A new study by the University of Kansas asked 281 college men and women about their sexual histories. They found that about a quarter of young men and a half of the women they surveyed had acted out an orgasm. The biggest reason? Wanting to end sex without hurting the other person’s feelings.
At least this younger generation is sexually magnanimous. But reflecting on this study, Tracy Clark-Flory points out how absurd our culture has become:
It’s funny to think that sometimes it ends up that the girl fakes it just so the guy can fake it. What a perfect representation of performative sex. Both partners are so strictly adhering to an expected script that they become outside observers to their own sexual encounter. Or, sometimes, it’s less an issue of performance and more an attempt to avoid one’s own, or one’s partner’s, embarrassment. Let’s remember, the survey focused on college-age dudes and dames, as most surveys do. If faking it to some degree isn’t a defining trait of youthful sex lives, then I don’t know what is.