Orgasm

An orgasm is an emotional and physical experience that occurs during a “sexual response cycle”. Before an orgasm, the body becomes increasingly excited. Breathing, heart rate and blood pressure increases. The pupils of the eyes dilate; the lips of the mouth darken, the nipples become erect, the clitoris swells and becomes hard and exposed, (much like the aroused penis). With increased excitement, the skin becomes flushed and it begins to sweat. In women, the labia, clitoris, vagina and pelvic organs enlarge in very much the same way as the aroused penis enlarges. Sometimes there is a plateau of excitement that is held for several minutes before you are about to orgasm. Orgasm is the point at which all the tension is suddenly released in a series of involuntary and pleasurable muscular contractions that may be felt in the vagina and/or uterus (some women do experience orgasms without contractions). The orgasm happens when excitement seems to go over the edge; a climax or crescendo is reached which may last several seconds or longer. During orgasm the body stiffens and the muscles contract. Involuntary muscle contractions and spasms may occur in various parts of the body, including your legs, stomach, arms, and back. The muscles of the vagina relax and contract rapidly, as do the muscles of the uterus. The glands of the vagina (Bartholin's glands) discharge a watery secretion, which acts to lubricate the vagina. It is sometimes said to be the equivalent to the male ejaculation.

There are three positions that almost insure a long and pleasurable female orgasm. Do not attempt any of the three without adequate foreplay (or the cunnilingus as above). The first position has many names, but as mentioned in the Perfumed Garden (a classic Arabic text from the golden age of Arabic Literature), it is called Dok-al-Arz, or “pounding on the spot”. This position assures 3 important factors in copulation. The first is depth of the penis. The second is the “G-Spot angle” and the third is maximum clitoral stimulation. To achieve this position the man sits on the edge of the bed, and the woman sits on the man, inserting his penis deeply into her vagina. She then wraps her legs around him, as well as her arms. The couple is free to kiss if desired. Then the woman begins a slow grinding movement (no thrusting is possible). She is able to stimulate simultaneously her clitoris and G-Spot. The orgasm comes quickly and with great intensity. Should the man be able to ejaculate into her womb as she is finishing, the result is only intensified. The woman will love the man greatly if performed well. The second position also has a great many names, but is commonly knows as The Gates of Heaven.

Regular Orgasm. Factual explanation: An orgasm in which climax is the goal. The climax is usually a series of ten to twelve contractions over several seconds. This climax is commonly called "going over the edge." The climax feels extremely good, though brief, and there is often a physical and mental letdown period immediately afterwards. It can be an effective tension release, and, of course, it can create a sense of bonding with your partner. Feeling explanation: There you were on the dance floor. Suddenly, the DJ played your favorite song. Your partner swept you into his arms, and the two of you danced the perfect dance. At the very crescendo, he whirled you gracefully around, and the world around you transformed into a spinning sea of color, sound, and breeze. Your heart sang in joyful innocence. After several seconds he gradually brought you back into the regular cadence of the dance, which ended soon afterwards. Visual interpretation: A single mountain peak. You are climbing higher and higher in sensation, until you go over the edge (climax), and then you begin to descend down the other side. Multiple Orgasm. Factual explanation: Multiple orgasms are a series of regular orgasms experienced over a short period of time. Usually there is only a partial letdown after each orgasm or climax, before climbing up again, to go over another peak. The peaks remain at about the same level of intensity.

Myth 1: women take longer to reach orgasm than men. This is a common myth which has not been supported by research. The reason people believe this is that they don't understand the female arousal pattern. Women's arousal patterns are much different than men's and, as a result, they are physically prepared for intercourse later than men are. The time from optimal arousal to orgasm is pretty much identical for both men and women. The difference is in how long it takes to reach that level of arousal. Because men often don't know how to help their partners get to that point, it does seem to take longer. Once that's changed, however, men find their partners reach orgasm more quickly and even have multiple orgasms in quick succession. Myth 2: women should only reach orgasm through vaginal intercourse. This is definitely not true but it's a myth that has caused us to take women's sexual needs for granted for a long time. This myth actually started with Sigmund Freud, the developer of psychoanalysis, who had recognized that women could easily reach orgasm through clitoral stimulation. Freud dismissed this type of stimulation as juvenile and believed it was important for women to become more sexually mature by focusing only on vaginal stimulation to reach orgasms.

The question is how? So what actually happens during a female orgasm and what are the detailed mechanics that would cause to maximize the likelihood of pregnancy? Before we can answer this question, we have to be precise about the language and clarify which female orgasm we are talking about. Namely, it turns out, unlike men, women can have many forms of orgasms. They are usually classified as vaginal, clitoral and blended orgasms, which the combination of the two. Now let’s just make clear that in the context of biological purpose and while discussing the mechanics of an orgasm, we are only talking about the vaginal orgasm. Now, what most people do seem to know is that during an orgasm women experience contractions and those can occur multiple times, and this is where most information sources that I reviewed except for one stopped. But so what? How could cramping or contractions be useful to maximize fertility? Sometimes my upper lip also contracts and cramps with no apparent purpose. It turns out that the same day that The New York Times published the article claiming no purpose or putting forth some quasi-evolutionary fallacy argument that if a woman experiences more orgasms with a certain man they are more likely to stay with them as a couple would be good for procreation.

In the history of western cultures, nothing has greater mystique than women's sexuality and, specifically, female desire and female orgasm. Although we are gradually progressing beyond the age-old notion that women are not supposed to have sexual pleasures (but merely be the willing vehicle for men's indulgences), many women are still uncomfortable owning and enjoying their sexual pleasures, desires, fantasies, and sources of erotic satisfaction. Women experience their orgasmic potential in many ways, and this potential is almost as varied as each individual. However, in this culture, we often have a stereotyped image of what a woman's orgasm "should" look like. This image, influenced largely by male-oriented books, magazines and "hardcore" movies, is quite misleading and often becomes a hindrance to the woman who needs to develop her own orgasmic pleasures in whatever way suits her as an individual. Clinical sexologists and sexual scientists define orgasm as an experience that affects the entire body involving pleasurable waves of energy, preceded by engorgement with blood of the genitals and nipples, and often accompanied by involuntary muscular contractions, changes in breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, skin color, as well as the release of chemicals in the brain causing temporarily altered states of consciousness.

Are surveys the same as science? Well, at least they often form the basis on which research is conducted. Okay. Here's the setup. A team of investigators in England got 4037 completed answers from 6000 female twins to a confidential questionnaire about how often they achieved orgasm during intercourse and masturbation...including replies from 683 pairs of non-identical twins and 714 pairs of identical twins aged from 19 to 83 (about 3% were lesbian or bisexual). The conclusion is that 1/3 of women are genetically preprogrammed not to achieve orgasm or to achieve it very rarely--and that this proves it's not a critical evolutionary issue (despite the fact that the contractions of orgasm tend to encourage the upward mobility of sperm and therefore enhance fertility). As the article says in the opening, great excuse for men who don't care? But it'll be very interesting to see whether actual gene studies confirm these conclusions. And after that, to see what happens when the psychologists have a field day with this. It's bound to be as hotly debated as studies that say things like one race is genetically programmed to be less intelligent than another.

Whenever female orgasm and frigidity are discussed, a false distinction is made between the vaginal and the clitoral orgasm. Frigidity has generally been defined by men as the failure of women to have vaginal orgasms. Actually the vagina is not a highly sensitive area and is not constructed to achieve orgasm. It is the clitoris which is the center of sexual sensitivity and which is the female equivalent of the penis. I think this explains a great many things: First of all, the fact that the so-called frigidity rate among women is phenomenally high. Rather than tracing female frigidity to the false assumptions about female anatomy, our "experts" have declared frigidity a psychological problem of women. Those women who complained about it were recommended psychiatrists, so that they might discover their "problem" -diagnosed generally as a failure to adjust to their role as women. The facts of female anatomy and sexual response tell a different story. Although there are many areas for sexual arousal, there is only one area for sexual climax; that area is the clitoris. All orgasms are extensions of sensation from this area. Since the clitoris is not necessarily stimulated sufficiently in the conventional sexual positions, we are left "frigid." Aside from physical stimulation, which is the common cause of orgasm for most people, there is also stimulation through primarily mental processes. Some women, for example, may achieve orgasm through sexual fantasies, or through fetishes. However, while the stimulation may be psychological, the orgasm manifests itself physically. Thus, while the cause is psychological, the effect is still physical, and the orgasm necessarily takes place in the sexual organ equipped for sexual climax, the clitoris. The orgasm experience may also differ in degree of intensity - some more localized, and some more diffuse and sensitive. But they are all clitoral orgasms.

New research indicates that parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm. In the first study to map brain function during orgasm, scientists from the Netherlands also found that as a woman climaxes, an area of the brain that governs emotional control is also heavily deactivated. "The fact that there is no deactivation in faked orgasms means a basic part of a real orgasm is letting go. Women can imitate orgasm quite well, as we know, but there is nothing really happening in the brain," said neuroscientist Gert Holstege, presenting his findings Monday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. In the study, Holstege and his colleagues at Groningen University recruited 11 men and 13 women, together with their respective partners. The volunteers laid on a scanning machine bed and were injected with a dye that shows changes in brain function on a scan. For the men, the brain scanner tracked activity during rest, during erection, during manual stimulation by their partner and then during ejaculation, brought on by the partner's hand. For the women, the scanner measured brain activity during rest, while they faked an orgasm, during manual stimulation by their partner, and while they experienced genuine orgasm. Holstege said he had trouble getting reliable results from the study on men because the scanning machine needs activities lasting at least two minutes to record an activity. But the men's climaxes didn't last anywhere near that lone, meaning he could not reliably compare the scans before climax and during.

Research shows that 90 percent of the problems women have in achieving orgasm stem from a psychological nature. That's good news because it's all about you and it can be overcome. Dr. Phil offers the following advice: If you can achieve an orgasm alone, but not with a partner, you may have performance anxiety. Being anxious, worried or feeling pressured to have an orgasm with your partner can work against you. Anxiety is an arousal response — it can cause tension. An orgasm is a relaxation response. Those two are incompatible. If you're wondering, "Am I doing this right? Is he judging me? Is he having fun? Does he like this?" during intercourse, the anxiety can take you away from your pleasure. Give yourself permission to change your internal dialogue. Say, "You know what? I am part of this exchange and I do have the right to ask for what I want. And I don't have to have expectancies that I have to perform in some way. I'm going to enjoy this." Give yourself permission to relax and go with the flow.Some additional information regarding the female orgasm: Fifty to 75 percent of women who have orgasms need clitoral stimulation and are unable to have an orgasm through intercourse alone.