Lesbian, bisexual women have different sexual satisfaction than straight women

A study has concluded that different factors affect lesbians and bisexual women as compared to straight women in terms of sexual satisfaction, so they should have different expectations.

The findings, which were recently published in the Journal of Sex Research, underscores the need to consider sexual identity in this regard.

Different needs, different sexual satisfaction

Researchers used a battery of surveys with women with varying sexual identities, from 996 heterosexual women to 333 bisexual women and 204 lesbian women.

One result they found out was that there were several contributing factors that varied based on sexual orientation. For straight women, they placed greater importance on how often they have an orgasm.

Researcher Laura Holt, a psychologist and outreach coordinator for University of Missouri at St. Louis, said: “This study makes it clear that the idea of sexual satisfaction as we think about it is often heteronormative.”

Holt noted the differences between the women in areas of importance placed in sexual activity, use of sex materials, frequency of physical intimacy or sexual activity but not including intercourse, among others.

She explained that “bisexual and lesbian women hearing or reading about straight women’s sexual satisfaction may feel increased internalized homophobia,” which would decrease satisfaction for them.

Thus, if bisexual and lesbian women expect satisfaction factors to match straight women’s, this would result in increased shame for them if they don’t get any satisfaction.

However, she said, “The factor that united all participants regardless of sexual identity was frequency of sexual activity; it was mentioned most for all three groups of women.”

How to gauge different women’s sexual satisfaction

Researchers asked participants the question, “How sexually satisfied are you?” on a 7-point scale. Those surveyed were then asked to explain their choice.

They also had to complete a 25-item Potential Sexual Satisfaction Factors survey and the 28-item New Satisfaction Scale.

“Sexual satisfaction is such a vital part of individual and relationship health, but the research and clinical attention given to the topic does not match this importance,” Holt told PsyPost.

She added this is “generally important, and different people need different experiences to feel satisfied.”

She further said that when she began her research, “I realized that not only is it under-researched, but the way research has been done has been messy and focused on heterosexual people.”

She pointed out that most of the research didn’t explain to participants on the meaning of ‘sexual satisfaction,’ while others just focused on orgasm, which excludes those who are “anorgasmic but still sexually satisfied.”

She also noted a lot of assumptions in measures, “taking it for granted that people of different sexual identities and genders experience their sexual satisfaction the same way.”

Some key aspects of the study on women

Holt admitted her study had some limitations: “In order to narrowly answer questions about sexual satisfaction for bisexual and lesbian women, we had to eliminate variables like biological sex and relationship forms.”

“Just as we don’t assume cisgender heterosexual men’s sexual satisfaction can be mapped onto women, we should be careful making similar assumptions for other groups,” she said.

She added, “There are so many different ways to have sex that feels satisfying to you, don’t let the most common ideas about straight sex influence you or make you feel as if what you need to have great sex is not perfectly fine.”

Previous global research has indicated that women who have sex with women are probably more likely not to report sexual dissatisfaction.

In 2014, the Journal of Sexual Medicine had a study wherein lesbians orgasmed 75% of the time during sex, as compared to 61% for heterosexual women.

A larger 2017 study by the Kinsey Institute recorded slightly different numbers but with same trends: lesbians reported orgasms 86% of the time, as compared to 65% for straight women.