It usually involves simulating or acting out behaviors typically associated with orgasm, such as body movements, vocal sounds, and sequences of intensification followed by apparent release.
For women in heterosexual relationships, faking an orgasm can also be rooted in deference to their partner, need for their approval, or feelings of shame or sexual inadequacy.
[13] In rare cases, a man is worried that the condom is torn or will tear, and that he will unintentionally make his partner pregnant, and so he fakes an orgasm in order to avoid ejaculation.
[3] In a 2005 University of Groningen study conducted by Gert Holstege and Janniko R. Georgiadis, the brain activity of 24 men and women (12 couples) was observed in an MRI scanner in different circumstances.
[19] That women should fake an orgasm was, about the year AD 2, recommended by the Roman poet Ovid in his famous book Ars Amatoria: So, then, my dear ones, feel the pleasure in the very marrow of your bones; share it fairly with your lover, say pleasant, naughty things the while.
[20]Patricia Watson (2002) noted that, although a preceding line (sentiat ex imis Venerem resoluta medullis / femina, et ex aequo res iuuet illa duos) advises that women should enjoy sex, too, the context shows that Ovid was primarily concerned with male sexual satisfaction: he recommended which sexual positions would make the woman most appealing to the man, and that if the woman was unable to orgasm, she should at least fake it for her male lover's enjoyment.
[23] Feminists have asserted that women faking orgasms is a sign of male-centered sexuality; in a society that celebrates only male sexual pleasure, women may feel pressured to engage in acts that bring their male partners to orgasm but that do not provide them physical pleasure.
[12] From an evolutionary perspective, females might fake orgasms in order to signal fidelity to a male partner, particularly if he is of low-genetic quality.
[30] Fake orgasm has also been shown to function as a mate-retention technique when the female, as opposed to the male, has a higher risk of infidelity.
[31] Men who are heavily invested in their relationship would experience greater costs in potential cuckoldry and sperm competition.
[31] Consequently, in situations where the woman has a perceived high risk of infidelity, men may be especially interested in ensuring their partner attains a copulatory orgasm.
[31] Due to this attentiveness, women may fake an orgasm in order to manipulate their level of commitment signalling mate selection to their partner.
[26] In this study, accuracy was varied (for example, one man suggesting that his partner never faked orgasm, and his partner suggesting that she faked orgasm 100 percent of the time), but the general moderate accuracy of men in detecting fake orgasm suggests that it may be an evolutionary counter-adaptation by men in order to not be fooled into believing female attempts at implying commitment (monogamy) and in order to detect the true satisfaction levels of the female partner.
The idea that men place great importance on female mate orgasm[26] lends support to this theory.