Love Makes Sex Pleasurable for Women

For women sex is more pleasurable when they are in love and committed to their partners, a new research reveals.

Researchers at the Penn State Abington conducted interviews with heterosexual women aged between 20 and 68 from different backgrounds. The research analysis showed that women believed that love was an important factor for maximum satisfaction in both sexual intercourse and marriage.

While 50 women of the 95 surveyed said that love was necessary for sex, just 18 of the women clearly believed that love was unnecessary in a sexual relationship. "Women said that they connected love with sex and that love actually enhanced the physical experience of sex," Beth Montemurro, associate professor of sociology, said in a press release.

For instance, women who loved their sexual partners also admitted to being less reserved and more willing to explore their sexuality. "When women feel love, they may feel greater sexual agency because they not only trust their partners but because they feel that it is OK to have sex when love is present," Montemurro said.

Researchers explained that the study shows women are trained to view sexual intercourse as an expression of love. "On one hand, the media may seem to show that casual sex is OK, but at the same time, movies and television, especially, tend to portray women who are having sex outside of relationships negatively. For the women I interviewed, they seemed to say you need love in sex and you need sex in marriage," she said.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.