Clitoral Orgasm Research Articles

Vaginal orgasm is associated with better psychological function

In a large representative sample of the Swedish female adult population (N = 1256), having an orgasm from purely penile stimulation of the vagina (as opposed to orgasms from clitoral stimulation) was associated with greater satisfaction (with sex life, mental health, relationships with both partners and friends, and life in general), more frequent sexual desire, greater likelihood of having one's first ever orgasm from intercourse rather than masturbation, and lesser recent masturbation frequency. The association of vaginal orgasm with these measures was unconfounded by a marginal association of vaginal orgasm with frequency of vaginal intercourse (which was independently associated with most of the measures of greater satisfaction). Vaginal orgasms were not associated with having had orgasms from partner masturbation or cunnilingus. The results are discussed in terms of recent advances in sexual physiology showing different pathways for vaginal versus clitoral sensation and orgasm, other empirical research showing psychological and physiological advantages of penile – vaginal intercourse over other sexual behaviours, psychoanalytic theory, and the need to overhaul the practices of sex therapy and sex education.

Penile – vaginal intercourse is better: evidence trumps ideology

It has often been asserted that all sexual behaviours are equal. However, empirical research demonstrates that different sexual behaviours differ in many physiological and psychological domains. These differences are remarkably consistent in revealing an association between specifically penile-vaginal intercourse and indices of better physiological and psychological function. Other sexual behaviours (masturbation, partner masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, or any other sex that excludes penile-vaginal intercourse) are either unrelated or occasionally negatively related to indices of physiological and psychological function. Recent research also indicates that vaginal orgasm differs physiologically and psychologically from clitoral orgasm, and that vaginal orgasm is related to better psychological health. Several examples of other research findings are summarised. The consistency of the results with both physiology and evolutionary and psychoanalytic theories is discussed. The ethical practice of sex therapy, education and research requires the elimination of prevailing sexological prejudices.

The Clitoris: Forbidden Pleasure (review)

Reviewed by: The Clitoris: Forbidden Pleasure Lesley A. Hall The Clitoris: Forbidden Pleasure. Directed by Stephen Firmin and Variety Moszynski. First Run/Icarus Films, 2003. There is something a little ironic about subtitling a documentary purporting to present a new and positive view of the clitoris "Forbidden Pleasure." Less sensationally, the story this video tells is about the invisibility and neglect of the clitoris, at least in Western culture (there is not really any consideration of cultures beyond Western Europe, North America, and Australia). It conveys a certain amount of basic information about the history of understanding of the clitoris, its role in female sexual pleasure, and the present state of research into this still relatively little investigated organ. It might therefore serve as a useful introduction to the subject and provoke discussion. However, there are a number of problems. There seems a desperate desire to "keep things moving," in spite of the frequent lingering on talking heads (or perhaps to counteract these relatively static episodes), so there are long tracking shots, a voice-over while a woman who had childhood genital surgery for gender ambiguity rides on a bus, someone cycling through Amsterdam to participate in orgasm research, a surely staged interview with Helen O'Connell about to go into the operating theater. To further "liven things up," there are cartoon representations of the history of knowledge of the clitoris, and inserted flashes of erotic images, excerpts from pornographic movies, and scenes from commercials. These are all symptomatic of the refusal to linger, to consider, to give time for discussion or reflection. For example, the fact that Gray's Anatomy included some account of the clitoris in editions previous to 1948, after which it was dropped, raises certain questions that would at least have been worth asking, rather than merely noting without comment: surely textbooks of anatomy were unlikely to have been influenced by the then-pervasive popularized version of Freud's characterization of the clitoral orgasm as "immature" and to be transcended on behalf of the "mature" vaginal variety? A relevant question not raised is why there has been this now-you-see-it-now-you-don't quality to the history of the knowledge of the clitoris, which seems to be perennially rediscovered. There is a similar hiccuping dash from topic to topic: from cosmetic genital surgery, to where pleasure fits into sex education and female sexual empowerment, to research into the physiological processes of female arousal and climax. There is some attempt at problematizing the role of the pharmaceutical industry in facilitating the recent burgeoning of "clitoris studies"—given that this is aimed at finding the female Viagra, a "magic bullet" to capture that elusive entity, the [End Page 148] female orgasm, in spite of the weight of evidence that suggests that for women (and indeed, for men as well) the issue is not simply one of mechanics but involves the broader emotional context. The history in general is clichéd and rather weak, though the broad-brush treatment may be understandable. Perhaps it is unduly pedantic to want some evidence for claims that, even after the disgrace of Isaac Baker-Brown on account of the clitoridectomy-happy practices of his London Surgical Home, "hundreds" of these operations were still regularly performed during the rest of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. One would not guess from this video that anyone before Masters and Johnson had indicated the importance of the clitoris and its stimulation to female sexual satisfaction; yet quite apart from Kinsey's pioneering work in the area, there were a number of writers of sexual advice, from Marie Stopes onward, who emphasized its importance for mutual conjugal delight. While Helen O'Connell's work on the anatomy of the clitoris is extremely important, it is not true that prior to her investigations the extent of the hidden clitoral body was not realized. Ultimately, it is not clear what audience is being aimed at with this documentary: is it meant to be education or entertainment? As education, it is not very useful. An Australian television-listings Website refers to it as "traditional Friday night Euro-porn"1 ; while this seems a little...

Sexual Orientation and Psychoanalysis: Sexual Science and Clinical Practice

Sexual Orientation and Psychoanalysis: Sexual Science and Clinical Practice

The psychodynamics of orgasm.

Orgasm itself, along with its specific psychodynamic, has stimulated few reflections and little research in the psychoanalytical field to date. In this regard, perspectives relating to orgasm are generally placed within a wider context covering desire, arousal and, of course, satisfaction. Freud himself seemed to show no particular or systematic interest in an orgasmic psychodynamic per se. This article, the aim of which is to consider the specific nature of orgasm, proposes a two-stage reflection. First, it considers the specific aspects of orgasm in order to arrive at a phenomenology of the orgasm itself--within a clearly defined framework. Second, it explains this phenomenology from a psychoanalytical point of view. These reflections lead us to suggest that while the erogenous zones in men and women respectively are at the root of the sexual arousal that leads to orgasm, it is most probably in fantasy that the female orgasm finds its major trigger. This is all the more relevant given that the existence of a real qualitative difference between clitoral and vaginal orgasm is now being challenged. This would tend to confirm the idea of a predominance of fantasy over bodily location, given that, quite clearly, it is not possible to attribute the former role to a precise area of the body. In this respect, only the analytical process is able to lead us to the primary sources of orgasmic problems--both male and female--and, above all, to reconstruct the origin of a satisfactory or unsatisfactory orgasm.

The psychodynamics of orgasm

Orgasm itself, along with its specific psycho dynamic, has stimulated few reflections and little research in the psychoanalyticalfield to date. In this regard, perspectives relating to orgasm are generally placed within a wider context covering desire, arousal and, of course, satisfaction. Freud himself seemed to show no particular or systematic interest in an orgasmic psychodynamic per se. This article, the aim of which is to consider the specific nature of orgasm, proposes a two‐stage reflection. First, it considers the specific aspects of orgasm in order to arrive at a phenomenology of the orgasm itself‐within a clearly defined framework. Second, it explains this phenomenology from a psychoanalytical point of view. These reflections lead us to suggest that while the erogenous zones in men and women respectively are at the root of the sexual arousal that leads to orgasm, it is most probably in fantasy that the female orgasm finds its major trigger. This is all the more relevant given that the existence of a real qualitative difference between clitoral and vaginal orgasm is now being challenged. This would tend to confirm the idea of a predominance of fantasy over bodily location, given that, quite clearly, it is not possible to attribute the former role to a precise area of the body. In this respect, only the analytical process is able to lead us to the primary sources of orgasmic problems—both male and female—and, above all, to reconstruct the origin of a satisfactory or unsatisfactory orgasm.

Long-term results after neovagina creation in Mayer–Rokitanski–Kuster–Hauser syndrome by Vecchietti’s operation

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term results after Vecchietti’s operation. Study design: Twenty Mayer–Rokitanski–Kuster–Hauser (MRKH) syndrome patients underwent creation of a neovagina using Vecchietti’s operation by laparotomy (17 cases) and laparoscopy (3 cases). Results: The mean age of the patients was 21 years (16–34). After 66 months (24–156) of follow-up, the mean length×diameter of the neovagina was 8.2 cm×2.8 cm. The neovaginal epithelium was macroscopically similar to normal vaginal mucosa, except for one patient who had subsequently undergone insertion of skin graft. Post-operative sexual behavior revealed sexual desire and pleasure (100%), lubrication (94%), clitoral orgasm (87%) and vaginal-mediated orgasm (69%). Finally, 16 patients out of 18 (89%) were completely satisfied with the results of the operation. Conclusion: Vecchietti’s operation may be suggested as one of the choice of treatments to correct vaginal aplasia in young MRKH syndrome patients.

On Pluralism and Competition in Evolutionary Explanations

A controversy arose concerning the adaptive significance of clitoral orgasm, disputing whether the presence of the trait in females is explained by appeal to developmental processes or natural selection (Gould, 1987 a, b ; Alcock, 1987). In response, Sherman (1988) offered a pluralistic solution in terms of levels of analysis in which Gould and Alcock's disagreement was construed as semantic and not substantial. I argue that Sherman's solution is mistaken. I suggest that the nature of the Gould/Alcock dispute is better understood by considering the abstract structure of scientific theories and their role in explanation. This account leads to a representation of science as having a plurality of theoretical models which are integrated piecemeal in the explanation of concrete phenomena.

Expanding the Therapeutic Application of Circumvaginal Electromyography: Two Case Studies of Women with Spinal Cord Injuries

A pilot study investigating the use of circumvaginal electromyographic feedback for two women with spinal cord injuries is reported. One subject presented with urinary leakage around her Foley catheter and a desire to switch from an indwelling catheter to clean intermittent catheterization. The second subject experienced painful hamstring spasms during vaginal orgasm and was referred for a perineometry evaluation to assess the possible role of the circumvaginal musculature in triggering the pain. Each subject received a perineometry evaluation and 10 training sessions aimed at isolating and strengthening the pubococcygeus muscle. The first subject no longer experiences urinary leakage and is still making slow progress in muscle strengthening. The second subject has made a 31-fold increase in sustained muscle strength. She was able to isolate the muscles involved in her spasms, has less discomfort during vaginal orgasms, and has pain-free clitoral orgasms.

Woman in Difference: Mahasweta Devi's "Douloti the Bountiful"

ion of individual rights. Children are not written into mother right. Somni scrupulously distinguishes between my man's or husband's children and Latiya's children. Yet these women are absolutely committed, in the best sense of engagement, to the future of their children where they never do more than create a situation that only the child . . . can exceed.17 15. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. H. M. Parshley (New York: Vintage, 1952), 541-88. 16. For a study of international feminist theory that stands the test of decolonization, it is useful to see which bits of metropolitan theory can retain their plausibility outside. This is not ahistorical theorizing about universals above but contact with a space so intimate that it is both random and inaccessible below. (See Spivak, French Feminism Revisited: Ethics and Politics, forthcoming in anthology, ed. by Judith Butler and Joan Scott). 17. Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 583. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.153 on Fri, 05 Aug 2016 04:24:17 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 122 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak As is usual in Mahasweta's fictive texts, we are allowed an (impossible) step before the already coded value. (In BreastGiver, for example, we see cancer rather than the clitoral orgasm as the excess of the woman's body. There, too, the minute particulars of mothering are under scrutiny by way of foster-mothering as labor. 18) How do such gestures show up the fault lines in critiques that must assume a civil society to posit struggle and in the efforts to recode? Let us consider Teresa de Lauretis's recent powerful essay Sexual Indifference and Lesbian Representation.'9 One of the logical consequences of de Beauvoir's figuration of the mother is the possibility of reading gay parenthood as philosophically normative.20 De Lauretis, implicitly presupposing a multicultural Euro-American agent for the political struggles of this century,

Vaginal erotic sensitivity by sexological examination.

We studied vaginal erotic sensitivity by vaginal sexological examinations as part of the evaluation and treatment process of couples complaining of female coital anorgasmia but readily orgasmic at female self--or partner-performed external genital stimulation. The existence on the anterior vaginal wall of an anatomically clearly definable erotically triggering entity, termed "The G Spot", was refuted by our findings. The entire anterior vaginal wall, including the deeper situated urinary bladder, periurethral tissues and Halban's fascia, rather than one specific spot, were found to be erotically sensitive in most of the women examined, and 64% of them learned how to reach orgasm by direct specific digital and/or coital stimulation of this area. All other parts of the vagina had poor erotic sensitivity. This supports our conceptualization of a 'clitoral/vaginal sensory arm of orgasmic reflex' including the clitoris, the entire anterior vaginal wall as well as the deeper situated tissues. Instead of looking for a 'vaginal (coital) orgasm' distinctly different from a 'clitoral orgasm', this concept speaks towards a 'genital orgasm' potentially achievable by separate or, most effectively, combined stimulation of those different trigger components of the genital sensory arm of the orgasmic reflex. The format and technique of the vaginal sexological examination are described, and its possible applications and limitations are discussed.

Sexual problems of women

Abstract The sexual problems of women have been organized into four categories, arranged in a hierarchy, each group above including new and broader elements. They range from sexual dysfunction, including psychosomatic problems, to distortions of sexual activity, then to the immediate sexual-interpersonal sphere, and finally, the social-sexual sphere. Illustrations and brief dynamics are given, and a neuroanatomical basis is presented for retaining the concept of the dual nature of female orgasm. Clitoral orgasm is viewed as a partial response; vaginal or “authentic” orgasm (a preferable term) is a more total response. Psychologically and physiologically, a major determinant is the difference between passivity and activity in the sexual engagement.

Is there a difference between a clitoral and a vaginal orgasm?

By I am sure we all agree we mean the convulsive, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic musculature commonly accompanied by the highest peak of pleasurable feeling as a climax to sexual stimulation. This usually results from petting, caressing, and manual or penile stimulation of the vulva, clitoris, and vagina. Orgasm can certainly be induced by manual stimulation, with no stimulation whatever. Dr. Albert Ellis (1953) is the staunch proponent of the proposition that a clitoral is all that is necessary and that the vaginal orgasm is a myth. As a physiological experience, the results are the same whether results from penile-vaginal intercourse or clitoral stimulation alone. Masters and Johnson (1966) have demonstrated this clearly enough. A prostitute built up a marked degree of pelvic congestion involving the labia, walls, uterus broad ligaments, tubes, and ovaries during a six-hour period of work. This congestion continued for six more hours, so long as nothing further was done. When allowed to reach by manual stimulation, within ten minutes the congestion of the pelvic organs had completely subsided. Love, affection, physical attraction are not necessary. Mere mechanical stimulation is ordinarily enough to bring about a clitoral orgasm. Where a young woman has never reached in intercourse with her husband, it is possible to bring it about with an electric vibrator in the impersonal atmosphere of a doctor's office. It is commonly a most educational experience. One young woman remarked, You mean to tell me that that is what a man feels every time he has intercourse? Another said, That gives me a whole new idea about going to bed. Another remarked, I'm certainly glad you did that. Now I know what I am looking for. It is a therapeutic, curative procedure. Once the nerve pathway leading to has been opened it can be developed to the point of occurring in intercourse. Does penile stimulation in the vagina contribute anything which might be considered significant? If so, how and why? It is conceivable

The Kinsey report.

To the Editor:— The newer findings concerning physiology of the pubococcygeus muscle strike at the very roots of the conclusions implied by the Kinsey report. Even if the statistical data were unassailable, Kinsey's interpretation is based on concepts that have long been controversial. This applies particularly to the question of vaginal and clitoral orgasm. I believe, as many others do, that research in the physiology of the pubococcygeus muscle has produced overwhelming evidence in favor of the existence and importance of vaginal orgasm. Kinsey stresses the subject of conditioning, especially in relation to premarital experience. Obviously, if conditioning emphasizes clitoral stimulation, the problem of future satisfactory sex relations is aggravated. I believe, if this fundamental error in Kinsey's understanding of orgasm is adequately exposed, considerable doubt will be thrown on the accuracy of his conclusions. The necessity for mitigating the impact of the Kinsey report on the public is illustrated