Men Underestimate How Horny Their Partners Are, Study Says

According to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, men in relationships are underestimating how much sex their partners want.

The researchers behind the study asked couples in Canada who were either married or living together to take a survey every night and record their own levels of sexual desire as well as what they thought their partner's was. It turned out that the women were consistently reporting higher levels of desire than men were perceiving.

This might not be a bad thing, though. The study also asked people about their relationship satisfaction and found that men who underestimated their partners' sexual interest had more satisfied partners. The paper suggests that this could be because men who don't know how much their partners already want them might work harder to garner their interest.

But lead author Amy Muise told Complex it's more complicated than that. "When people accurately perceive that their partner has high desire, these accurate perceptions are associated with greater relationship quality for both partners," she said. "It might be good to express to your partner when you have high desire."

The study also found that both men and women tend to project their own desire onto their partners, so your own judgment of your significant other's horniness may not be accurate. "Just because you have high desire, it doesn't mean your partner does too," Muise said.