Lesbians are more likely to have orgasms than straight women, new study suggests

Women with female sexual partners are more likely to have consistent orgasms than women with male partners, a new study has found.

Some 78 percent of sexual experiences with female partners led to orgasms, compared to 65 percent of those with men. 

The psychologists behind the study, from Rutgers University, say the findings don't  mean there is an 'inherent' problem with heterosexual sex - but that foreplay, rather  than intercourse, should be practised more often.

The researchers conducted a two phase study, including nearly 1000 women. 

In the first phase, the researchers asked 476 lesbian or heterosexual women to report on their experience with their most recent sexual partner.

Women partnered with other women were more likely to report achieving orgasm

They found lesbian women were 20 percent more likely to report orgasms with recent partners, compared to the straight group.

In the second phase, the researchers asked 481 bisexual women to talk through hypothetical scenarios with both male and female partners.

Half of the group imagined themselves with a woman, and the other half imagined themselves with a man.

They then rated their imagined scenarios on a scale of one to seven based on how likely they thought they were to orgasm. One was very unlikely and seven was very likely.

When they imagined sex with a man, the women reported a score of 4.88 compared to 5.86 when they imagined sex with a woman. 

In both studies, women reported that female partners paid more attention to their clitoris, which made them more likely to orgasm, as compared to male partners.  

Also, the researchers discovered a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy - if a woman was  partnered with a woman, she was more likely to expect reaching orgasm. And when a woman expects to reach orgasm, she's more likely to do so, they wrote. 

When women feel empowered in bed, and like they deserve pleasure, they're more likely to orgasm, according to psychologists from the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. 

An increased focus on the clitoris could help improve the orgasm gap between men and women, experts say

The resresearchers suggest their study offers some support for 'the orgasm gap' theory, which suggests heterosexual women have less pleasurable sexual experiences than heterosexual men.

Studies show women are 30 percent less likely to reach orgasm than their male counterparts. 

Kate Dickman, one of the Rutgers psychologists, said her study, 'sheds light on why the orgasm gap exists—specifically, how different expectations for sex with men and women can explain these differences.'

The gap doesn't exist because women are impossible to please, according to Laurie Mintz, a psychologist from the University of Florida. 

 Research has shown that when masturbating, at least 92 percent of women report orgasm, Ms Mintz wrote for the Conversation.

'The main reason for the orgasm gap, then, is that women are not getting the clitoral stimulation they need,' Ms. Mintz wrote. 

This could be because they don't know where to look. Roughly half of young men surveyed earlier this year reported that they didn't know where the clitoris was, researchers from the University of Florida reported.  

The authors of the new study suggest those wanting to help their female partner reach orgasm should 'create an environment that encourages orgasm pursuit through diverse sex acts, particularly those involving clitoral stimulation.'