Women fake orgasms to protect insecurities, intimacy, says Temple Univ. researcher

Women fake orgasms in bed to protect their own insecurities and fear of intimacy, according to a new research study, the Livescience magazine reports.

Approximately 60 percent of women have faked an orgasm during intercourse or oral sex, the magazine said according to Erin Cooper of Temple University, who has been studying these women to figure out why.

This is something that we talk about happening in popular culture, in the movies and magazines, Cooper told LiveScience. We know that this is pretty prevalent in our culture, but we don't know much about it from a scientific standpoint. That to me is a real catastrophe.

The research scientist Cooper has surveyed 366 females' ages 18 to 32 who had indicated they endorse faking orgasms, about their sexual habits, their reasons for faking it during a past relationship and their feelings about intimacy, the magazine writes.

Many of these women said they faked it due to their own fear of intimacy; they also reported faking orgasm because they felt insecure about their sexual functioning, or because they want to get it over with.

There was also a small group of participants who did it to enhance their own sexual experience. This small subset of women who are faking orgasm for the purposes of increasing their own arousal, actually have higher levels of sexual satisfaction, Cooper said. So, maybe we should not be questioning their strategy; it's one of many tools in their toolboxes for having a positive sexual experience, the magazine further added.

These reasons can have a negative effect on relationships, even outside the bedroom. Increased communication and work to bolster trust and intimacy could help these women overcome their need to fake it in the bedroom, the magazine concluded.