Do women pretend orgasm to retain a mate?

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Psychology
• Human Sexuality
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Mate retention behaviors are strategies employed to maintain a relationship.
• Understanding female sexual strategies provides insight into evolutionary psychology.
• Previous research has explored various aspects of female sexual behavior and relationship maintenance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that women feign orgasm as a mate retention tactic.
• To investigate the relationship between perceived infidelity risk and orgasm faking.
• To examine the link between orgasm faking, mate retention behaviors, and infidelity concerns.

Main Methods:

• Survey data collected from 453 heterosexual women in long-term relationships.
• Participants' mean age was 21.8 years, and mean relationship length was 32.8 months.
• Self-report measures assessed orgasm faking likelihood, perceived infidelity risk, and mate retention behaviors.

Main Results:

• Women perceiving higher infidelity risk were more likely to fake orgasm.
• Increased likelihood of faking orgasm correlated with performing more mate retention behaviors.
• Perceived infidelity risk mediated the link between faking orgasm and cost-inflicting mate retention tactics.

Conclusions:

• Faking orgasm may serve as a mate retention strategy for women.
• This behavior appears more prevalent in women concerned about partner infidelity.
• The findings suggest a complex interplay between sexual signaling and relationship security in women.