Faculty Articles
Sperm competition in humans: Implications for male sexual psychology,physiology, anatomy, and behavior
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Publication Title
Annual Review of Sex Research
Volume
18
Issue/Number
1
First Page
1
ISSN
1053-2528
Last Page
22
Abstract/Excerpt
With the recognition afforded by evolutionary science that female infidelity was a recurrent feature of our evolutionary past has come the development of a new area of study within human mating: sperm competition. A form of male-male postcopulatory competition, sperm competition occurs when the sperm of two or more males concurrently occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize her ova. Just as males must compete for mates, if two or more males have copulated with a female within a sufficiently short period of time, the sperm from different males will compete for fertilizations. In the 2 decades since Smith (1984) first argued that sperm competition occurs in humans, this theory has been enriched with new ideas and discoveries. We review the recent theoretical and empirical work on human sperm competition, identify limitations and challenges of the research, and highlight important directions for future research.
DOI
10.1080/10532528.2007.10559845
NSUWorks Citation
Goetz, A. T.,
Shackelford, T. K.,
Platek, S. M.,
Starratt, V. G.,
McKibbin, W. F.
(2007). Sperm competition in humans: Implications for male sexual psychology,physiology, anatomy, and behavior. Annual Review of Sex Research, 18(1), 1-22.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1182