The Science Of Faking It

Petra Boynton looks at research on faking orgasms:

In a two-stage study respondents (all heterosexual women college students majoring in psychology) were asked when, why and how they faked orgasm. The researchers then narrowed this into four categories:

Altruistic Deceit (e.g. faked orgasm to make a partner happy or prevent them feeling guilty)

Fear and Insecurity (e.g. faked orgasm because they felt ashamed they couldn’t experience orgasm)

Elevated Arousal (e.g. faked an orgasm to get more turned on or increase the intensity of the experience)

Sexual Adjournment (e.g. to end a sexual encounter because of tiredness, a lack of enjoyment etc)

We tend to view faking orgasm as manipulative, whereas this research suggested that it could well play a positive role in increasing arousal. I could see an additional measure of distress being useful here to identify whether the faking was something done pleasurably to enhance sex, or an indication of other sexual or relationships problems where perhaps education or therapy might be of benefit.

She notes some of the study’s limitations:

I’m sure you’ve already spotted these participants might be a bit WEIRD [Western, Educated, industrious, Rich, Democratic], so how useful is this study? The authors are up front about their research being limited by the use of a volunteer student sample, and because of this I think the Faking Orgasm Scale may be better described as a tool in development rather than an established measure.

For that to happen the scale would need further research using bi and lesbian women, Trans women, women in long term relationships, and those who are not US psychology majors. It could also broaden into sexual experiences that are not just penis in vagina intercourse or oral sex (the two activities respondents were required to have both tried and faked orgasm during).