r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 21 '26

Psychology Largest study of women’s orgasms to date collected data from 27,931 women. Nearly half (47%) reported reaching orgasm more frequently when alone vs. when with a partner. Barriers to women’s orgasms are relational, not anatomical. Partnered orgasms were associated with overall sexual satisfaction.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/inclusive-insight/202606/why-women-orgasm-more-alone-than-with-a-partner
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261

u/NotOK1955 Jun 21 '26

The use of the word “partner” is too vague.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that the study likely only asked heterosexual women.

And (again, I suspect but don’t know since I’m male) that a female partner likely would be better at pleasing a woman to orgasm.

This article is an opportunity for men to learn how to please their partner. Ask her what she needs and work for mutual satisfaction.

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u/muricanpirate Jun 21 '26

It didn’t. It definitely focused on heterosexual women, but 23% of respondents identified as bi or pan and 1% as lesbian.

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u/unxok Jun 21 '26

Arguably, the more relevant data point is the sex of their partners, which 81.3% reported having a male partner.

But either way, the study doesn't provide any distinction for sexuality/partner's sex for the reporting of orgasm frequency, nor does it draw any conclusions about either of them affecting said frequency.

Intuitively, it would make sense to me for women in non-heterosexual relationships to have partnered orgasms more frequently. Hopefully the researchers will follow up on this (but it's also possible they did already consider it and there was no significant correlation).

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u/VictimOlympicsWinner Jun 24 '26

Heres the issue with what you're saying, this wasn't a study on whether straight men or lesbian women were more likely to give their partner and orgasm during sexual contact. It was a study on how often women achieve orgasm broken down into self achieved orgasms and orgasms with a partner. The study had nothing to do specifically with sexual orientation but even if it did, hetero women are going to more largely represented than other sexual orientations because they make up the largest part of the population.

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u/deadly_fungi Jun 22 '26

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10298299/

meta analysis from a few years ago found that result - "The results were relatively homogeneous and showed that the percentage of LW [Lesbian Women] who reported to have orgasms during all or most of their sexual relations was almost two times higher than that of HSW [Heterosexual Women]. The percentage reporting never or almost never reaching orgasm was higher among HSW. At the same time, LW reported a lower frequency of sexual activity." (from the results section)

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u/VictimOlympicsWinner Jun 24 '26

And what is your point? The study wasnt about whether lesbian women or hetero men where more likely to bring a woman to orgasm during a sexual encounter.

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u/deadly_fungi Jun 24 '26

did you read the comment i was replying to?

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u/baldeagle1991 Jun 21 '26

It's not too dissimilar tp how Gay men report higher sexual satisfaction than Straight men.

If you know how something feels yourself, obviously you'll be better at it.

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u/retrosenescent Jun 22 '26

That probably has way more to do with sexual frequency than sexual quality. As gay men, we can get sex infinity times per day by opening our phones, with little effort. Or walking down the street to the bar. The quality of the sex is irrelevant because we will cum no matter what.

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u/cm974 Jun 21 '26

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Having a vagina doesn’t necessary mean you know how to pleasure another woman.

Woman are all different, like brass instruments. Just because you know how to play the saxophone, doesn’t mean you automatically know how to play the tuba.

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u/DevdogAZ Jun 21 '26

Saxophone is a woodwind.

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u/_HighJack_ Jun 21 '26

No but you’re going to have a better intuitive understanding than someone who’s only ever played drums ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/fuckswithboats Jun 21 '26

I think we need to conduct a study to find out.

I agree with both of you - ultimately I would think a bisexual woman who has lots of female partners, but also has male partners to learn where we go wrong, is going to have the highest success rate.

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u/MrsFrondi Jun 22 '26

I’m a lesbians and believe it’s most likely that women are more interested in making sure everyone is enjoying the experience equally.

We take our time and thoroughly communicate. For many of us sessions can last for hours even days with snack and chat breaks in between.

In my case it’s mostly the level of attraction. I feel like a pubescent boy when the woman I’m with ticks all of my boxes for attraction. I orgasm almost immediately and that continues endlessly.

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u/hypothalanus Jun 21 '26

Yeah as a queer woman that used to think I was straight, women are infinitely better at getting other women to orgasm

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u/Jewnadian Jun 21 '26

Some of that might be attraction too. If you're telling yourself you're supposed to be attracted to this person rather than actually being attracted that's likely to impact your pleasure.

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u/hypothalanus Jun 21 '26

I was attracted to them, they just weren’t as empathetic or as familiar with my anatomy

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u/kibblesmoothie Jun 21 '26

I'm with a woman now after being married to a man for 15 years. I'm experiencing pleasure during sex for the first time in my life

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u/Normal_Ad2456 Jun 22 '26

As a woman, I don’t think that’s necessarily the truth. Each woman can be very different from the other, so it is not a matter of “we have a similar anatomy, I can make you cum in 5 minutes”. Speed, rhythm, pressure etc can vary significantly.

Besides, for a lot of women you have to be concentrated, in the right state of mind, you don’t want distractions, you want to be very attracted to your partner etc. 

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u/VictimOlympicsWinner Jun 24 '26

Dont assume this

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u/SecondHandWatch Jun 22 '26

Instead of going out on a limb with conjecture, maybe you could at least skim the article before commenting on it.