Men who think their wife or girlfriend is more attractive than they are might make better lovers, a new study has found.
Scientists discovered men who were less confident about their looks were more likely to perform sex acts to please their partner, such as oral sex.
Men with these insecurities were also more likely to report enjoying ‘generous’ foreplay designed to pleasure a woman.
Experts suggested this was because such men are keen to keep partners satisfied in the bedroom to prove their worth as a romantic interest.
‘If you are a man in a romantic relationship, the less you believe you deserve your female partner, the more motivated you become to strive for her satisfaction,’ lead author of the study, psychologist Aleksandra Szymkow, told PsyPost.
Previous research has shown that women who receive oral sex prior to intercourse are more likely to achieve orgasm compared to those that don’t.
In the study, 540 men were asked to rate how ‘desirable’ they considered themselves to be, on a scale of one to seven.
Participants were also required to score their partners’ desirability.
Men who don’t think they deserve their girlfriend or wife could be better lovers, a Polish study suggests
Next, they were asked how often they performed oral sex during their last 10 sexual encounters, how motivated they were to please their partner sexually, and if they enjoyed giving oral sex.
Scientists, from the University of Warsaw, found men who gave themselves a lower score than they did their partner were more likely to want to satisfy their lover in the bedroom.
Experts called this a ‘mate retention tactic’ — a way for men to prove their value to their partners and reduce the chance of infidelity or being left for a more attractive man.
Dr Szymkow said they were surprised by this finding and it was an area needing further research.
‘This means that the more negatively a man perceived his own value compared to his partner, the more likely he was not only to perform but also to enjoy performing oral sex,’ she said.
However, the scientists highlighted that the increased preference for ‘generous’ sexual behaviour may not prove protective against relationship breakdown and infidelity.
Additionally, while the authors noted that oral sex increased the chances of female orgasm, it was unknown if the partners of the men actually achieved it.
‘Future research should directly investigate whether oral sex performed by men with lower mate value than their partner’s actually results in female orgasm,’ the researchers wrote.
Other limitations include that data on the men’s sex lives was self-reported, meaning participants could have lied or exaggerated.
Lastly the study only surveyed Polish men which could mean the results might not be applicable to cultural groups with different attitudes to sex.
