By Sangeeth Sebastian

If you have ever made love to a woman you will know what I am talking about. Even with all that self-conscious, self-censoring that happens during lovemaking in Indian households, it’s always women who make more noise in bed than men. 

This is strange because, when it comes to sex we have been told that it’s men who want it more than women.

Even some scientists are puzzled.

A Harvard psychologist no less than Steven Pinker claimed that “in all societies sex is somewhat ‘dirty.’ It’s conducted in private...” By Pinker’s logic, women should ideally keep their mouths shut during sex, instead of going on a full-on opera, calling attention to neighbours and their dog.

So why would the ‘coy’ female of a ‘monogamous’ species, for whom sex is just a wifely duty, an obligation, call attention to herself, while engaging in something that’s dirty and private?

The answer to that can bring us closer to nature.

While studying the evolution of human behaviour in the late 90s, the British scientist  Stuart Semple found that in a wide variety of species, including our own primate cousins, females vocalise just before, during or immediately after they mate. They did this on purpose to incite other males nearby. In other words, the sex noise was an open invitation to join the party. What Semple had stumbled upon was not some unusual discovery.

Long before the scientist was even a copulation call to his parents, Vatsyayana the fourth century sexologist, philosopher wrote something similar in the Kamasutra. In fact, Vatsyayana even went on to dedicate an entire aviary of ecstatic expression in his treatise, a woman could choose from, like cosmetic brands in a shopping aisle, depending on her mood and imagination.