Carly Wolfer, a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the City University of New York, recently published a study. It helps to expose the disconcern at play, especially by illuminating disparities in orgasm rates for men and women. The study followed 566 sexual encounters over a three-week period. It included 127 individuals currently in heterosexual partnerships, all 18 – 40 years of age.
The study’s results show that a whopping 72 percent of men said they had masturbated in the last year. By comparison, just 42 percent of women said they did this. This discrepancy begs the question, what contributes to sexual satisfaction, and how do factors shape experiences of orgasm for all genders.
Men had orgasms 90 percent of the time, which was dramatically different from the 54 percent rate among women. The research indicates that men have more orgasms. It further uncovers that they claimed to have more pleasurable experiences than their female counterparts. The data shows an astounding truth: men are 15 times more likely to have an orgasm than women. Each of these stats highlight a striking achievement gap in sexual satisfaction between men and women.
Wolfer’s study proclaims even louder that lack of engagement and effort are at least part of the cause of this gap. She notes, “how much someone wants an orgasm to happen — whether it’s their own or their partner’s — and how much effort they put into making it happen.” This implication is that active participation of both partners is necessary to the sexual experience for maximal satisfaction.
Wolfer’s research findings align with the results from Womanizer’s We-Vibe sex and relationships study. What we found in that study blew our minds—only 40 percent of women, all ages inclusive, are sexually fulfilled. A recent study found that 62 percent of women haven’t even used one, let alone own a single sex toy. That’s a huge opportunity to improve sexual health and pleasure for millions.
In Australia, where the sexual empowerment of women is a hot-button issue, one in four women regularly masturbate. She found a shocking discrepancy, that while the men are having a great time, most women are not being pleased. This disparity is probably a reflection of social norms and social expectations when it comes to female pleasure.
Wolfer emphasizes that the challenges women face in achieving orgasm are “not because it’s ‘just naturally harder’ for women to orgasm — a common myth.” Rather, the nuances of sexual interactions and preferences individually are more heavily influencing these results.
These findings are significant as they beg the question of how society can better assist women in fulfilling sexual health and satisfaction. All of them are deeply unsatisfied and totally unequipped to improve their experiences in ways that matter to women. This points to an urgent need for open conversations about sexual pleasure and increased access to resources such as sex toys.
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