A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science sheds some light on why the orgasm gap might be so vast and widely accepted.

The lay public widely recognizes the orgasm gap between women and men as variously innate and biological-determined. But our study shows that socio-contextual factors namely entitlement play a crucial role in understanding gender inequalities in sexual pleasure, Verena Klein, the studys lead author and a Skodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, told PsyPost earlier this month.

According to the study, men are generally perceived as being more entitled to orgasms and sexual pleasure than women a perception thats shared among men and women.

The same male privilege that pervades in so many areas of our lives social, economic, institutional, cultural plays out in the bedroom, too, Klein told HuffPost.

I think that people believe men have more of a right to experience an orgasm and thats rooted in gendered power inequality, Klein said. Those masculine cultural ideals that shape the way people think about and have sex are internalized by both women and men.

The study consisted of five online surveys. In the first, Klein and her colleagues asked just over 200 respondents whether they thought women or men were more likely to be the receiver or the provider of sexual pleasure in heterosexual interactions. The participants were also asked who had more of a right to experience an orgasm, and to take into account the general consensus of their friends when answering the question.

By and large, the participants indicated that men were more likely to be the receiver of pleasure and women more likely to be the provider, regardless of whether it was in a long-term relationship or a hookup.

As for the second part of the question, respondents said that men were more entitled to an orgasm, at least during a hookup. In a surprise to Klein and her team, participants perceived that women were more entitled to experiencing orgasm than men when in a long-term relationship.

Janet Brito, a sex therapist in Honolulu, Hawaii, whos unaffiliated with the study, wagered a guess at why that might be: Once the relationship has been established, couples may feel more free to let cultural scripts assigned by sex and gender fall to the wayside specifically, the men are more entitled to orgasm belief.

When safety and security is established in long-term relationships, it allows women to feel more confident expressing their needs and makes men more open to negotiating, Brito said. Its possible that in long-term relationships, the couple may have figured out how to balance sexual power.