Female orgasms in the news
A surprising degree of variability exists among women in their ability to achieve orgasm. Some women are able to achieve orgasm with relative ease, both during sexual intercourse and masturbation. Other women achieve orgasm only occasionally, or only in response to specific forms of stimulation. Some women never achieve orgasm. The reason for such variability in the female sexual response has remained an open question among experts in the field of human sexuality... until now.
According to research published last week in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters, a significant portion of the variability in women’s ability to experience an orgasm is determined by the human gene.
In reaching their conclusions, researchers in the UK collected questionnaires from 683 pairs of female identical twins, and 714 pairs of fraternal twins. Subjects’ ages ranged from 19 to 83. Since identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg, they share an identical genetic make-up. In contrast, fraternal twins develop from different egg cells. Thus, they are no more genetically alike than other sibling pairs. Like identical twins, however, pairs of fraternal twins are usually reared in similar environments. By comparing identical twins to fraternal twins, investigators are able to determine to what degree variation of a characteristic like ability to reach orgasm, is attributable to genetic factors, versus environmental factors.
A mere 14% of women in the investigation reported always experiencing orgasm during sexual intercourse. Thirty-two percent of the women reported being able to achieve orgasm at least three quarters of the time during intercourse. Twenty-one percent reported never, or infrequently achieving orgasm, even during masturbation. Sixteen percent of the women reported never having experienced an orgasm, either during intercourse, or masturbation.
Using statistical methods, the researchers estimated that genetic factors accounted for 34% of the variance in these women’s ability to achieve an orgasm during intercourse. This figure rose to 45% for the women’s ability to reach orgasm during masturbation, indicating a strong contribution from genes. Rather than a sign of sexual dysfunction, as some have suggested, the difficulty of some women to achieve orgasm appears to be largely the result of a natural variation, genetically programmed into the human species.
The female orgasm has long been a controversial issue among sex theorists and researchers. During the early 20th century, Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud promoted his belief that there were two types of female orgasms. One, he believed, arose from stimulation of the clitoris, the female phallus. The other resulted from penetration and stimulation of the vagina.
Clitoral orgasms were considered by Freud as inferior, a forerunner of the adult female sexual response. In his view, with maturation, clitoral orgasms should be replaced by vaginal orgasms. The failure of a woman to make this transition, in Freud’s view, was a sign of neurosis, and a major cause of “frigidity” or female sexual dysfunction.
Freud’s dogma was subsequently adopted and disseminated by a largely male medical establishment that, evidently, understood little about the female sexual response. In fact, some professionals of that era erroneously defined frigidity as an inability to have “vaginal” orgasms.
In 1953 the sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey corrected Freud’s mistake when he published the results of the first comprehensive investigation into female sexual behavior. Relying on 5,940 sexual history questionnaires provided by White American women, Kinsey discovered what most women already knew: Stimulation of the clitoris plays a central role in generating the female orgasm. Vaginal penetration is not even necessary for a woman to climax.
Like many studies, the present research raises more questions than it answers. For instance, the specific way in which genetic influences manifest themselves is not known. Genes could have such effects through anatomical, hormonal, psychological, neurological or behavioral factors, or various combinations of these. How genetic factors interact with environmental factors such as education, family upbringing, and cultural norms is also poorly understood. Researchers will, no doubt, attempt to answer such questions in the coming months and years.
Perhaps most interesting are questions concerning the role of the female orgasm in the evolution of our species. Biologists propose that characteristics that are based in our genes may have conferred a biological advantage to our ancestors, assisting them in some way with the problems of survival and reproduction. How might the female orgasm have contributed to the success of our species, and why would natural selection pressures preserve such variability in women’s ability to achieve orgasm? For now, we can only speculate, while we wait for research to provide answers to these intriguing questions.
According to research published last week in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters, a significant portion of the variability in women’s ability to experience an orgasm is determined by the human gene.
In reaching their conclusions, researchers in the UK collected questionnaires from 683 pairs of female identical twins, and 714 pairs of fraternal twins. Subjects’ ages ranged from 19 to 83. Since identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg, they share an identical genetic make-up. In contrast, fraternal twins develop from different egg cells. Thus, they are no more genetically alike than other sibling pairs. Like identical twins, however, pairs of fraternal twins are usually reared in similar environments. By comparing identical twins to fraternal twins, investigators are able to determine to what degree variation of a characteristic like ability to reach orgasm, is attributable to genetic factors, versus environmental factors.
A mere 14% of women in the investigation reported always experiencing orgasm during sexual intercourse. Thirty-two percent of the women reported being able to achieve orgasm at least three quarters of the time during intercourse. Twenty-one percent reported never, or infrequently achieving orgasm, even during masturbation. Sixteen percent of the women reported never having experienced an orgasm, either during intercourse, or masturbation.
Using statistical methods, the researchers estimated that genetic factors accounted for 34% of the variance in these women’s ability to achieve an orgasm during intercourse. This figure rose to 45% for the women’s ability to reach orgasm during masturbation, indicating a strong contribution from genes. Rather than a sign of sexual dysfunction, as some have suggested, the difficulty of some women to achieve orgasm appears to be largely the result of a natural variation, genetically programmed into the human species.
The female orgasm has long been a controversial issue among sex theorists and researchers. During the early 20th century, Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud promoted his belief that there were two types of female orgasms. One, he believed, arose from stimulation of the clitoris, the female phallus. The other resulted from penetration and stimulation of the vagina.
Clitoral orgasms were considered by Freud as inferior, a forerunner of the adult female sexual response. In his view, with maturation, clitoral orgasms should be replaced by vaginal orgasms. The failure of a woman to make this transition, in Freud’s view, was a sign of neurosis, and a major cause of “frigidity” or female sexual dysfunction.
Freud’s dogma was subsequently adopted and disseminated by a largely male medical establishment that, evidently, understood little about the female sexual response. In fact, some professionals of that era erroneously defined frigidity as an inability to have “vaginal” orgasms.
In 1953 the sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey corrected Freud’s mistake when he published the results of the first comprehensive investigation into female sexual behavior. Relying on 5,940 sexual history questionnaires provided by White American women, Kinsey discovered what most women already knew: Stimulation of the clitoris plays a central role in generating the female orgasm. Vaginal penetration is not even necessary for a woman to climax.
Like many studies, the present research raises more questions than it answers. For instance, the specific way in which genetic influences manifest themselves is not known. Genes could have such effects through anatomical, hormonal, psychological, neurological or behavioral factors, or various combinations of these. How genetic factors interact with environmental factors such as education, family upbringing, and cultural norms is also poorly understood. Researchers will, no doubt, attempt to answer such questions in the coming months and years.
Perhaps most interesting are questions concerning the role of the female orgasm in the evolution of our species. Biologists propose that characteristics that are based in our genes may have conferred a biological advantage to our ancestors, assisting them in some way with the problems of survival and reproduction. How might the female orgasm have contributed to the success of our species, and why would natural selection pressures preserve such variability in women’s ability to achieve orgasm? For now, we can only speculate, while we wait for research to provide answers to these intriguing questions.
posted by Michael | Friday, June 10, 2005
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