What is the evolutionary purpose of an orgasm?

Specifically, the female orgasm.

One of the most popular theories is the 'Pair Bond Theory' which puts forward the idea that orgasms acts as a kind of reward for women for engaging in intercourse and also helps cement the pair bond between a man and a woman.

But there's a problem with this in that only 20-25% of women have reliable orgasms with intercourse and only a third of women rarely or never do.

So, what's going on then?

Jonathan speaks to Elizabeth Lloyd, author of 'The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution' to find out.

First aired Sat, 13 August 2016