The Science of Female Orgasms: Pleasing Female Partners in Casual and Long-Term Relationships

Abstract

A quick Internet search exposes an online library of sex advice for how to orgasm (if you are a woman) and/or assist a woman in having an orgasm. Headlines like the following from Cosmopolitan, a women's magazine, address the confusion and concern surrounding the existence of women's orgasms (or lack thereof):• "8 Reasons You're Not Orgasming" • "10 Things Guys Don't Understand about the Female Orgasm"• "Sex Positions that Help You Orgasm."These tips emerge from the disheartening statistics that women orgasm less frequently than men do. For example, some estimates have found that 75 % of men consistently orgasm during partnered sex (i.e., they orgasm every time), whereas only 29 % of women reported that they consistently orgasm during their sexual interactions (Laumann et al. 1994). Given that orgasm is often used as the metric of sexual success and pleasure, these statistics might spawn assumptions that heterosexual women do not enjoy partnered sex in the same way or to the same

Heterosexual Young Adults’ Experience With and Perceptions of the Orgasm Gap: A Mixed Methods Approach

“…It was not clear whether these responses took a biological or a sociocultural perspective on why this difficulty exists. Indeed, women do experience more difficulty with orgasm in partnered contexts than men (Peplau, 2003), but this difficulty is not likely to be driven by biological factors (Matsick et al, 2016). There is no difference in biological capacity for orgasm between male and female anatomy; in fact, the clitoris and penis are homologous structures with similar function, that develop similarly during gestation (Mintz, 2017; Nagoski, 2015).…”

“…Biological assumptions that women’s orgasms are “naturally” more difficult to achieve not only ignore a plethora of social factors that influence gendered orgasm experience but also ignore biological evidence to the contrary of these assumptions (Matsick et al, 2016; Wade, 2015). Although we do not know whether participants took a biological or sociocultural perspective on women’s orgasm difficulty, the lack of depth in most of these responses reflects a rather uncritical use of women’s orgasm difficulty as justification for the orgasm gap’s existence.…”

“…For example, women experience a greater frequency of orgasms the more familiar their sexual partner becomes, and experience more orgasms during relationship sex than during casual sex (Armstrong et al, 2009(Armstrong et al, , 2012Gusakova et al, 2020). Additionally, women experience a greater frequency of orgasms during masturbation than during partnered sex (Carvalheira & Leal, 2013;Hite, 1976;Laumann et al, 1994;Matsick et al, 2016;Wade et al, 2005).…”

Der Gender Orgasm Gap. Ein kritischer Forschungsüberblick zu Geschlechterdifferenzen in der Orgasmus-Häufigkeit beim Heterosex

“…Maßnahmen hinsichtlich Beziehungsfaktoren: Sie werden von 11 der 36 eingeschlossenen Publikationen vorgeschlagen und spielen im Vergleich der vier Maßnahmentypen in der Literatur die geringste Rolle. Konkret werden eine vertrauensvolle Beziehung mit offener Kommunikation über sexuelle Wünsche und Bedürfnisse von Frauen und damit verbundenes gemeinsames Lernen als wichtige Faktoren zum Schließen der Orgasmus-Lücke empfohlen (Beckmeyer et al 2021;Mahar et al 2020;Matsick et al 2016). Teilweise werden hierfür auch neue Begrifflichkeiten vorgeschlagen, um bevorzugte Stimulationstechniken in der Intimkommunikation präzise benennen zu können (Hensel et al 2021(Hensel et al , 2022.…”

“…. Eine Publikation verweist darauf, dass sich gerade Frauen in Langzeitbeziehungen eher sexuell langweilen als Männer und zur Steigerung ihrer Lust und Orgasmen daher offene Beziehungsmodelle (consensual non-monogamy) auszuhandeln wären(Matsick et al 2016). 3.…”