How Orgasms differ for Men and Women

That sexual pleasure means different things to men and women is well known to partners who have been in a relationship for a period of time. But what is only now beginning to emerge from numerous scientific studies is the extent to which the male and female mind as well as the body experience sexual arousal and climax in different ways. Here are some basic ways orgasms differ for men and women.

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The role of the mind.

Experienced lovers have always known the importance of creating the right mental conditions for a woman to enjoy sex. Men on the other hand are more of sensory creatures and find it easier to be turned on by stimulation of senses like sight and touch. This essential difference is now being increasingly confirmed in scientific studies. Researchers from Netherland found out in a 2005 study that brain scans of men and women having orgasms revealed important differences in how each gender experienced sexual climax. While the male brain focuses primarily on the physical stimulation involved in the sexual contact, the direct sensory input from the genitals seems to be far less significant for women in experiencing orgasm. Rather the main factors influencing female sexual arousal and climax seem to be mental conditions like deep relaxation and reduction of anxiety.  Scientists from the University of Groningen, Netherlands led by chief researcher Gert Holstege were able to arrive at these conclusions after they studied brain scans of thirteen women and eleven men by a technique called PET or the positron emission tomography. As the subjects were stimulated to orgasm by their partners, the scans showed the chief areas of activity in their brains. In women, the parts of the brain like amygdala which process emotions,  fear and anxiety started to slow down and reduce in activity till they almost shut down to produce a trance-like state at the peak of sexual orgasm. Even though the male brains also showed a decreased activity in the emotion centers of the brain during sexual activity, it was to a lesser extent than what was experienced in the female brains. Also women but not men showed less activity in the hippocampus which is the seat of memories in the brain. The areas in the male brain which registered the greatest activity during an orgasm were the insula which deals with emotions as well as the secondary somatosensory cortex which rates the significance of sensory stimulations. Women on the other hand registered activity only in the primary somatosensory cortex of the brain which indicates that there is a sensation in the genitals but is unable to rate its significance as in the case of men and thus unlikely to make a great deal of it. So while the sensory stimulation of the genitals was a primary factor in achieving orgasm in men, equally important if not more for women are mood, lack of anxiety and ambience. Perhaps this is why men once they get going find it impossible to stop until they climax with ejaculation. Countless women on the other hand know the frustration of coming back from the edge of an orgasm if the baby cries or the phone rings.
 

The actual process.

The much-lampooned difference in the amount of time it takes for men and women to reach an orgasm is in fact a real one.  Men may be able to reach orgasms after only two to three minutes of real stimulation while for women it may take anything from twenty to thirty minutes of stimulation to climax sexually. On the other hand, an orgasm for men is a quickly over, lasting around ten to thirteen seconds. Women however may continue to experience the waves of a sexual climax till sixty seconds. Yet another major difference is the fact that sexual intercourse is enough to make men come while most women need some kind of stimulation of their clitoris to reach an orgasm. Also for men, orgasm is over once they ejaculate but women can experience multiple orgasms or repeated orgasms with them coming minutes apart of in quick succession. Again for most men, reaching a sexual orgasm is instinctive,  while for women it is a learned thing which is why perhaps women get better in achieving it as they become more sexually experienced in their thirties or forties. Men on the other hand have their peak orgasms between the ages of eighteen and twenty.  In both men and women, a hormone called oxytocin is released right after an orgasm but this again produces slightly different results in each. While the release of oxytocin induces a sense of rest and drowsiness in men, making them go off to sleep, it encourages women to bond with their partners, making them want to cuddle or talk. Hence the difference in post-coital responses which has formed the stuff of so many sitcoms and provided material for stand-up comic artists.
 

The functional use of orgasm.

From an evolutionary point of view, the chief purpose of the male orgasm seems to have been to ensure the dispersal of his genes so that the species could be continued. The female orgasm has on the other hand foxed most evolutionists who have groped to find a functional use for the Big O. Explanations have ranged from a physiological explanation according to which a female orgasm ensured that the woman lay in a prone position for the better embedding of her partner’s sperms to the hypothesis that the emotional factor of the female orgasm brought about closer bonding with a single partner and hence made her a more capable nurturer of the offspring on the way. But the ultimate fact remains that the female orgasm is not necessary for pregnancy at all and hence a matter of pure pleasure.

While researchers admit that there is still a lot more to know about the intricate links between the physical and mental components of sexual pleasure, that the genders experience it differently can now be laid down with fair certainty. But then, apart from the scientific details, this was something long known to the experienced lovers of this world.