Across three experimental studies using hypothetical scenarios, we investigated under what circumstances, and to what effect, women and men devalue women's orgasm. In Studies 1 and 2, women reported their orgasm value in response to a hypothetical scenario that varied their imagined orgasm history and current orgasm frequency with a new partner (low vs. high). In Study 2, orgasm value was compared to a baseline, pre-manipulation measure of orgasm value. In both studies, we found that women devalued orgasm only when they imagined they had a history of infrequent orgasms and were not orgasming with their current partner. When current orgasm frequency was low, women who valued orgasm less (or devalued orgasm) imagined better sexual and relationship outcomes than women who valued orgasm more. Men (Study 3) valued a hypothetical female partner's orgasm less under the same circumstances and reported similar impacts of women's orgasm absence on their own and perceived partner's imagined sexual and relationship outcomes.
Wetzel et al. (Fri,) studied this question.