Straight students are having better sex, says new study

Heterosexual college students in the US are reporting higher sexual satisfaction than their lesbian, gay and bisexual counterparts, according to a new study.

The latest data – published in the journal Sexuality & Culture – suggested that queer students are having a marginally worse time in bed, which researchers put down to factors including internalised homophobia and discrimination.

The study involved questioning 280 college students about their sexual orientation and sexual behaviour, with 193 identifying as straight and 87 as a sexual minority.

Respondents were asked to rank their sexual satisfaction on a 10 point scale, with 10 being the highest.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual participants had an average score of 7.06 – compared to an average of 7.81 among straight respondents.

The research was carried out by Lacey Ritter of East Carolina University, alongside Hannah Morris and David Knox, both of Wingate University, reports psychology news website PsyPost.

Speaking to PsyPost, the researchers said: “The lower levels for sexual minority students may be tied to minority stress, including internalized homophobia and sexual identity discrimination experiences.”

A gay couple in bed

A gay couple in bed. (rt69/flickr.com)

However, they also said that because the sample size was “quite small” it meant that “generalising to larger groups was difficult.”

‘We would like to see how larger populations of students feel about their sexual satisfaction, and how this changes over time for these students,” they added.

The abstract for the study reads: “Previous researchers have suggested that sexual minority relationships exist in a context of heterosexism, suppression, stigmatization, prejudice, discrimination and violence which results in lower relationship quality.

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“Such an impact on minority couples’ satisfaction may spill over into lower sexual satisfaction.”

The findings from the new research conflict with previous studies on the same subject area.

A couple kiss as members of the South African Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade at Durban's North Beach as part of the three-day Durban Pride Festival in Durban on June 27, 2015. AFP PHOTO / RAJESH JANTILAL (Photo credit should read RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images)

The new research conflicts with the findings of a previous study, which concluded lesbian and bisexual women have more orgasms than straight women. (RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images)

In March this year, a new study concluded that women who have sex with women are more likely to orgasm.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas discovered that – although straight partners have sex more often – bisexual and lesbian women have significantly more orgasms.

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The study, which had 2,300 respondents, found that women were 33 percent more likely to orgasm when they were having sex with another woman.

And, in December 2017, Australian researchers found that gay and lesbian couples are happier than their straight counterparts. 

However, the same study also revealed that bisexual people suffered from worse relationships, on average, than straight or homosexual people.

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