Faking Orgasms and the Idea of Successful Sexuality (original) (raw)

The Difficult Pleasures of Orgasmology

This paper engages with Annamarie Jagose's Orgasmology (2013), in particular the intervention it makes into queer and Foucauldian scholarship on the counterpolitics of "bodies and pleasures".

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.

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.

Fake it: women pretending orgasms

Human Andrology

The current study was conducted aiming to cast some light on the frequency of pretending orgasm among women and the reasons for which they fake it.

Faking Orgasm: Relationship to Orgasmic Problems and Relationship Type in Heterosexual Women

Sexual Medicine, 2021

Introduction Although faking orgasm among women appears quite common, the roles of orgasmic problems and relationship type in partnered sex and masturbation have not been fully explored. Aim We assessed the relationship between orgasmic problems (separately in partnered sex and masturbation) and faking orgasm across various types of relationships while also considering the role of demographic and sexual function related covariates. Methods In this study of 1,168 Hungarian women, we assessed orgasmic problems, sexual functioning, and the prevalence and frequency of faking orgasm in 3 relationship types: romantic relationships, one-night stands, and continuing sexual relationships of more than one night. Main Outcome Measure Differences in faking orgasm across 3 types of relationships; the association between faking orgasm in 1 type of relationship with faking orgasm in other types of relationships; and the relationship of “orgasmic problems” in partnered sex and masturbation to the p...

On 'good sex' and other dangerous ideas: Women narrate their joyous and happy sexual encounters

Journal of Gender Studies, 2017

Existing studies of women’s sexual happiness and pleasure most often centre on sexual satisfaction, orgasm, and sexual dysfunction, largely failing to allow women to narrate their own experiences. With the recent release of the first drug to ‘treat’ women’s waning libidos a qualitative examination of women’s notion of ‘good sex’ is more pressing and urgent than ever. We need to extend feminist critiques of power, control, patriarchy and agency to the study of women’s sexuality and sexual happiness. Using semi-structured interviews with 20 women from a 2014 community sample collected in a large southwestern US city, we analyse women’s descriptions of and definitions of ‘good sex’ (as defined by respondents), as well as their experiences of sexual encounters that felt joyous and happy. Analysis revealed four themes in women’s descriptions of good, happy and joyous sex: (1) Physical pleasure, wanting and orgasm; (2) Emotional connection and relationship satisfaction; (3) Comfort and naturalness; (4) Control over sexual scripts. Ultimately, our findings suggest that women prioritized relational components of sexuality – particularly reciprocity, bonding, focus, attentiveness and flexibility of sexual scripts – over the more physical, orgasm-based, ‘release’ aspects of sexual encounters. We discuss the implications of the gendered study of happiness as framed within patriarchal and male-dominant definitions and in the clinical treatment of sexual dysfunction.

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.

Faking it

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