--- title: Study Shows Women Don't Always Orgasm During Hook-Ups description: Though women are nearly as likely as men to engage in casual sex, they are less likely to receive the same, ahem, benefits as their... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-11-12T00:46:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T09:49:56.738Z article:section: Health og:title: Study Shows Women Don't Always Orgasm During Hook-Ups og:description: Though women are nearly as likely as men to engage in casual sex, they are less likely to receive the same, ahem, benefits as their... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34a3c28e2c1c5fae/698a9256d07533d4dee76c5d/187105967.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 187105967 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study Shows Women Don't Always Orgasm During Hook-Ups twitter:description: Though women are nearly as likely as men to engage in casual sex, they are less likely to receive the same, ahem, benefits as their... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34a3c28e2c1c5fae/698a9256d07533d4dee76c5d/187105967.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # No Satisfaction: Woman Are Less Likely to Orgasm During Casual Sex by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 12, 2013 12:46 AM UTC  Happy African American couple. Happy African American couple.Getty Images—(c) skynesher by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 12, 2013 12:46 AM UTC Though women are nearly as likely as men to engage in casual sex, they are less likely to receive the same, ahem, benefits as their partners during those casual hookups. According to research presented at the International Academy of Sex Research’s annual meeting, women are more likely to orgasm from intercourse while in a serious relationship than during a hookup. “The notion of sexual liberation, where men and women both had equal access to casual sex, assumed a comparable likelihood of that sex being pleasurable,” Kim Wallen, a professor of neuroendocrinology at Emory University told the [New York _Times_](well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/women-find-orgasms-elusive-in-hookups/). “But that part of the playing field isn’t level.” The study of [600 college students](https://aps.psychologicalscience.org/convention/program%5F2013/search/viewProgram.cfm?Abstract%5FID=28800&AbType=&AbAuthor=253854&Subject%5FID=&Day%5FID=all&keyword=) found that women were half as likely to orgasm from oral sex or intercourse during a casual hookup than when they were in a serious relationship. This backs earlier research by New York University sociologist [Paula England](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/science/17orga.html?pagewanted=all&%5Fr=0), which showed that just 40% of the 24,000 college aged women she studied over five years at 21 colleges reached orgasm during a hookup while 80% of men did. Nearly 75% of women who were in a relationship, on the other hand, had an orgasm during sex. Women, researchers say, likely do not feel comfortable telling their hook-ups what they want and need during sex while their male partners are admittedly less focused on pleasing a casual sex partner. “I’m not going to try as hard as when I’m with someone I really care about,” Duvan Giraldo, 26, told the _Times_. Though, he said pleasing his partner is “always my mission.” Casey Romaine, 22, told the _Times_, hook-ups are often just about sharing an intimate moment, rather than having a particularly good sexual experience. “I think a lot of the time it almost is weirdly irrelevant whether or not the sex is actually good,” she said. \[[_New York Times_](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/women-find-orgasms-elusive-in-hookups/?src=mv)\] Study Shows Women Don't Always Orgasm During Hook-Ups ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/"},"headline":"No Satisfaction: Woman Are Less Likely to Orgasm During Casual Sex","datePublished":"2013-11-12T00:46:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T09:49:56.738Z","description":"Though women are nearly as likely as men to engage in casual sex, they are less likely to receive the same, ahem, benefits as their...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/","keywords":["women","Sex"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34a3c28e2c1c5fae/698a9256d07533d4dee76c5d/187105967.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34a3c28e2c1c5fae/698a9256d07533d4dee76c5d/187105967.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"187105967","caption":"187105967","creditText":"Getty Images—(c) skynesher","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135161/no-satisfaction-woman-are-less-likely-to-orgasm-during-casual-sex/","name":"No Satisfaction: Woman Are Less Likely to Orgasm During Casual Sex"}}]}] ```