Gender Differences in Sex Drive: Reply to Conley and Yang (2024)

Our meta-analysis on gender differences in sex drive found a stronger sex drive in men compared to women (Frankenbach et al., 2022). Conley and Yang (2024) criticized how we interpreted the findings and provided suggestions regarding the origins of these gender differences, an undertaking that we had refrained from doing in our original work. We concur with several important points made by Conley and Yang (2024): (a) women's sexual experiences are generally more negative than men's, which could partly explain why men report more sex drive; (b) lack of statistical moderation by some sociocultural variables does not imply that the sex drives of men and women are generally unaffected by the social environment; and (c) gender differences in sexuality are likely smaller than they are often portrayed in research, and that the practical impact of this difference is largely unknown. Still, we reject other assertions made by Conley and Yang (2024): (a) we did not frame our findings in support of the view that gender differences in sex drive are determined by biology, (b) we did not conflate response bias with sociocultural biases more broadly, and (c) we did not fail to incorporate and consider gendered cultural messages about sexuality in our methods and discussion. We make several suggestions about future research on these matters. Public Significance Statement This article is part of a scientific discussion about the meaning of gender differences in sex drive. The initial research summary (Frankenbach et al., 2022) that prompted this discussion found a stronger sex drive in men than women but did not investigate the origins of this gender difference nor did it argue that men's sex drive is stronger due to innate biological differences. The present discussion highlighted gaps in knowledge about the causes of gender differences in sex drive. Such complex questions require more future attention in dedicated research.