From Mind Hacks via Violet Blue comes word of a recent study indicating that women use sex noises tactically to influence the timing of (which is to say, speed up) male orgasm.

This manoeuvring of male behavior not only ensures the delivery of his ejaculate, but may also serve to end male copulatory effort under circumstances when the female is, for example, suffering discomfort or pain, boredom, fatigue, or simply does not have enough time for the encounter to last longer. Females appear to be fully conscious of the positive effects that their copulatory vocalizations have on male self-esteem and a very high percentage reported using them for this purpose.

Er, duh?

I guess there really are men so self-absorbed they think their dicks are always-on unstoppable plus-ten magic swords of orgasmic screaming. But the rest of us know that sex is a game of mutual — but, and this is important, not necessarily simultaneous — pleasure. It’s a Rumsfeldian game, too — you bring to the game the tools you’ve got, and you use them.

So, unless you’re one of those hopelessly self-absorbed men, you were already aware that sometimes, your lady is making those noises because she knows the pleasurable effect it has on you, and not because she can’t help herself. There’s nothing wrong with that — it’s just another tool of pleasure, like fingers or tongue or that thing in your sock drawer you bought last time you were in The City but haven’t shown her yet.