6 Amazing Facts You Should Know About The Female Orgasm
Science finally answers your most pressing questions.
The female orgasm has always been a huge mystery, beguiling horny dudes and scientists alike since the dawn of man.
What’s the purpose of it? Why is it so hot when she comes? And why is it so difficult to come by (pun intended)? Nobody knew the answers…until last year, when researchers finally discovered that the female orgasm is an evolutionary remnant from when women had insane hormonal surges and ovulated during sex and got pregnant on demand. Fun fact!
But even though we now know this tiny fragment of information, there’s still so, so much we don’t know about the mystifying female orgasm, which is why we’re lucky sex researchers like Dr. Nicole Prause exist, who runs her own sex research lab called Liberos.
Jerilyn Covert of Men’s Health paid a little visit to Prause’s lab, where she bravely rubbed one out in a clinical setting for the sake of scientific progress, and learned a lot about the science of orgasms, which I then broke down into this fun yet highly informative list.
And so, without further ado, here are 6 scientific facts you never knew about the female orgasm.
1. The female orgasm isn’t that hard to come by.
Women can orgasm from five distinct areas –the clitoris, the G-spot, the cervix, nipples, and earlobes, which is why you shouldn’t confine your hands to just her clit. Wander a little and see what happens.
2. There’s a reason why you feel awesome when you get her off.
From an evolutionary and psychological perspective, it’s to a man’s advantage to get a woman off, because when you do, she’ll keep coming back to you, a.k.a. the man who actually knows how to pleasure a woman, for more sex and more orgasms. Nice.
“The only way he’ll send his DNA down through eternity is if a woman has his baby. So it’s an adaptive mechanism to want to please her,” says anthropologist and human behavior specialist Dr. Helen Fisher.
And that’s also why you’re biologically wired to feel more manly and self-confident after successfully giving her the big O –meaning female orgasms are not only great for her, but they’re also a “masculinity achievement” for you. It’s a win-win.
If you’re wondering what a masculinity achievement is, it’s a coveted triumph you experience when you do something that every man intrinsically wants to do, like bringing a woman to orgasm, or bench pressing 250 pounds. It’s essentially a figurative pat on the back for a job well done.
3. Orgasms actually happen in the brain.
When a woman has an orgasm, the area of her brain associated with pleasure and memory become active, which is partly why it feels so amazing, and is also the reason why she keeps wanting more. Memory and pleasure are powerful things, my friends.
Neurologically, the orgasm starts at the genital sensory cortex, and then spreads to the amygdala, hippocampus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, which all have to do with emotional processing, memory and fantasy, and visceral sensation. Put all those brain areas together, and you get a fantastically nuclear combination that translates into an explosive orgasm.
And here’s another fun fact: The insula and anterior cingulate cortex also light up when you’re in pain, which is why her O-face looks like she has a charley horse or just stubbed her toe, or something.
4. Her brain stops working during an orgasm.
During an orgasm, blood flow to the prefrontal and temporal cortexes, a.k.a. command central of your brain, decreases, leading to “an altered perception of things going on around you. There is less awareness, less fear,” says Dutch neuroscientist Dr. Janniko Georgiadis.
“Everyone knows that you’re less able to think clearly while you’re having an orgasm. This fits this phenomenon really well.”
In other words, her IQ momentarily drops significantly until she comes. Same with men. Orgasms make everyone stupid and fuzzy in the head.
5. She can have multiple orgasms because her brain is constantly aroused.
Even though the pattern of brain activation is the same with men and women during an orgasm, there’s one major difference: Women can have multiple orgasms because her brain continues to respond to stimulation after the first orgasm, whereas the male brain basically stops responding after the big O. It just goes offline, shuts down, and stops working like a Windows computer.
6. To make her come extra hard, keep her on the edge for a while.
EEG recordings show leading up to an orgasm, her brain’s alpha waves spike, and alpha waves are present when you’re super chill and feeling really good. However, once the orgasm hits, her alpha waves drop, meaning that the best, most delicious part of sex for her isn’t the orgasm itself, but rather It’s the part leading up to it.
Prause suggests doing something called “edging,” which is when you get her really, really close, but deliberately delay her orgasm, thereby making her eventual climax extra mind-blowing.
H/T: Men’s Health
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