A recent study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science sheds light on the orgasm rates of women and how these differ by sexual orientation, revealing that women experience higher rates of orgasm when partnered with another woman compared to when with a man. The research highlights the influence of sexual scripts — socially learned ways of responding in sexual situations — which differ significantly based on the gender of one’s partner.
Prior research consistently shows a significant disparity in orgasm rates between men and women, particularly in heterosexual relationships. This phenomenon, termed the “orgasm gap,” sees 95% of men typically reaching orgasm during partnered sexual encounters compared to only 65% of women.
However, this gap narrows considerably in lesbian relationships, where approximately 86% of lesbian women report regularly achieving orgasm. The researchers aimed to explore this disparity by examining expectations and sexual practices in encounters involving women partnered with other women versus those partnered with men.
“The orgasm gap as a cultural phenomenon has become a hot topic in recent years. We wanted to investigate why women who have sex with men tend to have less orgasms than women who have sex with women. This research helps us to understand why women tend to face worse sexual outcomes when having sex with men,” said study author Grace Wetzel, a PhD candidate in social psychology at Rutgers University.
The researchers recruited a diverse sample of 476 women who identified as either heterosexual (59.5%) or lesbian (40.5%). Participants were sourced from two online recruitment platforms, ResearchMatch and Prolific. Participants eligible for the study were required to be at least 18 years old and to have been sexually active within the past year.
The integrity of responses was ensured through attention checks, resulting in the exclusion of 27 participants who failed these checks. The remaining participants completed a series of questionnaires designed to gather detailed information about their sexual behaviors and experiences with their current or most recent sexual partner.
The researchers found no significant differences in the importance placed on orgasm between the two groups, indicating that both heterosexual and lesbian women equally valued orgasm as part of their sexual satisfaction. However, the actual experiences and outcomes differed markedly.
Lesbian women reported higher levels of clitoral stimulation during sexual encounters compared to their heterosexual counterparts. This increase in clitoral stimulation was closely linked to higher expectations for achieving orgasm, as well as more active pursuit of orgasm goals (e.g., “In my sexual encounters, I try to have an orgasm”). These factors contributed to a higher frequency of orgasms reported by lesbian women.
The relationship between sexual orientation and orgasm goal pursuit was statistically mediated by the levels of clitoral stimulation and orgasm expectations. This means that the differences in orgasm frequency between heterosexual and lesbian women could largely be attributed to the variations in how much they expected to be stimulated and their proactive efforts to achieve orgasm.
Next, the researchers sought to understand how hypothetical scenarios involving partners of different genders might affect women’s expectations for orgasm and their pursuit of orgasm goals. To achieve this, they conducted an experimental study involving 481 cisgender bisexual women recruited from Prolific.
Each participant was randomly assigned to one of two conditions in a vignette-based method. The vignettes described a romantic dinner with a partner, followed by a transition to a bedroom setting where sexual activity was anticipated. The key difference between the vignettes was the gender of the partner — participants imagined the scenario with either a male or a female partner.
The researchers found that women who were presented with a female partner in the vignettes reported significantly higher expectations for clitoral stimulation and achieving orgasm compared to those imagining a male partner. This suggests that the gender of a sexual partner influences women’s anticipations about sexual activities and outcomes.
“We find that sexual scripts, or our pre-existing expectations for how a sexual encounter will typically go, play an important role in orgasm differences when women have sex with other women versus men,” Wetzel told PsyPost. “When women have sex with other women, they expect more clitoral stimulation, expect orgasm, and pursue their own orgasm more as a result. These are all potential mechanisms that can explain the orgasm differences we see between lesbian and heterosexual women.”
“In other words, women experience and expect more clitoral stimulation when they have sex with other women than when they have sex with men, which helps to explain the orgasm gap between these two groups of women.”
Lead author Kate Dickman, who recently graduated from Rutgers University, highlighted the practical implications: “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.”
“These results could be interpreted to mean that sex with men is inherently worse or that men are ‘bad lovers,’ but that is not necessarily true,” Wetzel added. “The problem here is the dominant sexual script associated with heterosexual sex, which does not include sufficient clitoral stimulation or sufficient focus on women’s pleasure. Heterosexual couples can create their own sexual scripts that work for the people involved. Couples can include more clitoral stimulation in their sexual encounters to create sexual relationships that are fulfilling for all partners.”
She also emphasized that “these results should not be misinterpreted to reflect one universal experience for lesbian, heterosexual, or bisexual women.”
The findings offer important insights into the sexual experiences of women across different sexual orientations. But as with all research, there are some limitations to consider. One limitation is the correlational nature of the first study. While the researchers were able to identify associations between sexual orientation, clitoral stimulation, orgasm expectations, and orgasm pursuit, they cannot definitively claim causality from these relationships.
This limitation was addressed with the second study, which employed an experimental methodology. However, although this method allows for the manipulation of partner gender to observe potential changes in orgasm expectations and pursuit, the hypothetical scenario might not fully capture the complexities and dynamics of actual sexual interactions. Participants’ responses might reflect their theoretical preferences or beliefs rather than their real behaviors in a sexual encounter.
“While this study focuses on orgasm as an important sexual outcome and a useful marker of inequity, it is important to note that this is not the only sexual outcome that matters for couples and does not mean that orgasm is necessary for ‘good sex,'” Wetzel noted. “In pursuing a partner’s orgasm, it’s essential to never put pressure on a partner to orgasm, as this coercion can make orgasm less likely, less pleasurable, and can lead to negative relationship outcomes.”
The study, “The Role of Partner Gender: How Sexual Expectations Shape the Pursuit of an Orgasm Goal for Heterosexual, Lesbian, and Bisexual Women,” was authored by Kate Dickman, Grace M. Wetzel, and Diana T. Sanchez.
