Gender scholars have addressed a variety of gender gaps between men and women, including a gender gap in orgasms. In this mixed-methods study of heterosexual Canadians, we examine how men and women engage in gender labor that limits women’s orgasms relative to men. With representative survey data, we test existing hypotheses that sexual behaviors and relationship contexts contribute to the gender gap in orgasms. We confirm previous research that sexual practices focusing on clitoral stimulation are associated with women’s orgasms. With in-depth interview data from a subsample of 40 survey participants, we extend this research to show that both men and women engage in gender labor to explain and justify the gender gap in orgasms. Relying on an essentialist view of gender, a narrow understanding of what counts as sex, and moralistic language that recalls the sexual double standard, our participants craft a narrative of women’s orgasms as work and men’s orgasms as natural. The work to produce this gendered narrative of sexuality mirrors the gender labor that takes place in the bedroom, where both women and men engage in sexual behaviors that emphasize men’s pleasure to a greater extent than women’s.

性别学者已经解决了男女之间的各种性别差距，包括性高潮中的性别差距。在这项针对异性恋加拿大人的混合方法研究中，我们研究了男性和女性如何参与限制女性相对于男性的性高潮的性别劳动。通过具有代表性的调查数据，我们检验了现有的假设，即性行为和关系背景会导致性高潮中的性别差距。我们证实了先前的研究，即以阴蒂刺激为重点的性行为与女性的性高潮有关。通过来自 40 名调查参与者的子样本的深入访谈数据，我们扩展了这项研究，以表明男性和女性都从事性别劳动来解释和证明性高潮中的性别差距。依靠对性别的本质主义观点，对什么是性的狭隘理解，和让人想起性双重标准的道德语言，我们的参与者将女性的性高潮视为工作而男性的性高潮是自然的。产生这种性别化的性叙事的工作反映了发生在卧室中的性别劳动，女性和男性都从事性行为，这些行为在更大程度上强调男性的快感，而不是女性的快感。