Science is great, and gathering data on things that confirms what we already believe isn’t a waste, but I think this paper is presenting itself as more surprising than it ought to…

The study shatters the outdated myth that vaginal penetration is the primary driver of female pleasure.

Literally my entire life I’ve heard this. From, like, everyone that talks about sexuality at all. And we already have studies that say only like 30% of women orgasm from penetration (quoted off my recollection, I don’t have a citation handy). So this is fine, more different data is fine, but this myth has been beaten dead for like 50 years.

I did like the part where they talked about how more orgasms with a partner is more satisfying, but more orgasms solo is instead a symptom of less satisfaction. And similarly, more variety in activities with a partner is a positive sign, but more variety solo is instead a sign of “desperation” almost. That makes intuitive sense, I’m not surprised by that, but having data to back up the intuition is nice.

I think the real novel value here is the part where they talk about women having trouble with partners where they feel pressured to perform, and so much more relaxed and comfortable by themselves. Not surprising, makes sense, but that feels like interesting insight that could have further study.