Sexual pleasure in teens: yes, gender matters

In 5 seconds An UdeM-led study finds that cisgender teenage girls are less likely to achieve orgasm than teenage boys.

Among cisgender Quebec teenagers – that is, those whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth – girls are significantly less likely than boys to achieve orgasm, either through masturbation or with a partner.

That’s the finding of a large-scale study of the sexual experiences of 2,800 mostly French-Canadian teens surveyed between 2020 and 2022. The research was done by Alice Girouard, a PhD student in UdeM’s Department of Psychology, under the supervision of Sophie Bergeron.

The participants in the study had an average age of 16 and were recruited from 23 high schools in four parts of Quebec: the South and North Shores of Montreal, Quebec City and the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region.

The study is the first to scientifically document orgasm experiences in adolescents while taking into account gender identity and couple configuration. It was published in December in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

85 per cent of boys

Alice Girouard

The majority of the teens who completed the study’s questionnaire identified as cisgender and heterosexual. A total of 1.5 per cent identified as gender diverse (non-binary, trans, genderfluid or agender) and 17.9 per cent as sexually diverse (non-heterosexual).

Overall, 73 per cent of the teen girls reported having achieved orgasm through masturbation or with a partner, compared to 85 per cent of the boys.

“We ran logistic regressions to predict the occurrence of orgasm (the dependent variable) as a function of gender (the independent variable), while controlling for other variables such as sexual experience,” explained Girouard. “The girls had a 45-per-cent probability of experiencing orgasm during masturbation – barely more than half the rate for boys – and a 56-per-cent probability during sex with a partner.”

The study also found that couple configuration played an important role. For example, teen girls who partnered with boys were at a particular disadvantage compared to girls partnered with girls or boys partnered with girls.

“In teens, the likelihood of sexual pleasure depends not only on gender, but also on who they are partnered with,” concluded Girouard.

Girouard believes that the orgasm gap in teens can be attributed to various biological, psychological and social factors that affect sexual health, such as limited anatomical knowledge and the persistence of taboos.

“The scientific literature suggests that cisgender girls know little about their anatomy and what makes them orgasm; it may be because they don’t talk about it, because it isn’t taught, or because masturbation can evoke feelings of shame,” said Girouard, noting that these hypotheses require further investigation.

The power of ‘sexual scripts’

She also pointed to the influence of what researchers call sexual scripts.

“According to sexual script theory, there is a traditional sexual script in which girls are the gatekeepers of sexuality,” Girouard explained. “They are expected to restrain or ignite male sexual desire and are supposed to view sexuality as a means to achieve emotional intimacy rather than pleasure. In this traditional script, vaginal penetration is paramount and the cisgender boy’s orgasm typically marks the end of the sexual activity.”

Girouard chose this research topic after noticing that most studies of teen sexuality focus on risks such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections that, in heterosexual relationships, are associated with intercourse.

“We wanted to capture a picture that reflects the diversity of teen sexual behaviour and couple configurations, bearing in mind that Statistics Canada reported that 30 per cent of young people identified as gender diverse in 2021, a two-fold increase from 2018,” Girouard said.

She believes that more comprehensive and positive sex education that specifically addresses female anatomy, sexual pleasure and equality within relationships is needed to dismantle ongoing double standards.

More broadly, her study highlights the importance of developing inclusive sex education programs that better reflect the diversity of teen experiences.

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