Science: How to give a woman an orgasm

IFLScience; Archives of Sexual Behavior; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

No one knows how I work down there; even I don't know! (Olga Zaretska/Shutterstock)

 

"Mind the gap" as they say in England.

Gaps, for the most part, are considered bad. The gender pay gap, for example, is notoriously awful. 

The “orgasm gap” -- the fact that men achieve orgasm a lot more [easily and] frequently than women during sexual frivolities -- is also decidedly rubbish.

And now science has waltzed in to save the day by trying to close it.

Have a hang up(s) about sex? Let it go.

• What does Buddhism say about sex for Buddhists? Avoid sexual misconduct, and it's fine. Sensual craving (trying to pain in life, real or perceived, by hedonistic means) can become an obsession, and it doesn't work. But most earthlings are predisposed to sensual desire, and there's a healthy way to approach it -- not guilt, shame, a sexist double-standard, repression, or acting out.

A group of researchers from Indiana University and Chapman University surveyed over 52,000 people  -- which included a range of straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual men and women between the ages of 18 and 65.

 

They concluded that there is a “golden trio” of actions that will all-but-ensure female orgasm occurs. That, ladies and gentlemen, is deep kissing, genital stimulation, and oral sex.

 

The study, published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, is a curious insight into just how bad the orgasm gap actually is. Of those surveyed, 95 percent of heterosexual men reported that they orgasmed during sexual acts with a partner, whereas just 65 percent of heterosexual women [reported that they] did.

 

Heterosexual women actually fared the worst of any category, with bisexual women reaching that hallowed state 66 percent of the time, rising to 86 percent for lesbian women. For bisexual men, the figure was 88 percent, and this rose to 89 percent for gay men.

 

I learned nothing from Vogue!

The aforementioned golden trio is the key way to close this orgasm gap -- and as the authors of the study note that education is key. Nearly 30 percent of men think that vaginal intercourse is the best way for women to achieve orgasm.

And as co-author Elisabeth Lloyd, a professor of biology at Indiana University, told The Guardian: “This couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Just 35 percent of heterosexual women orgasmed during vaginal sex alone. On the other hand, 80 percent of heterosexual women and 91 percent of lesbians orgasmed after the golden trio was applied.

 

The trio isn’t the only thing that helps. Writing in their study, the authors explain that women were more likely to orgasm if they were “more satisfied with their relationship, ask for what they want in bed, praise their partner for something they did in bed, call/email to tease about doing something sexual, wear sexy lingerie, try anal stimulation" and “act out fantasies.” More