But before you add "foods that boost your libido" to your grocery list, consider that you and your partner could just have different sex drives. Sexual desire is greatly affected by external factors such as high stress and anxiety levels, fatigue, medications, and many other life circumstances (via Everyday Health). Having a low or fluctuating sex drive is completely normal. However, for many heterosexual couples, men swear that they experience a higher sex drive than their female partners, which can strain their sex life if they don't have open communication and patience. 

We've heard it a thousand times, but is there really any truth in the notion that men experience sexual desire more frequently? According to US News, Julius Frankenbach, a doctoral student at Saarland University in Germany, published a study that may answer that question once and for all.

After researching over 200 studies, Julius Frankenbach concluded that men do, in fact, have a higher sex drive than women on average. In an article published by US News, Frankenbach said he was surprised to find that higher male sex drive was "consistent across countries, age groups, ethnicities [and] sexual orientations." There were, however, a few factors that suggest not all participants in the study were fully honest about their sexual activity. Most men reported a higher count of sexual partners than women, which Frankenbach called "by simple logic... nearly impossible." But on the whole, men seemed to average a slightly stronger sex drive than women due to their biological differences.

While researchers focused mainly on how sex drive is interpreted scientifically through genetics and biology, they also took into account how culture and environment have shaped sexual desire among men and women. According to GoodTherapy, gender roles, religion, cultural taboos, and navigating the spectrum of sexuality all contribute to a person's sex drive. Many of these factors disproportionately affect women, which can lead to a lowered sex drive on average. Women are also less likely to vocalize their sexual desires due to societal contradiction. WebMD reports that discussing sex in a healthy and open way will result in less stigma surrounding desire, and women will be more accurately represented in the conversation.