Many people only associate terms such as “nocturnal orgasm” and “wet dream” with men. There are likely several reasons for this. One is the fact that sex education courses typically only discuss male orgasm—female orgasm (nocturnal or otherwise) is usually left out of the discussion completely. In addition, the sexuality narrative in our culture tends to portray male sexuality as more “uncontrollable” than female sexuality. For men, orgasming and ejaculating are seen as occurring almost effortlessly—not only does it happen to guys in their sleep, but during sex it often occurs prematurely. In contrast, the female orgasm is described as something that requires a lot of work and, even then, it’s not guaranteed to happen. However, the notion that nocturnal orgasms are a male phenomenon is patently false. Like female ejaculation, female nocturnal orgasms are an aspect of women’s sexuality that was discovered, described, and then forgotten long ago.

The pioneering sex research team headed by Alfred Kinsey documented the existence of female nocturnal orgasms more than 60 years ago. In their sample of over 5,600 women from across the United States, they found that by the age of 45, 37% of the women surveyed reported having previously had an orgasm during their sleep [1]. Those women who reported having such orgasms reported an average of three or four each year. Of interest, older women were more likely to report nocturnal orgasms than younger women.

Subsequent research has revealed similar findings and uncovered some of the factors correlated with the experience of female nocturnal orgasm. For instance, in a 1986 study of 245 female college undergraduates, an identical 37% of participants reported having orgasms during their sleep [2]. However, it is worth noting that Kinsey’s 37% statistic was averaging across women of all ages—in his research, only 8% of 20-year-old women reported nocturnal orgasms. Thus, the more recent study suggests that the prevalence of nocturnal orgasms may be greater among younger women than previously thought.