In Western culture, when did women stop being regarded as the more sexually driven of the two genders?

by AHaskins

To be honest it had never even occurred to me that men might once have been seen as the less sexually motivated between the two genders, but I keep seeing this trend referenced in other answers such as this one.

When did the swap happen, and why?

Subs-man

I answered a similar question to yours a few days ago, here's the answer, if you'd like to read it in full.

But i'll also post the relevant sections below;

You're right to say that Richard von Krafft-Ebing thought of female sexuality as a perversion but so did many people in the 19th Century. Until Alfred Kinsey's reports in the late 40's & early 50's, certain people still thought the woman's purpose during sex was to please their husband. They never considered that women might also get enjoyment from sex. Even if they said well women experience "orgasms" it would've only been mainly to treat their hysteria. Female orgasms weren't a thing that was really considered in the 19th century. They weren't even called "orgasms" they were known as "hysterical paroxysms of relief".

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Kinsey's Sexual behaviour in the Human Male (1948) & Sexual behaviour in the Human Female(1953) were eye-opening (especially the latter) in how we understand sex.

Instead of using three categories (homosexual, heterosexual & bisexual) to describe men & women, Kinsey devised the "Kinsey Scale" as he thought that sexual desire was fluid; 0 - Exclusively heterosexual, 1 - Predominantly heterosexual only incidentally homosexual, 2 - Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual, 3 - Equally heterosexual & homosexual, 4 - Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual, 5 - Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual, 6 - Exclusively homosexual & X - No socio-sexual contacts or reactions (what can be thought now as "Asexual" &/or "Aromantic").

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However what's really interesting is the results;

Men:

  • 11.6% of White males aged between 20-35 scored a rating of "3" throughout their lifetimes
  • 50% of all married males had some extramarital experience at some time during their married lives.

Sadomasochistic responses (this is anything from biting to more extreme forms of S/M)

  • 22% Males reported having an erotic response to biting during sex.

So that was the male results let's look at the all important female results, 19th Century Psychologists & Sexologists if they were to look at these and hypothesize the female results they'd probably put it at around 0. However they were wrong;

Women:

  • 7% of single females aged 20–35 and 4% of previously married females aged 20–35 were given a rating of 3
  • 2 to 6% of females, aged 20–35, were given a rating of 5
  • 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20–35 were rated as 6
  • The average frequency of marital sex reported by women was 2.8 times a week in the late teens, 2.2 times a week by age 30.
  • 1.0 times a week by age 50
  • 26% of females had extramarital sex by their forties. Between 1 in 6 and 1 in 10 females from age 26 to 50 were engaged in extramarital sex.

Sadomasochistic responses;

  • 12% of females surveyed reported having an erotic response to biting during sex.

A bit more info on biting, erotic responses & women:

Definite/Frequent ~ 26% Some response occasionally ~ 29% Never ~ 45%

Number of Cases ~ 2,200

[I then go on to talk about things we need to consider when looking at Kinsey's research, if you'd like to read that section feel free to view the answer in full using the link I provided above. I will however post the sources that I used that relate to that direct bit of the other question]

Sources and Further Reading:

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  1. Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie ~ Richard von Krafft-Ebing
  1. Kinsey el al 1948, 1953

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Hopefully this was enlightening, if you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask :)

AHaskins

Soooo... now that we've fended off some critiques, anyone want to weigh in with an answer? I'm super curious.