Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Social Psychology

Women who hold anti-feminist attitudes tend to fake orgasms more frequently, study finds

by Eric W. Dolan
October 2, 2019 - Updated on December 14, 2019
in Social Psychology
(Photo credit: marchsirawit)

(Photo credit: marchsirawit)


Enhance your understanding of the human mind and mental health trends. Click here to follow PsyPost on LinkedIn.
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

New research published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior provides evidence that women’s beliefs about gender are related to their faking orgasm behavior.

“I think of sex as a very private, intimate event, and one in which people don’t have a great deal of guidance. People know that it’s normative to have sex, but I don’t think there is a common understanding of exactly how to have sex and what to do,” said study author Emily A. Harris, a postdoctoral research fellow at Queen’s University in Canada.

“It can be a vulnerable time. I think our ideologies — our views about the world, including our views about men and women — help to guide what we do in the bedroom. I was interested in how these ideologies might explain whether or not women fake their orgasm.”

“I have my co-author, Hannah Larsen to thank for starting our discussion of faking orgasm, who has an interest in the topic from an evolutionary psychology perspective.”

The researchers surveyed 462 heterosexual women from the United Kingdom who had been in a relationship for at least four months. The scientific questionnaires assessed the women’s political ideology, religiosity, sexist beliefs, gendered beliefs about sex and orgasm, relationship history, ability to orgasm, partner sexual skill, and fidelity concerns.

“My study, and many others, show that faking orgasms is relatively common (77% of women in my sample had faked an orgasm at least once),” Harris noted.

Unsurprisingly, women who found it easy to orgasm and women who rated their partner’s sexual skill highly tended to fake their orgasm less frequently. Women who were more concerned about their partner cheating were, on the other hand, were more likely to have faked an orgasm.

But ideological factors and beliefs about gender also predicted how often women faked their orgasms.

“These final pieces are what interest me the most — women’s beliefs about gender are associated with their likelihood of faking orgasm. Specifically, women who think that a man needs them to orgasm in order for that man to feel satisfied are going to feel greater pressure to orgasm, and will be more likely to fake her orgasms,” Harris told PsyPost.

Women also tended to fake orgasms more frequently if they scored higher on a measure of hostile sexism, which describes the belief that women who challenge men’s power are manipulative and subversive.

“Women who hold anti-feminist attitudes don’t have anything holding them back from faking orgasm, whereas women who adopt a feminist worldview may not fake orgasm because it goes against her belief in a woman’s right to pleasure, and her right to talk about sex openly,” Harris explained.

Of course, the reasons for faking an orgasm are multifaceted. “It’s important to keep in mind that some of these effect sizes are small, and we are not trying to tell the whole story of why some women are more likely to fake orgasm than others,” Harris said.

Reasons for faking an orgasm can vary from one situation to another. For example, previous research has found that women sometimes fake an orgasm to speed up their male partner and put an end to bad sex.

“A major caveat is that my data can only speak to the experience of heterosexual women. We know very little about the experiences of faking orgasm among women who aren’t partnered with men. Another question that needs to be addressed is what are the consequences of faking orgasm? How does it make the ‘faker’ feel, and how does it make her partner feel (if they were to find out),” Harris added.

The study, “Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women“, was authored by Emily A. Harris, Matthew J. Hornsey, Hannah F. Larsen, and Fiona Kate Barlow.

ShareTweetSendScanShareSharePin5Send

Thanks for reading! Click here to support PsyPost by becoming a paid subscriber. In an age where information is abundant but quality knowledge is scarce, PsyPost ensures that you stay updated on the most recent and relevant discoveries made in psychology and neuroscience.

STAY CONNECTED

TRENDING

New neuroscience research upends traditional theories of early language learning in babies

A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment? Promising results from new brain stimulation study

Preschoolers categorize people according to body shape rather than race

Scientists revisit Solomon Asch’s classic conformity experiments — and are stunned by the results

New study reveals promising effects of psilocybin in treating severe depression in bipolar II disorder patients

Men are drawn to borderline personality traits in physically attractive women, study finds

RECENT

New study reveals promising effects of psilocybin in treating severe depression in bipolar II disorder patients

A video game might be effective in reducing fear of needles in children

Scientists revisit Solomon Asch’s classic conformity experiments — and are stunned by the results

A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment? Promising results from new brain stimulation study

New study sheds light on the psychological complexities of adult webcam viewers

Preschoolers categorize people according to body shape rather than race

Groundbreaking study pinpoints Trump’s role in surge of negativity in U.S. political discourse

Instability in sleep patterns linked to cognitive decline in older adults

  • Cognitive Science
  • COVID-19
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Drug Research
  • Conspiracy Theories
  • Meditation
  • Psychology of Religion
  • Aviation Psychology and Human Factors
  • Relationships and Sexual Health
  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Neuroimaging
  • Psychedelic Drugs
  • Dark Triad
  • Political Psychology
  • Contact us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • Drug Research
  • Relationship Research
  • About PsyPost
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Manage your privacy
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
Manage your privacy

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}