Search icon

Lifestyle

01st Aug 2016

Do men or women have better orgasms? This is the definitive answer

Allow science to explain

Carl Kinsella

The physiological differences between men and women mean that there will be some sensations that neither can truly experience – the pain of childbirth, for example.

There’s no denying that women have it worse in that regard, but one mystery that remains is who has it better when it comes to orgasms?

According to Cosmopolitan’s Female Orgasm Study, men certainly have more orgasms, quantitatively speaking. ASAPScience confirm this, reporting that men claim to achieve orgasm in 95% of heterosexual sexual encounters (compared to 69% of women).

This number goes up for women having lesbian sex, however, who have 12% more orgasms than straight women during their sexcapades.

Quantity aside, however, brain scans of both men and women during orgasm reveal strikingly similar neural activity, despite significant differences during arousal. The lateral orbital frontal cortex shuts down in all genders during orgasm, and prolactin is released (causing the sexer to get drowsy). The key difference is that the duration of the female orgasm is roughly twice as long as the average male climax.

All of this means that “major differences in the orgasm experience likely come down to the individual level”, so the important thing is knowing your own body and that of your partner.

This video, by ASAPScience, explains the whole process:

Topics:

Sex