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When Meg Ryan showed men everywhere that women could convincingly, and without hesitation, fake orgasms in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, it sparked a cultural conversation around the practice of faking The Big O.
From that moment onwards, it's been one of the most wondered-about sexual phenomena. Do all women really fake it at one point in time and, most importantly, why do we do it?
The thoroughly documented orgasm gap shows that on average, women aren't orgasming as much as men due to mental and physical barriers, as well as a lack of cultural education around female-centred pleasure. Beyond heterosexual sex, it's also been proven that a lack of orgasms can be a thing in queer female relationships, too.
But if we know for a fact that women are far less likely to be cumming during sex, and it's no longer a secret to anyone, we have to wonder why women still feel the need to pretend like this isn't the case.
Refinery29 spoke to 9 women who have faked an orgasm at least once (if not regularly) to find out why they would pretend to cum and if they thought they'd ever fake it again.
From awkwardness to people-pleasing to just wanting to get it over with, ahead are just some of the reasons women might feel the need to fake their pleasure in bed.
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