Subjective Experience of Orgasm in Gays and Lesbians

What is it about?

One aspect of orgasm that has received little attention is its subjective experience (i.e., how it is experienced from a psychological point of view). On the other hand, there is a tradition of leaving sexuality research on sexual minorities in the background, which makes it impossible to know the keys for them to enjoy healthy sexuality. There are scarce instruments that evaluate the subjective experience of orgasm, being exception the Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS), recently validated in the Spanish heterosexual population, so it was necessary to validate it in the gay population in the context of homosexual relationships. Therefore, this study validated the ORS in the gay population, presenting itself as an invariant measure by sexual orientation, thus allowing comparison between the gay and heterosexual population. In addition, it is presented as a useful tool to discriminate between gay people with and without orgasmic difficulties. The study involved 1,600 cisgender Spanish adults with recent orgasmic experiences in the context of sexual relationships (400 gay men and 400 heterosexuals, 400 lesbian women and 400 heterosexuals) aged 18 to 63 years. The results indicated that the structure of the ORS is invariant by both sexual orientation and sex. Overall, lesbians were found to subjectively experience orgasm more intensely with their partners than gay men. Heterosexual men subjectively experience orgasm more intensely in the Reward component than gay men, while lesbians experience orgasm more intensely in the Intimacy dimension compared to heterosexual women. While it is true that some variables, such as having/not having a partner, notably affect the orgasmic experience independently of sex and sexual orientation, others do not operate in the same way: in terms of age, the subjective experience of orgasm decreases more markedly in men, the level of education affects the orgasmic experience more in women, and the number of sexual partners and the way of reaching orgasm affects sexual minorities more markedly, especially in the case of men. Furthermore, this subjective orgasmic intensity was associated with positive attitude towards sexual fantasies and sexual functioning: arousal and satisfaction with orgasm were related to the subjective experience of orgasm similarly in gays and lesbians, whereas differential nuances were observed in desire, erection/lubrication, orgasmic capacity and positive attitude towards sexual fantasies. While in lesbians all psychosexual variables correlate with all dimensions of subjective orgasmic experience, in men no such consistent pattern is found. Finally, the scores obtained in three of the four dimensions of the ORS showed the ability to differentiate between gay men and women with and without orgasmic difficulties (people with difficulties show less subjective orgasmic intensity), and this could serve as a guide for treatment.

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Photo by Jose Pablo Garcia on Unsplash

Photo by Jose Pablo Garcia on Unsplash

Why is it important?

These results show that the Spanish version of the Orgasm Rating Scale is a reliable and valid instrument to examine the subjective experience of orgasm in gays and lesbians, as well as to discriminate between men and women with and without orgasmic difficulties, which makes it a useful instrument for both research and clinical practice.

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