title: Women report being slightly more sexually satisfied than men, revealing a surprising gender trend. Relationship satisfaction doesn't fully explain why women are more sexually satisfied than men. Women's tendency to report higher satisfaction might be influenced by socialization and disclosure norms.
author: u/Tracheid
contenttype: redditpost
publication: r/science
published: 2026-02-28T06:36:40+00:00
sourceurl: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1rgvg23/womenreportbeingslightlymoresexually/
word_count: 373
Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/attraction-evolved/202602/are-women-less-sexually-satisfied-than-men
Score: 1643 | Comments: 358 | Subreddit: r/science
Top Comments
u/psymunn (985 pts):
Could it be explained by mismatched libidos?
u/coalpatch (279 pts):
The article has no statistics - what is the point of it? We have no idea what "slightly" means here
u/pooppoop900 (168 pts):
It doesn’t seem all that complicated. The partner with the lower libido generally dictates how much sex is had, therefore becoming satisfied when the desire arises. The partner with the higher libido is either A) rejected more often leading to frustrations and resentments, or B) gifted some forced occasional supplemental sex to pacify that partner’s advances. Both result in feelings of dissatisfaction. Rarely are both partner’s drives or desires on the same level, almost always resulting in one partner having control over the sex life, and one partner feeling dissatisfied. It’s not that surprising at all.
u/Bireus (50 pts):
Reads highly dependent on the people they surveyed. Per usual it gives the "results may vary" type of results.
u/lofgren777 (99 pts):
Why would this be a surprising gender trend? Isn't this conventional wisdom/basic gender stereotyping? Men are always horny while women only tolerate their advances?
I absolutely think it's socialization, but it doesn't seem all that mysterious.
u/Nigelthornfruit (87 pts):
Come on it’s obvious women have massive sexual selection opportunities , whereas the majority of men don’t.
u/Ixionbrewer (7 pts):
If you read Greek myth, you will see this was reported thousands of years ago too. Check out the myths around Tiresias and his oracular power.
u/bduxbellorum (10 pts):
As a contrast to the many comments about libido mismatch, etc…if you estimate just by number of orgasms, most women can have many more and much more intense orgasms than men in the same time period. Sure relationships where men don’t know or care to focus on female pleasure exist, but surveys suggest that within relationships, men receive oral sex 90% of the time with inter course and women 84%. That would indicate a high fraction of men who do in fact focus on female pleasure and it would take a relatively simple model to estimate the average intensity of orgasms for women versus men to lead to some of the relationship satisfaction gap favoring women slightly.
u/LebrontosaurausRex (8 pts):
Male Circumcision probably factors in. Foreskin is the most nerve rich part of the penis, there have been studies comparing the decrease in nerve response to going from color to grey scale.
u/Xolver (55 pts):
They absolutely had to put socialization and norms in the sub titles, eh? Couldn't either just let the finding sink in with no added noise or, God forbid, say that it might be influenced by nature.
u/k6tcher (5 pts):
It's definitely an interpretation of the term "sexually satisfied." Women tend to value the security and emotional wellness a sexual partner can provide. It goes with being sexually satisfied. On the other hand, men see sexual satisfaction as the actual act of sex and don't necessarily pair everything together if asked about it.
u/CptJeanTiberiusSisko (7 pts):
Women on average have a lower libido, and are more prone to be receivers than givers.
Could explain some of it. TBH I find the result surprising, Inqpuld have guessed the opposite from what I read online.
Then again, people probably don't often speak up when things are going well.
u/penguinpolitician (6 pts):
If it's only slightly more, just call it even. Another year, it might be the other way round.
u/henrikhakan (5 pts):
There are likely many reasons. I think better sextoys are among them =)