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Women are more likely to expect to orgasm when anticipating a sexual encounter with a female partner, according to new research. While this may be a hard pill for heterosexual men to swallow, it highlights one of the drivers behind the well-established orgasm gap – but crucially, it also suggests ways in which that gap could start to be bridged.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The depressing truth is that during heterosexual intercourse, women are less likely to climax than their male partners. Even more depressingly, scientists previously found that some women don’t even expect to orgasm during sex.
A new study built on previous findings to investigate how women’s expectations of sex are shaped by their partners, and how this can impact their chances of reaching the Big O.
First, the authors establish that while the outlook may be a little bleak for straight women, the lesbians amongst us are, by all accounts, having a lovely time. According to a large 2018 study, 86 percent of lesbian women usually or always orgasm during sex, compared to just 65 percent of heterosexual women. Bisexual women don’t tend to fare much better overall, but there’s some evidence to suggest they orgasm less frequently with male partners than with female partners.
This is where the authors bring in the concept of the “sexual script”, explained as a typical pattern that a sexual encounter follows. They suggest that in male-female pairings, this script prioritizes the man’s orgasm, not focusing enough on activities that are more likely to allow a woman to climax.
They asked a sample of cisgender, lesbian, and heterosexual women about the frequency and duration of their sexual encounters, the types of sexual activity they engage in, and their expectations around orgasms. Lesbian women were more likely to engage in sex acts that included clitoral stimulation, and were also more likely to expect and to achieve orgasm than straight women.
In the second part of the study, a group of almost 500 cisgender, bisexual women were told to imagine themselves in a fictional scenario in which a dinner date had gone well and things were starting to heat up. The women were randomly assigned to imagine either a male or female partner in the scenario, and then asked questions about their sexpectations.
The women who were told to imagine that their date was female had higher expectations for clitoral stimulation and orgasm. Indirectly, this led to these women being more likely to actively pursue orgasm. In other words, the sexual script between two women shapes expectations and behaviors to be more conducive to each achieving orgasm.
But before any heterosexual male readers get too discouraged, there’s an important thing to remember. The sexual script is not etched into a stone tablet. It can be changed.
“If women, or men partnered with women, want to increase their own or their partners' orgasm, they should create an environment that encourages orgasm pursuit through diverse sex acts, particularly those involving clitoral stimulation,” said lead author Kate Dickman in a statement.
“This study is just one piece of a larger conversation about gender disparities. Orgasm is just one aspect of sexual satisfaction, and this research should not be misinterpreted as suggesting that orgasm is the sole measure of a fulfilling sexual experience.”
An orgasm is absolutely not the only worthwhile outcome of sexual intercourse, but most people would agree that they’re a nice-to-have, at least once in a while. And, since women are largely having fewer of them, it behooves researchers to find out why that is.
As co-author Grace Wetzel explains: “This research contributes to understanding gender disparities and inequities. It also sheds light on why the orgasm gap exists – specifically, how different expectations for sex with men and women can explain these differences.”
The study is published in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science.
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