Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women

Harris, Emily A.; Hornsey, Matthew J.; Larsen, Hannah F.; Barlow, Fiona Kate

doi:10.1007/s10508-019-01510-2

Original Paper
Published: 15 July 2019

Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women

Emily A. Harris ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1777-083X¹,
Matthew J. Hornsey²,
Hannah F. Larsen³ &
Fiona Kate Barlow³

Archives of Sexual Behavior volume 48, pages 2419–2433 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

We also conducted our analyses using the full scale, and the results remained unchanged.

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Authors and Affiliations

Department of Psychology, Queens University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3L3, Canada
Emily A. Harris
School of Business, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Matthew J. Hornsey
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Hannah F. Larsen & Fiona Kate Barlow

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Emily A. Harris
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Matthew J. Hornsey
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Hannah F. Larsen
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Fiona Kate Barlow
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Correspondence to Emily A. Harris.

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Harris, E.A., Hornsey, M.J., Larsen, H.F. et al. Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women. Arch Sex Behav 48, 2419–2433 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01510-2

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Received: 12 October 2018
Revised: 03 July 2019
Accepted: 05 July 2019
Published: 15 July 2019
Issue Date: November 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01510-2

Keywords

Faking orgasm
Ideology
Hostile sexism
Benevolent sexism
Gender