Like men, physically stronger woman also have more sex: Study

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Muscles matter — at least when it comes to sex and relationships.

But while it has long been believed that mighty men have more sexual partners than their weaker counterparts, a study found that powerful women are also more likely to have more lovers.

The study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior reveals that physical strength may play a significant role in a person’s romantic life.

The research conducted by Washington State University found that men and women with greater upper body strength tend to have more sexual partners than other people during their lifetime.

“People have assumptions about men’s sexual behaviour and how that’s related to evolution,” lead author Caroline Smith, a recent anthropology Ph.D. graduate, told PsyPost.

“Besides acquiring more sexual partners, establishing long-term relationships was likely also important for men in evolutionary history,” Smith noted, adding, “I believe it’s important to continually test out theories, especially by expanding research questions to include women.”

Since most previous studies focused on men, the researchers wanted to explore whether upper-body strength could also be related to mating behaviour in women and whether physical strength might influence their number of sexual partners.

Smith and senior author Edward H. Hagen, an anthropology professor at WSU, analyzed data gathered from more than 4,300 adults in the United States who ranged in age from 18 to 60.

The researchers used hand grip strength as an easily obtained proxy for overall upper-body power.

The participants also completed a survey about various aspects of their sexual behaviour, and reported the number of sexual partners they had had over the course of their lives.

Other details that were factored in included the age, when they lost their virginity, their current relationship status, body size, mood, education level, race, self-reported health and how they stay physically fit.

The results showed a clear connection between upper-body strength and success in the sack.

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It found that stronger men were more likely to be in a long-term relationship and, on average, reported having had more sexual partners throughout their lives than their weaker peers.

“This means that higher upper body strength might have evolved, at least in part, because stronger men were better to provide benefits to women and their families, such as more food and protection, rather than simply because they were better able to physically compete with other men,” Hagen told the website.

But the most surprising discovery was that women with more upper-body strength also reported more lifetime sexual partners than their less strong counterparts.

“This is contrary to the sexual selection hypothesis based on within-sex competition,” Hagen explained.

“But strength was still more strongly associated with having a long-term relationship for men than it was for women, consistent with evolutionary theories of sexual selection based on female choice.”

He added that more research was needed to confirm their hypothesis, and admitted they “don’t have a good explanation” for why stronger women were linked with more sexual partners.