Orgasm

• Orgasm


  A reaction to sexual stimulation consisting of a series of muscular contractions in the pelvic muscles around the anus and sexual organs, preceded by increasing muscular tension and involving high blood pressure, rapid breathing, and a visible red flush of the skin. In men (and others with penises), it is usually accompanied by ejaculation of semen.
• Orgasm


  • Usually experienced as the climax or high point of a sexual event, preceded by an intensely pleasurable feeling of growing excitement and usually followed by a feeling of delicious relaxation. However, people may sometimes feel excited, elated, or weepy afterwards, and orgasm need not signal the end of the sexual event.
• Orgasm varies greatly in different cultures and at different times in history
• In all cultures it is usual for men to ejaculate during sex, and sex usually includes vaginal intercourse
• It is possible for men to ejaculate after minimal stimulation, especially in a stressful situation, without feeling much or any orgasmic pleasure
• Women's orgasms are more variable, and there have been some cultures in which orgasm for women was virtually unheard of, generally ones with very restrictive sexual mores
• More sexually liberal cultures assume that women take at least as much pleasure in sex as men, and regard orgasms for men and women as a "natural" part of sexual interactions
• The Kama Sutra, a Sanskrit treatise on love-making from the fourth century CE, regards women and men as deriving pleasure and satisfaction from sex
• Sexual schema


  The patterns of sexual understandings and behavior within which sex in a culture is organized
• A physiological definition of orgasm cannot tell us about the meaning of orgasm in people's lives
• Sexual arousal or orgasm experienced by a person in a social situation is not equivalent to a single measurable physiological response
• Many clinicians and researchers see variations of sexual practice or experience as "dysfunctions"
• Most sexual "dysfunctions" are not due to illness or the failure of some part of the body to work properly, but rather social failures to perform sex in a way that is socially acceptable
• In contemporary Western sexual mores, each partner is generally expected to reach orgasm at least once in a sexual encounter
• It is more often women who feel a duty to make their partner reach orgasm, and thus it is more often women who miss out on orgasm in heterosexual partnered sex
• People are less likely to have an orgasm during sex when they are young and inexperienced and when they are with a new, unfamiliar partner
• It is statistically common for men in ongoing relationships to reach orgasm during sex while women often do not
• Orgasm


  Sexual excitement and release of tension, often accompanied by rhythmic muscular contractions and a pleasurable feeling
• People can avoid sexual arousal altogether due to feeling used or frustrated
• How people feel about orgasms depends on their perception of the meaning and social context of the sexual acts
• "I think orgasms are overrated. When I masturbate, it is to achieve orgasm, but with my lover I really don't care if I do or not. I just want to feel warm and close": '(Hite 1976: 136)'
• Few women place importance on achieving orgasm themselves and some say that is simply not a reality
• Women who have frequent orgasms tend to enjoy sex more, have sex more often, and report that they are satisfied with their sex lives
• In the past, some writers have argued that upbringing, attitudes, religion, relationship issues, anxiety, previous traumatic experiences, or even the woman's relationship with her father determined whether she would reach orgasm during sex
• Men's orgasms have rarely been seen as problematic in this way
• The likelihood of a man reaching orgasm at the last encounter he reported with a woman partner was high (over 95%) as long as the encounter included vaginal intercourse
• Nearly 70% of women overall had an orgasm in the last encounter they reported with a man
• Women were more likely to reach orgasm (86%) in encounters that included both manual stimulation and cunnilingus
• Women were also more likely to have had an orgasm – 76% – at the last encounter they reported if their partner was a woman
• The change women wanted most in their sex lives was "more foreplay"
• Difficulty in reaching orgasm is a commonly reported "sexual problem" for women, but men rarely suffer from this problem
• Many men struggle during sex to avoid ejaculation that occurs "too early," before they have had much chance to enjoy themselves
• Women often complain that men are too goal-oriented in sex and see it as a rush toward the reward of orgasm rather than enjoying the sensual pleasures of extended arousal
• More men than women report reaching orgasm "too early" - though we do not know whether men who say this in surveys actually reach orgasm faster than men who do not
• Women who reach orgasm rapidly are more likely to be praised for responsiveness; it is rarely seen as a problem, even by the women themselves
• When a woman reaches orgasm during sex, it would be unusual behavior if she were to immediately turn over and fall asleep, assuming the encounter to be over, even if the man had not had an orgasm
• The dominant or most widely accepted heterosexual practice, vaginal intercourse, is one that reliably delivers sexual pleasure and orgasm to men but less reliably to women
• Young men are more likely than young women to masturbate, and to be more familiar with what stimulation effectively brings about orgasm for themselves, and to be more confident that it is acceptable for them to openly seek orgasmic gratification in an encounter
• Sex therapists and counselors have tended to accept social norms and to enforce rather than challenge the idea that it is normal and preferable to experience orgasm through intercourse rather than through other forms of stimulation
• Unlike many heterosexuals, gay men do not assume that each sexual encounter will include penetrative intercourse; this usually has to be negotiated, and often does not occur