Orgasm

Orgasm is the conclusion of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, shared by males and females alike. During orgasm, both males and females experience quick cycles of muscle contraction in the lower pelvic muscles, which surround both the anus and the primary sexual organs.

Orgasms in both men and women are often associated with other involuntary actions, including vocalizations and muscular spasms in other areas of the body. Also, a generally euphoric sensation is associated with orgasm.

Afterwards, orgasm generally causes perceived tiredness, and both males and females often feel a need to rest. This is recently attributed to the release of prolactin. Prolactin is a typical neuroendocrine response in depressed mood and irritation.

A recent study at the University of Groningen has indicated significant differences in brain activity during the female and male orgasm. PET scans showed that both the female and male orgasm 'shut down' areas in the brain associated with anxiety and fear (the amygdala). It was found that the male orgasm focused the brain on sensory input from the genitals more than a female orgasm.

Human male orgasm

In a human male orgasm, there are rapid, rhythmic contractions of the prostate, urethra and the muscles at the base of the penis, which typically forces stored semen to be expelled through the penis's urethral opening. This is referred to as ejaculation. The process generally takes from 3 to 10 seconds and is usually considered highly pleasurable.

Orgasm is generally induced by direct stimulation of the penis.

As a man ages, it is normal for the amount of ejaculate to diminish, and hence, the length of time the man sustains orgasm also diminishes somewhat. This does not normally affect the pleasurable feeling of orgasm, but merely shortens the duration of it.

Following ejaculation, a refractory period usually occurs during which a man cannot have another orgasm. This period can be anywhere from less than a minute to over half a day, depending on age and other individual factors.

Male prostate orgasm

Some men are able to achieve orgasm through stimulation/massage of the prostate. Men reporting the sensation of prostate stimulation often give descriptions similar to women's accounts of G-spot stimulation. Other men report finding anal penetration or stimulation of any kind to be painful, or simply that they derive no pleasure from it. With sufficient stimulation, the prostate can also be "milked". Providing that there is no simultaneous stimulation of the penis, prostate milking can cause ejaculation without orgasm. When combined with penile stimulation, some men report that prostate stimulation increases the volume of their ejaculation. Sperm move at a slow steady rate from the testis to the prostate where they are ready for orgasm. When too much accumulates, or they become stale with age, a wet dream occurs to make space from fresh material.

Male multiple orgasms

It is possible to have an orgasm without ejaculation (dry orgasm) or to ejaculate without reaching orgasm. Some men have reported having multiple consecutive orgasms, particularly without ejaculation. In recent years, a number of books have described various techniques to achieve multiple orgasms. Most multi-orgasmic men (and their partners) report that refraining from ejaculation results in a far more energetic post-orgasm state. Additionally, some men have also reported that this can produce more powerful ejaculatory orgasms when they choose to have them.

One technique is for the man to put pressure on the perineum, about halfway between the scrotum and the anus, just before ejaculating to prevent ejaculation. This can, however, redirect semen into the bladder. It may also cause long term damage due to the pressure put on the nerves and blood vessels in the perineum. Other techniques are analogous to reports by multi-orgasmic women indicating that they must relax and "let go" to experience multiple orgasms. These techniques do not involve suppressing ejaculation in the manner described above, but rather involve mental and physical controls that channel sexual energy throughout the body. Reportedly, successful implementation of these techniques can result in multiple "full-body" orgasms in some men. Recently, a patented prostate stimulator developed by urologists (the Aneros) claims to bring the possibility of intense multiple dry orgasms to many men. This device has been described as "tantric training wheels" as it claims to assist men in training their body to reach these kinds of orgasms.

Some young men have enough stamina, and may experience sufficient stimulation, that the penis never goes flaccid during the refractory period. Very soon after one orgasm, they may be erect and able to orgasm again.

Internet rumors and a few scientific studies have pointed to the hormone prolactin as the likely cause of the male refractory period. Because of this, there is currently an experimental interest in drugs which inhibit prolactin, such as Dostinex (also known as Cabeser, or Cabergoline). Anecdotal reports on Dostinex suggest it may be capable of eliminating the refractory period altogether, allowing men to experience multiple ejaculatory orgasms in rapid succession. At least one scientific study supports these claims. Dostinex is a hormone altering drug and has many potential side effects. It has not been approved for treating sexual dysfunction. Another possible reason may be an increased infusion of the hormone oxytocin. Furthermore, it is believed that the amount by which oxytocin is increased may affect the length of each refractory period.

A scientific study to successfully document natural, fully ejaculatory, multiple orgasms in an adult male was conducted at Rutgers University in 1995. During the study, six fully ejaculatory orgasms were experienced in 36 minutes with no refractory period in evidence. It can also be said that in some cases, the refractory period can be reduced or even eliminated through the course of puberty and on into adulthood. Later, P. Haake et al. observed a single male individual producing multiple orgasms without elevated prolactin response.

When discussing the difference between orgasm and ejaculation in males, it should be noted that, among those men who began masturbation or other sexual activity prior to puberty, many report having been able to achieve multiple non-ejaculatory orgasms. This capacity generally disappears with the subject's first ejaculation. Some evidence indicates that the orgasms experienced by males prior to puberty are qualitatively similar to the "normal" female experience of orgasm, suggesting that hormonal changes during puberty have a strong influence on the character of male orgasm.

Human female orgasm

In a human female orgasm, orgasm is preceded by moistening of the vaginal walls, and an enlargement of the clitoris due to increased blood flow trapped in the clitoris's spongy tissue. Some women exhibit a sex flush, a reddening of the skin over much of the body due to increased blood flow to the skin. As a woman comes closer to having an orgasm, the clitoris moves inward under the clitoral hood, and the labia minora (inner lips) become darker. As orgasm becomes imminent, the vagina decreases in size by about 30% and also becomes congested from engorged soft tissue. The uterus then experiences muscular contractions. A woman experiences full orgasm when her uterus, vagina and pelvic muscles undergo a series of rhythmic contractions. The majority of women consider these contractions to be very pleasurable, although not all sexually active women experience this.

After the orgasm is over, the clitoris re-emerges from under the clitoral hood, and returns to its normal size in less than 10 minutes.

In a disputed study, female orgasm has been linked to education and income, with heterosexual women with post-secondary degrees more likely to reach orgasm than their less-educated counterparts.

The study methodology has been quite disputed. It is based on a computer assisted phone survey of 19,307 Australians. In fact, the abstract of the research states: "Demographic and sexual history variables were comparatively weakly associated with orgasm." Linking demographics to orgasms was not the aim of the research. The actual study barely references the linkage between demographics and orgasm.

Female multiple orgasm

Unlike men, women either do not have a refractory period or have a very short one and thus can experience a second orgasm soon after the first; some women can even follow this with additional consecutive orgasms. This is known as having multiple orgasms. After the initial orgasm, subsequent climaxes may be stronger or more pleasurable as the stimulation accumulates. Research shows that about 13% of women experience multiple orgasms; a larger number may be able to experience this with the proper stimulation (such as a vibrator) and frame of mind. However, some women's clitorises and nipples are very sensitive after orgasm, making additional stimulation initially painful. It is possible to engage in deep, rapid breaths while continuing stimulation and making a conscious intention to release the pain and tension. Doing this can allow for the intense stimulation to be interpreted not as painful but as intensely pleasurable.

The evolutionary purpose of orgasms

Evolutionary biologists put forward several hypotheses for explaining the role of the female orgasm in terms of the reproductive process. In 1967, Desmond Morris first suggested in his pop-science book The Naked Ape that female orgasm evolved to encourage physical intimacy with a male partner and help reinforce the pair bond. Morris suggested that the relative difficulty in achieving female orgasm, in comparison to the male's, might be favourable in terms of Darwinian evolution by leading the female to select mates who bore the qualities of patience, care, imagination, intelligence and so forth, this in contradistinction to qualities such as size and aggression, which pertain to mate selection in other primates. Such advantageous qualities thereby become accentuated within the species, driven by the very differences between male and female orgasm. After all, were the male to be motivated by and taken to the point of orgasm in the same way as the female, those advantageous qualities would not be needed: self-interest would do the trick.

He additionally proposed that orgasm might facilitate conception by exhausting the female and keeping her horizontal, thus preventing the sperm from leaking out. This possibility, sometimes dubbed the "Poleax hypothesis" or the "Knockout hypothesis", is now considered as highly doubtful.

Other theories have been proposed based on the idea that the female orgasm might increase fertility. The 30% reduction in size of the vagina could, for example, help clench onto the penis (much like, or perhaps caused by the pubococcygeus muscles), which would make it more stimulating for the male (thus ensuring faster or more voluminous ejaculation). The British biologists Baker and Bellis have also suggested that the female orgasm may have an "upsuck" action (similar to the esophagus' ability to swallow when upside down), resulting in the retaining of favorable sperm and making conception more likely. They posited a role of female orgasm in sperm competition.

A 1997 Learning Channel documentary on sex had fiber optic cameras inside the vagina of a woman while she was having sexual intercourse and experiencing an orgasm. During her orgasm, her pelvic muscles contracted, and her cervix dipped into a pool of semen in the vagina making conception more likely.

The fact that women tend to orgasm more easily when they are ovulating suggests that it is tied to increasing fertility.

Other biologists surmise that the orgasm simply serves to motivate sex, thus increasing the rate of reproduction and helping ensure the species' survival. Since males typically require less time than females do to reach orgasm, it potentially encourages a female's desire to engage in intercourse more frequently, increasing the likelihood of conception.

Orgasm as vestigial

The clitoris is homologous to the penis, that is, the penis and clitoris develop from the same embryonic structure. It has been claimed by some researchers, such as Stephen Jay Gould that the clitoris is vestigial in the female, and that female orgasm serves no particular evolutionary function.

Proponents of this theory, such as Dr. Elisabeth Lloyd, point to the relative difficulty of achieving female orgasm through vaginal sex, and limited evidence for increased fertility after orgasm.

Feminists such as Natalie Angier have criticized that this theory understates the psychosocial value of female orgasm. Catherine Blackledge in The Story of V has criticized the theory from a more scientific standpoint, citing studies that indicate a possible connection between orgasm and successful conception.

Initially vestigial characteristics may subsequently become advantageous and positively selected for, rather than being merely non-disadvantageous. The theories outlined above may propose different emphases but need not be seen as mutually exclusive. One might furthermore note that the intensity of female orgasm hardly suggests the absence of evolutionary motivation, as it were, and a merely vestigial set of circumstances. While often likened to the male nipple, for example, anyone who has experienced or witnessed female orgasm might well be tempted to regard such comparisons, when offered in support of the vestigial argument, as somewhat tenuous.

Genetic basis of individual variation

A 2005 twin study found that one in three women reported never or seldom achieving orgasm during intercourse, and only one in ten always orgasmed. This variation in ability to orgasm, generally thought to be psychosocial, was found to be between 34-45% genetic. The study, examining 4000 women, was published in Biology letters, a Royal Society journal.

Vaginal versus clitoral orgasms

A distinction is sometimes made between clitoral and vaginal orgasms in women. An orgasm that results from combined clitoral and vaginal stimulation is called a blended orgasm. Many doctors have claimed that vaginal orgasms do not exist, and that female orgasms are obtained only from clitoral arousal. Recent discoveries about the size of the clitoris—it extends inside the body, around the vagina—would seem to support this theory.

This latter viewpoint was first promulgated by Sigmund Freud. In 1905, Freud argued that clitoral orgasm was an adolescent phenomenon, and upon reaching puberty the proper response of mature women changes to vaginal orgasms. While Freud did not provide evidence supporting this basic assumption, the consequences of the theory were greatly elaborated thereafter. Freud's theories on this, and indeed many other biological subjects, were later largely proven false or based on supposition.

In 1966, Masters and Johnson published pivotal research into the phases of sexual stimulation. Their work included women as well as men, and unlike Kinsey previously (in 1948 and 1953), set out to determine the physiological stages leading up to and following orgasm. One of the results was the promotion of the idea that vaginal and clitoral orgasms follow the same stages of physical response. Additionally, Masters and Johnson argued that clitoral stimulation is the primary source of orgasms.

A new understanding of vaginal orgasm has been emerging since the 1980s. Many women report that some form of vaginal stimulation is essential to subjectively experience a complete orgasm, in addition to or instead of external (clitoral) stimulation. Recent anatomical research has pointed towards a connection between intravaginal tissues and the clitoris. It has been shown that these tissues have connecting nerves. This, combined with the anatomical evidence that the internal part of the clitoris is a much larger organ than previously thought could also explain credible reports of orgasms in women who have undergone clitoridectomy as part of so-called female circumcision (also called female genital mutilation). The discovery of the biological link between the clitoris and the vagina lends further credence to the clitoris as the 'seat' of the female orgasm, and that the clitoris is simply far wider-spread than the visible part most people commonly associate with it.

Some women experience orgasm while giving birth. In addition, orgasm can be spontaneous, many people find this to be quite embarrassing but enjoyable, seeming to happen with no direct stimulation. Occasionally, orgasm can occur during sexual dreams.

Anal orgasm

An anal orgasm is a sexual climax brought on through anal stimulation, either from an inserted finger, penis, tongue, or sex toy. Some men and some women, though not all, are able to achieve an anal orgasm, resulting in a complete or incomplete sexual climax.

A woman may come to orgasm, without actually stimulating the anus, by stimulation of the buttocks and anal cleft with the tongue. More typically, however, stimulation of the G-spot through the wall shared between the vagina and the rectum, from a sex toy, finger or partner's penis, may bring about an orgasm. This is often greatly facilitated through additional manual stimulation of the clitoris. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some women experience an anal orgasm as qualitatively different from a clitoral or vaginal orgasm, though for many women the distinction is less clear .

In both sexes pleasure can be derived from the nerve endings around the anus and the anus itself. Hence, anal-oral contact can still be pleasurable without stimulation of the clitoris. Also, the anal orgasm has nothing to do with the prostate orgasm, though the two are often confused.

Controversy: Definition of orgasm

There is controversy surrounding male multiple orgasms, and female G-spot (vaginal, not blended) orgasms, because some feel that they do not fit within the clinical definition of orgasm. Male multiple orgasms, while pleasurable, often do not involve involuntary contractions. Similarly, there are not always contractions in female orgasms resulting from stimulation of the g-spot alone, without stimulation of the clitoris. However, both of these sensations in the two sexes are extremely pleasurable, and are often felt throughout the body, creating a mental state that is often described as transcendental. Because of this, some persons feel that these experiences can be accurately defined as orgasms. Others insist that orgasm is defined strictly by muscular contractions, and that these other sensations are too subjective to be quantified as orgasms.

Orgasmic dysfunction

The inability to have orgasm is called anorgasmia, ejaculatory anhedonia, or inorgasmia. In situations where orgasm is desired, anorgasmia is mainly thought of as being caused by an inability to relax, or 'let go'. It seems to be closely associated with performance pressure and an unwillingness to pursue pleasure, as separate from the other person's satisfaction. It was the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, in his 1927 book The Function of the Orgasm, who first made orgasm central to the concept of mental health and defined neurosis in terms of blocks to having full orgasm.

For a variety of reasons, some people choose to fake an orgasm.

A recent Redbook survey shows that 52% of women regularly fake orgasms. Only 17% of women are likely to have an orgasm during sexual intercourse. 43% of women report “some kind of sexual problem” – like inability to achieve orgasm, boredom with sex, or total lack of interest in sex.

If a male experiences erection and ejaculation, but no orgasm, he is said to have Sexual anhedonia.

Drugs and orgasm

Certain drugs have been reported to have enhancing effects on orgasm. Nitrite inhalants are used by both men and women to enhance orgasm. Marijuana has been rumoured to enhance and prolong both male and female orgasms, while at the same time delaying ejaculation. GHB, GBL and 1,4 butanediol are commonly used to enhance orgasms. Stimulant, Ecstasy drug, and psychedelic like LSD users of both sexes sometimes report heightened sexual pleasure. Some male cocaine users report rubbing the glans of their penis with cocaine in order to numb it and delay ejaculation. Women who experience clitoral hypersensitivity after orgasm may do the same. The use of recreational drugs to enhance orgasm may be unreliable or have hazardous side effects.

Studies have indicated that each of the three major erectile dysfunction drugs have different reported effects on orgasm. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women have enhanced orgasms with Sildenafil (commercially known as Viagra).[1] In men, Sildenafil has varying effects on orgasm. Some men report enhancement, while others report that while they can achieve an erection with Sildenafil, their orgasms feel "hollow". Vardenafil behaves very similarly to Sildenafil. Tadalafil, a newer drug, in addition to treating erectile dysfunction over longer periods of time, is said to enhance orgasm and shorten the male refractory period. Some drugs, such as Cabergoline, are reported to shorten the refractory period without having any effect on erections or orgasms.

Studies have also proven that a variety of opiate based drugs both natural and synthetic, such as the painkillers codeine, morphine, and heroin, and the common over-the-counter cough suppressant Dextromethorphan, makes achieving orgasm extremely difficult. Similarly, a number of anti-depressant drugs, especially those in the class of selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), have as a side effect a delay or even an inability to achieve orgasm.

Orgasm in Tantric sex

In the Indian spiritual tradition of sexual practices, one is known as Tantric sex. In Tantra, orgasm is said to have a different value than in other cultural approaches to sexuality. Some practitioners of Tantric sex aim to eliminate orgasm from sexual intercourse by remaining for long periods of time at the pre-orgasmic state. According to some advocates of Tantric sex, such as Rajneesh, practicing Tantric sex without orgasm will eventually lead to orgasmic feelings spreading out to all of conscious experience. Some current advocates of Tantric sex claim that in Western culture sexuality is put in the service of orgasm in a way that reduces the ability to have intense pleasure during each moment of sexual experience, and consequently that eliminating the striving toward orgasm enhances the pleasure to be derived from all aspects of sexual experience.

Orgasm in non-humans

The mechanics of the male orgasm are similar in most mammals. Females of some mammalian species, as well as non-mammalian species such as alligators, have clitorises. There is evidence that some non-human animals, particularly primates, can experience orgasm in ways similar to humans.

Furthermore, there has been ongoing research into the sexual lives and orgasms of dolphins, a species which apparently engages in sexual intercourse for reasons other than simply procreation.

Non-sexual meaning of the word "orgasm"

Dictionaries still indicate that the word "orgasm" can refer to any peak of emotional intensity—a "climax" in the non-sexual sense. Nowadays, the word would be likely to be misunderstood if used in that way; such usage is vanishingly rare. It does, however, occur without a primarily sexual meaning in literature written prior to the sexual revolution:

Here in this cathedral at Burgos was the record of an incredible spiritual energy. … Those who had built and carved and painted here had been more than happy. They had left the record of their ecstasy in a divine orgasm of stone.

In reference to a horse which is calming down after being "spooked:"

It was a very weak and very sick mare he rode, stumbling and halting, afflicted with nervous jerks and recurring muscular spasms—the aftermath of the tremendous orgasm through which she had passed.

In the following sentence, a newcomer to the Arctic is impressed with Malemute Kid's forceful personality. ("Breathing heavily" here means "asleep.")

Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting for the strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away."

Books

• Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse, Michael Gross (Translator): Lust and Love: Is it more than Chemistry? Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, ISBN 0-85404-867-7, (2006).

See also

• Human sexual behavior
• Sex
• Anal sex
• Female ejaculation
• Extended Orgasm
• Anorgasmia
• Sexual function
• Female Sexual Dysfunction

References in culture

Music

Albums

• Orgasm (1967) by John's Children
• Orgasm (1968) by Alan Shorter