Women in romantic relationships report higher sexual satisfaction than men

A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior provides evidence that women in romantic relationships tend to be slightly more satisfied with their sex lives than men. These findings challenge common societal assumptions that women experience less sexual satisfaction due to various physical and social obstacles. The research suggests that within the context of established partnerships, women’s subjective enjoyment of intimacy remains highly positive.

Scientists designed this research to clear up years of inconsistent findings regarding gender and sexual satisfaction. Many cultural depictions and biological perspectives propose that women face unique barriers to enjoying intimacy. For instance, anatomical differences can lead to a higher likelihood of physical pain or infections for women during intercourse.

Social norms also tend to prioritize male pleasure or subject women to harsh judgments about their sexuality. This concept is known as the sexual double standard, where women face harsher social penalties for engaging in casual sex than men do. Because of these distinct challenges, many people assume that women naturally have less satisfying sexual experiences than men.

But scientists suspected that the safety of a committed romantic relationship might change this dynamic. In an established partnership, couples often build trust and communicate better about their specific desires. Women tend to feel safer and face less stigma when having sex with a steady partner compared to a casual encounter.

The orgasm gap is another factor that influences how people view sexual satisfaction. The orgasm gap refers to the well documented phenomenon where men consistently experience more orgasms during partnered sex than women do. To find a definitive answer on whether these hurdles actually reduce overall satisfaction, scientists combined massive amounts of data to compare partnered men and women directly.

“I’ve always been interested in how broader social beliefs regarding intimacy may impact intimacy within romantic relationships, even if there is no empirical research to support such beliefs. For example, most people likely believe that men have greater sexual satisfaction than women based on gender norms surrounding sex, but I noticed within the research that there were inconsistent findings regarding gender differences in sexual satisfaction,” said study author Ashlyn Brady, an assistant professor of psychology at Sweet Briar College.

“That is, some research has shown that men report greater sexual satisfaction than women, while other studies revealed that women report greater sexual satisfaction than men, and other research has not observed any gender differences in sexual satisfaction. Because of this, I hoped to conduct a study to resolve these inconsistent results in past research.”

For their study, the scientists used a statistical technique called integrative data analysis. This approach pools raw participant data from multiple independent studies to create one large and highly diverse dataset. By combining these studies into a single pool, scientists gain a much clearer and more powerful look at subtle trends that a small study might miss.

Because the independent studies originally used different questionnaires, the researchers had to harmonize the survey items. Harmonization involves taking slightly different questions from various surveys and adjusting them mathematically so they measure the exact same concept on the same scale. This allowed the researchers to seamlessly merge responses from completely different sets of participants.

The scientists conducted two separate analyses using data from five Western countries. The first analysis included 11,841 participants from 29 different cross-sectional studies. In these studies, participants answered broad survey questions about how satisfied they felt with their sex lives in general.

The second analysis focused on daily experiences and included 1,827 participants from eight different studies. These participants completed a total of 18,321 daily survey reports over a period of two to four weeks. This allowed the researchers to track momentary satisfaction with specific sexual encounters as they happened day by day.

Across both the general surveys and the daily diaries, the researchers found that partnered women reported slightly higher levels of sexual satisfaction than partnered men. The researchers conducted extra statistical tests to see if other relationship factors could explain this small gap. They checked whether women were simply happier with their overall romantic relationship, but general relationship satisfaction did not explain the difference in sexual satisfaction.

The scientists also looked at the frequency of sexual encounters. They wanted to see if having less sex somehow made women more satisfied, but the data showed that sexual frequency did not change the results. The researchers also ruled out the possibility that women were just reporting higher satisfaction because they were factoring in their partner’s enjoyment.

“The main finding that women reported greater sexual satisfaction than men in romantic relationships was extremely surprising!” Brady told PsyPost. “Although some research has shown that women reported greater sexual satisfaction than men or that there were no observed gender differences in sexual satisfaction, a vast majority of past research has found that men report greater sexual satisfaction than women.”

“Because of this, I was not expecting that our results would reveal women to report greater sexual satisfaction than men. But when I think about it more I can understand why these findings make sense, although such reasons need to be explored more in future research.”

The researchers did find a few minor variables that changed the overall pattern. In the cross-sectional surveys, the slight gender gap showing women reporting higher sexual satisfaction than men was mostly seen in older adults. In the daily diary studies, this specific difference in satisfaction was more apparent among couples who had been together for longer periods of time.

Previous research published in The Journal of Sex Research hints at why the context of a committed partnership might be important for women’s sexual well-being. In a survey of over a thousand women, Val Wongsomboon and her colleagues found that women generally report more frequent orgasms and higher sexual satisfaction in committed relationships compared to casual encounters. This aligns with the current study’s premise that established relationships create a supportive, communicative environment that helps minimize the obstacles women face during sex.

However, Wongsomboon and her colleagues also uncovered an exception to this trend based on individual attitudes. Women who were highly open to short-term, casual intimacy experienced similar levels of physical and emotional satisfaction regardless of whether they were in a relationship or having a casual hookup. This suggests that while a committed romantic context tends to boost sexual satisfaction for many women, a person’s specific comfort with casual sex also shapes their overall enjoyment.

“I hope people take away that social norms and expectations may not always reflect actual experiences among people within society,” Brady said. “Although there are many valid reasons why men may be more sexually satisfied than women, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they always are.”

While the study relies on a massive amount of data, the researchers note a few potential misinterpretations. The difference in satisfaction between men and women was actually very small. Because the sample size was so incredibly large, even tiny differences appeared statistically significant.

“It’s important to keep in mind that the observed effect was small, and thus the real-life implications of the findings may more so reflect there being no gender differences in sexual satisfaction,” Brady said. “However, even that finding is important given the previous emphasis within research and among lay people that men have greater sexual satisfaction than women.”

The scientists also emphasize that these findings do not mean women experience a perfect sex life without obstacles. Women still report higher rates of pain during sex and fewer orgasms than men. Instead, the data suggests that despite these physical and social hurdles, women still evaluate their overall sexual experiences in a highly positive light.

“More and more research has highlighted that gender differences in sexual experiences (e.g., sexual satisfaction, sexual desire) are either very small or nonexistent,” Brady said. “Men and women may be more similar in their sexual experiences than expected!”

The study also faced certain limitations, such as relying heavily on participants in their twenties and thirties from Western cultures. Future research should explore how these patterns might shift in different age brackets or in non-Western countries. The scientists also hope to look closer at diverse sexual orientations and gender identities to see if these specific gender differences hold true across all types of couples.

Finally, the researchers want to explore exactly why men’s satisfaction might fall slightly below women’s over time.

“I hope to further this line of research by exploring why women reported greater sexual satisfaction than men in the context of romantic relationships,” Brady told PsyPost. “We explored a few potential reasons within this study, but none of them explained the observed results. For example, in future research it may be fruitful to consider whether men’s greater desire for sexual novelty informs their decreased sexual satisfaction over time within romantic relationships.”

“Similarly, perhaps women reported greater sexual satisfaction within romantic relationships because women tend to have worse sexual experiences in casual sexual encounters than men. Thus, women’s sexual satisfaction in romantic relationships may be amplified if they are comparing it to prior sexual experiences that were significantly worse. These are just a few possible reasons that need to be explored in future research.”

The study, “Women Are Slightly More Sexually Satisfied in Their Romantic Relationships Than Men: An Integrative Data Analytic Approach,” was authored by Ashlyn Brady, Levi R. Baker, Jessica A. Maxwell, Sara B. Algoe, Carolyn Birnie-Porter, Marlee Brownstein, Kathleen L. Carswell, Emily J. Cross, Anik Debrot, Eli J. Finkel, Cheryl Harasymchuk, Emily A. Impett, James J. Kim, Chelom E. Leavitt, Geoff MacDonald, Michael R. Maniaci, Kristen P. Mark, James K. McNulty, Andrea L. Meltzer, Amy Muise, Nickola C. Overall, Yoobin Park, Harry T. Reis, and Francesca Righetti.