The female clitoral orgasm is sometimes labeled as multiple or achieved by intercourse. Being that the physiology of the female genitalia is the same as the male, with regards to the tissue that can be stimulated for orgasm, the female orgasm is almost exactly the same as a male’s, without ejaculation. This paper presents the viewpoint that media should discuss the female orgasm by illustrating similarities, and that research should be done to demonstrate the sameness between the two male and female orgasm to increase public understanding.

For many centuries, the male orgasm has presided over discourse about human sexuality. The male orgasm is easily notable because it occurs during sexual intercourse and can occur by other forms of stimulation. Contrastingly, female orgasms occur most often by clitoral stimulation. The clitoris is located on a woman’s vulva, or outer genitalia. According to experts in the field of sexology and authors of the book, Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality, Jerrold S. Greenberg, et al., the clitoris is made up of similar tissue as the penis, and fills with blood during arousal as the penis does (Greenberg 125). The sole purpose of the clitoris is for sexual pleasure. Sexual intercourse has been given primary attention in educational programs, allowing for the male to orgasm to be normative, while the female orgasm is little discussed or researched. The female orgasm ought to be given the same attention as intercourse in so that women and men become aware that it is not typically intercourse that causes female orgasm, but rather, outer genital stimulation of the clitoris. Men and women need to be knowledgeable of the clitoral orgasm through increased discourse and sexual education: this spread of information will improve the study of sexuality and will improve people’s sexual lives.

There are reasons for the belief that intercourse creates orgasm as clitoral stimulation does. Human sexuality was not first considered a subject worth studying until the 1890’s. One of the first researchers of sexuality, Richard von Krafft-Ebing explained sexual pleasures such as masturbation, as a mental disease that could cause an individual harm. It took fellow researcher, Henry Havelock Ellis, sixteen volumes of scientific work to counter Krafft-Ebing by stating that masturbation is normal for both sexes and that orgasm is very much the same in both males and females (Greenberg 48). Because sexuality is a new subject in light of others that have been studied for centuries, beliefs are controversial, and many need substantiating. There is no doubt that the newness of human sexuality has caused controversy. Female orgasmic ability needs to be included into the talk about intercourse and pleasure as knowledge on the subject proliferates.

Researchers have attempted to inform the public about the process of clitoral orgasm as related to intercourse. Sexology researchers, William Masters and Virginia Johnson scientifically studied individuals engaging in intercourse in a laboratory setting. Through their studies, they created a model of the physiological pattern of orgasm during intercourse for men and women. Masters and Johnson called their model the Sexual Response Cycle. The male sexual response cycle starts with arousal or excitement, and then a plateau period occurs where sexual excitement becomes enhanced, orgasm occurs, and then a resolution phase follows. The sexual response cycle during intercourse for women, on the other hand, shows that they may not reach orgasm at all. Women’s sexual response cycle is shown as excitement, plateau, and orgasm, or multiple orgasms, but orgasms are described as uterine contractions (Greenberg 262-265). Uterine contractions may or may not be orgasmic. The uterus is not composed of sensitive tissue like the clitoris. According to Masters and Johnson, during female arousal, the clitoris is erect, similar to that of a penis. As earlier discussed, if the clitoris and the penis are similar, and the penis is what creates intense male orgasm, it can be deduced that the clitoris, and not the uterus, allows for intense female orgasm. Females’ Sexual Response Cycle stands as evidence that women do not achieve orgasm through the same means as men.

There are many reasons that the female orgasm is slacking in the rhetoric of human sexuality. According to sexology researcher, Shere Hite, who published The Hite Report on Male Sexuality in 1981, men were generally unaware that women could achieve orgasm by means other than intercourse (Greenberg 62). The anecdotal studies that Shere Hite conducted with women returned the results “that many women reported that they experienced orgasm more frequently from clitoral stimulation than from coitus and that they achieved deep orgasm from masturbation” (Greenberg 61). Studies like Shere Hite’s can be helpful for a more informed public. Informing the public of female sexuality is freeing for couples and women who may be misinformed that intercourse is commonly orgasmic for females.

Educators, researchers, and the general population should not view female orgasms as taboo or mythical. Although there has been progress in studies and information on female orgasmic potential, only some years ago, female sexuality was researched, but shunned by the public. Research completed by Alfred C. Kinsey covered topics such as the female orgasm in his book called Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Kinsey published a similar book for males in 1948, which sold like wildfire, but when the female version was published, it sold few copies and was disapproved of by many people in the United States. This is one example of the slag in discourse about female sexuality. Taboos hinder the flow of information available to the public, and must be eradicated in order for female sexual pleasure to be viewed as normative. Popular discourse about female sexual pleasure and orgasm should be implemented in educational institutions and accepted by the public. Historically, discourse about sexual pleasure has primarily regarded males. Building information about clitoral orgasm and including it in health and education programs will allow for men and women to hear equal messages about human sexuality and pleasure.

There are challenges to including clitoral orgasm in sexual education programs. Today, some academic institutions with religious affiliations consider conflicts about human sexuality and opt not to include the subject in curricula. In 2007 and 2008, some states made the sale of vibrators illegal: an illustration on some of the restrictions placed on female sexuality. Until equal grounds for sexual pleasure are reached, like availability of information and eradication of taboos around female pleasure, then laws like this one will continue to cause prejudice views. Sexual education about female orgasm is one solution to the missing discourse. I also enjoyed hearing about Michelle Fine’s book in class lecture, The Missing Discourse of Desire, which discusses the need for improved education about women wanting to say yes to sex and pleasure. What if a woman wants to say yes to sex? How can the public better understand how to be safe, but also how to liberate misinformed views about female desire? Allowing for female sexual pleasure to be in the limelight would benefit the public, because as Sigmund Freud professes, sexuality is a central and important part of all human being’s lives. Understanding the entire scope of pleasure between man and woman, and not solely focusing on intercourse will further the subject of human sexuality, and will help people in their sexual lives.

Greenberg, Jerrold S., Clint E. Bruess, and Sarah C. Conklin. Exploring the Dimensions of

Human Sexuality. 3rd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2007.