Types of female orgasm

Abstract

The controversy about clitoral versus vaginal orgasms was discussed in Chapter 10. In this article, the Singers offer a new typology of orgasm, which tries to integrate recent physiological research with women’s subjective experience of orgasm. While the authors’ typology has not gained widespread acceptance, this article is valuable for its careful description of the various subjective and physiological components of orgasm. The authors also make the point that description of what orgasm is can cause distress in women who discover that their orgasm does not meet some criteria. Orgasms are indeed different for different women, and for the same women on different occasions.