Men who think their wife or girlfriend is more beautiful than them may be better in bed, a new study has found.
Scientists found that men who are less confident in their appearance are more likely to perform sexual acts to please their partner, such as oral sex.
Men with these insecurities were also more likely to report enjoying 'generous' foreplay designed to please a woman.
Experts suggested that this was because those men were willing to keep their partners satisfied in bed to prove their worth as a romantic interest.
"If you're a man in a romantic relationship, the less you believe you deserve your female partner, the more motivated you become to achieve her pleasure," psychologist Aleksandra Szymkow, lead author of the study, told PsyPost- GazetaExpress reports.
Previous research has shown that women who receive oral sex before intercourse are more likely to achieve orgasm compared to those who do not.
In this study, 540 men were asked to rate how "desirable" they considered themselves, on a scale of one to seven.
Participants were also asked to rate the desirability of their partners.
They were then asked how often they had performed oral sex during the last ten sexual encounters, how motivated they were to satisfy their partner sexually, and whether they enjoyed giving oral sex.
Scientists from the University of Warsaw found that men who rated themselves lower than their partners were more likely to want to please their partner in bed.
Experts called this a 'mate retention tactic' – a way for men to prove their worth to their partners and reduce the likelihood of cheating or being left for a more attractive man.
Dr. Szymkow said they were surprised by this result and that it was an area that required more research.
"This means that the more negatively a man perceived his own worth compared to his partner, the more likely he was to not only perform, but also enjoy performing oral sex," she said.
However, the scientists stressed that the increased preference for 'generous' sexual behavior may not be protective against relationship breakdown and infidelity.
Furthermore, while the authors noted that oral sex increases the chances of female orgasm, it is not known whether male partners achieve it.
"Future studies should directly investigate whether oral sex performed by men of lower value compared to their partners results in female orgasm," the research team writes.
Other limitations include that the data on men's sex lives is self-reported, meaning participants may have lied or exaggerated.
Finally, the study only surveyed Polish men, which may mean the results may not be applicable to cultural groups with different attitudes towards sex. /Express newspaper/
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