Closing the Orgasm Gap with Grace Wetzel (Interview)

What does research say about the orgasm gap between men and women? Why do women report a significant drop in sexual pleasure when men enter the equation? Why is it important for us to have orgasm equality and what can we do collectively to close the gap?   

In this episode, Effy and Jacqueline sit down with Grace Wetzel to explore how our gendered experiences shape our sexual experiences. They look at research, which indicates that bi and straight women have the least amount of orgasms, compared to straight men, bi men, and lesbians. And they discuss why this disparity has more to do with desire than biology. 

To learn more about Grace
Grace Wetzel is a doctoral student in the Social Psychology program at Rutgers University. She works in the Close Relationships, Identity, and Stigma (CRIS) Lab under the advisement of Dr. Diana Sanchez. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from St. Lawrence University. Grace studies the impact of gender on sexuality from a feminist psychological perspective. Specifically, she studies the orgasm gap between cisgender men and women. Her main lines of research focus on how biological essentialist explanations are used to justify and perpetuate the orgasm gap, as well as women's decisions to pursue or not pursue orgasm as a goal in their sexual encounters. Grace is a recipient of the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship for her work on this topic. 

Grace has dedicated her professional life to the pursuit of sexual and gender equity within and outside of academic research. Notably, she has a TEDx talk on the sexual pleasure disparity which has garnered over six million views online. She has continued to advocate for sexual equity by giving academic guest lectures, speaking at events, appearing on podcasts, and writing for newspaper outlets.

Instagram: @orgasm_equality_
Twitter: @grace__wetzel
Research publication: Orgasm Frequency Predicts Desire and Expectation for Orgasm: Assessing the Orgasm Gap within Mixed‑Sex Couples
Website: www.gracewetzel.com
If you would like to read the articles and research papers that informed Grace’s work, check out our website.

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