Do gender and sexual orientation impact orgasm frequency?

In 2017, a massive study conducted by Frederick et al. came out with some interesting findings detailing orgasm frequency in a sample of heterosexual, bisexual, and gay and lesbian men and women. This study found that heterosexual men orgasmed while sexually intimate with the highest frequency (95%), followed by gay men (89%), then bisexual men (88%), and women coming in after with lesbian women (86%), bisexual women (66%), and finally heterosexual women (65%).

Clearly, this study suggests that both gender and sexual orientation affect how likely a person is to orgasm during sex, and women are particularly disadvantaged – but why is that? The authors indicated that women who reported receiving more oral sex, having sex for longer a duration, and being more satisfied in their relationships tended to orgasm more frequently. They also theorized that in heterosexual relationships, there is a lower importance and higher stigmatization on women’s sexuality and sexual expression. In lesbian relationships, on the other hand, it is suspected that these women are more in-tune with the female anatomy and have a better understand of what leads to orgasm, and are also less likely to follow heterosexual scripts for intimacy and pleasure!