Women, Sex and Orgasm
Aspects of female sexualityWhen the answers of the women were analyzed, as shown below, it was found that there was a definite trend to designate the week after menstruation and the week before menstruation as the points of greatest sexual responsiveness. Twenty-six percent chose the week after menstruation and 25 percent the week before menstruation as their times of greatest sexual responsiveness. Note particularly that in four of the six samples the percents choosing the week after menstruation as the time of greatest responsiveness were the highest (or tied with the highest) of those in each array. Both the "middle of the cycle" and "during menstruation" alternatives were, on the average, chosen by 19 percent of the sample as their times of greatest responsiveness. The percents indicating that the women noticed no differences in their sexual responsiveness during the course of the cycle were fairly consistently among the lowest in each array.
Percentage Analysis of Judgments Concerning Time During Menstrual Cycle
When Sexual Responsiveness Is Highest These findings indicate that women do, in general, observe that their sexual responsiveness varies during the menstrual cycle. They further demonstrate that women typically feel most responsive in the week following menstruation and, to a lesser extent, during the week preceding menstruation. Beach and Ford, who arrived at similar conclusions concerning the points of greatest responsiveness, could see no reasonable hormonal explanation for the pattern, and speculated that it was related to the sexual deprivation that characterizes most women during the actual menstrual flow. That is, since the menstrual period is usually a time of relative sexual abstinence, women emerge from this phase in a state of sexual deprivation that heightens their sexual responsiveness. Relatedly, during the week preceding menstrual flow, their awareness that a time of sexual deprivation is approaching may act as an extra stimulant when they are involved in sexual intercourse. Since only a small proportion of the women in each sample felt that their responsiveness did not vary during the menstrual cycle, one must conclude that most women have learned that they do consistently respond more to sexual stimulation at certain times as compared to others. Each woman may have a fairly unique pattern of her own. Although a sizable group of women apparently have found that they are particularly responsive before or after menstruation, others may consistently be more responsive during the middle of the menstrual cycle or during the time of menstrual flow. Incidentally, it would be interesting to find out whether women who have ceased to menstruate (either for menopausal or other reasons) continue to perceive themselves as having some pattern of consistent periodicity in their sexual responsiveness. Overview Looking back over the material accumulated with regard to the sexual behavior and attitudes of the samples studied, the following general conclusions seem justified. The average woman in these samples is, as defined by norms from other studies, quite sexually active. She engages in intercourse about three or four times a week, and this seems to be congruent with her own preferences. She does simultaneously have an awareness that her partner might prefer more intercourse than actually occurs, but she does not perceive the disparity as a large one. Indeed, she sees herself as rarely not agreeing to his requests for intercourse. Typically, the foreplay that precedes intercourse between her partner and herself is rather limited in time (about 12 or 13 minutes) and results in a build-up of arousal which is experienced as focalized in the clitoral area and the labia minora. Among the "sexual" areas of the body the inside of the vagina and the breasts are experienced as least excited during this foreplay phase. When intercourse begins, the typical woman in the sample indicates that she rarely concerns herself about the possibility of becoming pregnant and rarely experiences pain. Usually intercourse is experienced as "highly gratifying" and as having become more gratifying in the later as compared to the earlier years of the relationship. Those who attain orgasm say that it usually requires about eight minutes of stimulation to do so. This is roughly 40 to 80 percent longer than they feel that their men require to achieve orgasm. About 39 percent of the women attain orgasm with high consistency, whereas approximately 60 percent do so more irregularly or not at all. Approximately 5 percent have never had an orgasm. Those who do experience orgasm describe their orgasmic feelings with terms such as "ecstatic" and "as if I would burst," and depict the orgasm process as one in which sexual excitement mounts to a high tension followed by sudden release. Only a very small percent experience orgasm as being of "cataclysmic" in intensity or producing loss of consciousness. The duration of orgasm is usually regarded as being about six to ten seconds. It was typically felt that near the end of intercourse there is some loss of voluntary muscular control as well as loss of control of thinking. Few women indicated regular awareness of fantasies ("images" or "pictures") during orgasm. Ideation and fantasy do not seem to play a large or consistent role during the peak arousal phase for most of the women studied. The detailed process by which orgasm is reached during intercourse has been studied, but still remains a bit obscure. One can say that about 63 percent of the women indicated that the usual arousal sequence is for the man first to stimulate the clitoris manually, and then to insert his penis to produce further stimulation, which finally results in both achieving orgasm. About 34 percent said they attain orgasm either before or after their partners and primarily through manual clitoral stimulation. When very specific questions were asked about the timing of female and male orgasm, it was found that 35 percent of the women reach orgasm at the same time as their partners, with 41 percent attaining orgasm before, and 23 percent after, their partners do. The women in the various samples indicated that clitoral stimulation is highly important to them in reaching orgasm. Over 50 percent ascribed either great or indispensable value to clitoral arousal. Further, it is clear that clitoral and vaginal stimulation are perceived quite differently by most of the women, who typically regard one of the two as relatively more exciting; or they experience one rather than the other as possessing some special quality (tickle, warmth, "deep feeling," throbbing). Although it may be true (as described by Masters and Johnson, 1966) that vaginal stimulation achieves much of its effect by its indirect arousal of the clitoris, one can still say that the experienced quality of the vaginal and clitoral experiences differs. They do not feel alike. Whether this is caused by differences in the kinesthetic and positional elements involved or by differences arising out of the psychological implications of being penetrated or not being penetrated (or holding an organ of another person within oneself versus not doing so) remains to be seen.
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