Faking it: the story of 'Ohh! (original) (raw)
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Faking Orgasms and the Idea of Successful Sexuality
Janus Head, 2013
In the Nordic countries, at a time when women have only recently won the right to their own bodies and to a sexuality of their own and for themselves, women nevertheless fake orgasms. Moreover, a common question posed to the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) deals with lack of desire. Not only are women faking and complaining of lack of desire, but men as well. It seems that contemporary ideals surrounding sexuality converge with quests for not only pleasure and love, but also for fitting in and experiencing what is conceived of as normal and “successful” sexuality. This essay examines the contemporary and prevalent phenomenon of faked orgasms from the perspectives of feminist theory and phenomenology.
Women's Studies International Forum, 1995
This paper examines the phenomenon of faking orgasm in order to construct a critical analysis of heterosexual relations. Such an analysis, we argue, is central to the task of developing effective HIV/AIDS educational campaigns for heterosexual people. In the paper we examine the different narratives upon which heterosexual men and women rely when they are discussing their sexual and relationship
Social Representations of Female Orgasm
Journal of Health Psychology, 2009
This study examines women's social representations of female orgasm. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted with British women. The data were thematically analysed and compared with the content of female orgasm-related writing in two women's magazines over a 30-year period. The results indicate that orgasm is deemed the goal of sex with emphasis on its physiological dimension. However, the women and the magazines graft onto this scientifically driven representation the importance of relational and emotive aspects of orgasm. For the women, particularly those who experience themselves as having problems with orgasm, the scientifically driven representations induce feelings of failure, but are also resisted. The findings highlight the role played by the social context in women's subjective experience of their sexual health.
Drawing on the problem of imagining sexuality, paper comments on contemporary debates in feminism, psychoanalysis, and queer theory. Three theories are discussed: Jacqueline Rose’s feminist views on sexuality and vision; Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytic orientation to sexuality as both a problem of language, narrative revolts and as a constitutive vulnerability; and, Eve Sedgwick’s imaginative axioms for sexuality as a problem for epistemology. While part one of the paper provides a theoretical lens for conceptualizing sexuality, the second part moves to problems of practices in research, study and pedagogy. Of special interest is how the ideas developed in the fields of queer theory, Feminism, and psychoanalysis proffer new ways to conceptualize the affective tensions between, on the one hand, sexuality and culture and on the other hand, between subjectivity and intersubjectivity. The paper concludes with an outline of three urgencies for research, pedagogy, and study.
A Phenomenological Look at the Orgasm Gap
Open Philosophy, 2022
The orgasm gap is the marked difference in the frequency of orgasm between cisgender men and women in heterosexual intercourse that has been documented in research for decades. However, orgasm as a state of intense sexual excitement and gratification is physiologically uncomplicated and readily available for most people regardless of gender. This article undertakes a philosophical study of the processes by which the individual experience of orgasm is invested with meaning and embedded in social and cultural practices that collectively both produce and sustain the orgasm gap. By looking at the experience of orgasm as horizonal, I draw a distinction between the social and the cultural horizons of sexual experiences. I argue that social standards of sexual modesty make sexuality a field where the process through which we make sense of our individual experiences is especially dependent on how these experiences are depicted in cultural representation. The current socially normalised male perspective in cultural representation continues to conflict with the ways orgasm is experienced in female bodies. This is probably one reason why the orgasm gap persists even in countries where sex education and gender equality are highly advanced.
Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemologies of Ignorance
Lay understanding and scientific accounts of female sexuality and orgasm provide a fertile site for demonstrating the importance of including epistemologies of ignorance within feminist epistemologies. Ignorance is not a simple lack. It is often constructed, maintained, and disseminated and is linked to issues of cognitive authority, doubt, trust, silencing, and uncertainty. Studying both feminist and nonfeminist understandings of female orgasm reveals practices that suppress or erase bodies of knowledge concerning women's sexual pleasures.
Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2019
The majority of women have faked an orgasm at least once in their lives. In the current study, we assessed how women's worldviews about gender relate to their faking orgasm behavior. A survey of 462 heterosexual women from the UK (M age =38.38 years) found that those who espoused anti-feminist values-that is, those high in hostile sexism-had faked significantly more orgasms over their lifetime. In contrast, those who espoused ostensibly positive but restrictive ideas of gender relations-that is, those high in benevolent sexism-had faked significantly fewer orgasms over their lifetime. Furthermore, the more that women believed female orgasm was necessary for men's sexual gratification, the more likely they were to have faked an orgasm at least once in their lives compared to women who had never faked an orgasm. These effects were small to moderate and emerged after controlling for demographics, sexual history, ease of orgasm, and previously established psychological correlates of faking orgasm, including suspected partner infidelity and intrasexual competition.