When a woman reached orgasm, something unexpected happened: much of her brain went silent.
Image: Peter Turner/Getty Images (silhouette of head); Altrendo Images/Getty Images (fireworks)
In Brief
Principles of Pleasure
- Sexual desire and orgasm are subject to various influences on the brain and nervous system, which controls the sex glands and genitals.
- The ingredients of desire may differ for men and women, but researchers have revealed some surprising similarities. For example, visual stimuli spur sexual stirrings in women, as they do in men.
- Achieving orgasm, brain imaging studies show, involves more than heightened arousal. It requires a release of inhibitions engineered by shutdown of the brain’s center of vigilance in both sexes and a widespread neural power failure in females.
She did not often have such strong emotions. But she suddenly felt powerless against her passion and the desire to throw herself into the arms of the cousin whom she saw at a family funeral. “It can only be because of that patch,” said Marianne, a participant in a multinational trial of a testosterone patch designed to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder, in which a woman is devoid of libido. Testosterone, a hormone ordinarily produced by the ovaries, is linked to female sexual function, and the women in this 2005 study had undergone operations to remove their ovaries.
After 12 weeks of the trial, Marianne had felt her sexual desire return. Touching herself unleashed erotic sensations and vivid sexual fantasies. Eventually she could make love to her husband again and experienced an orgasm for the first time in almost three years. But that improvement was not because of testosterone, it turned out. Marianne was among the half of the women who had received a placebo patch—with no testosterone in it at all.
This article was originally published with the title The Orgasmic Mind.
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20 Comments
Add CommentYes, this is why I have film footage of a woman weeping with joy as her husband brings her to orgasm; not once, not twice, but three times.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfterwards, when I asked her why she wept, she said, "Because at the moment of orgasm I feel how much I love my husband more deeply than at any other time."
Guess she didn't come in for any of your "research studies" did she?
I have another view on the following paragraph: "The men, by contrast, were physically titillated mainly by their preferred category of sexual partnerthat is, females for straight men and males for gay menand were not excited by bonobo copulation. The results, the researchers say, suggest that women are not only aroused by a variety of types of sexual imagery but are more flexible than men in their sexual interests and preferences."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it's not that women are more flexible, but that they see more holistically: Men see individuals doing it, while women see the act of doing it.
"Fear and anxiety need to be avoided at all costs if a woman wishes to have an orgasm; we knew that," - do we really? Does that apply to those women who practice BDSM precisely because fear and anxiety are arousing? How does this article's research address the case of women who purposefully do not avoid fear and anxiety, and are able to achieve orgasm?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Some of the most muted neurons sat in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which may govern self-control over basic desires such as sex. Decreased activity there, the researchers suggest, might correspond to a release of tension and inhibition. "
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm curious as to why people (assuming there is a similar region in men though probably less active) needed to develope this part of their brain in the first place i.e. What is the evolutionary advantage.
Secondly, could this help explain why someone might generate an eating disorder? Perhaps they have and overdeveloped or overactive lateral orbitofrontal cortex.
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Edited by Eliot89 at 05/18/2008 7:39 PM
To A Nony Mouse,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would argue differently: that women who practice BDSM are not afraid. Rather they welcome the pain and torment as a release of their inhibitions. While a) I'm not a woman and b) I particularly don't prefer that route, I still would say that the findings hold and that BDSM is not about fear but rather about control. The people who induce the pain are in control where as the other patry is the one succumbing to the will of the other. I think pain is used as a way to emphasize this control but the party who is being controlled trusts the one controlling. Never do they truly fear for themselves or their lives otherwise I don't think they would get much pleasure out of it.
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Edited by Eliot89 at 05/18/2008 7:37 PM
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Edited by Eliot89 at 05/18/2008 7:38 PM
BDSM, or sensation play, is about a lot of things- dominance and submission, aka power exchange, but in the first place it is essentially about two (or more) adults who can completely trust each other. That trust includes a "safe word" for the sub so that if/when things get too intense she/he has a way out that is instantly acted on with no questions asked. A good Dom also knows her/his sub's capabilities and constantly watches to be certain that all is well, that the sub is happy and feeling good about the situation. It may LOOK quite frightening from the outside but in a proper Dom/sub relationship the sub's well being, physical, mental, emotional, even spiritual, is of the utmost importance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo that's the issue of security and anxiety put to rest. Now for the other issue, that of pain or other physical or mental stimulation.
The thing about pain is that it puts a person right in the moment- think about how when you stub your toe everything else in the world stops, doesn't it? All you feel is that pain and then maybe you curse or cry or otherwise react. The same thing happens in a sensation play situation- and it doesn't have to be heavy whips or chains or whatever, it can be as delicate as a feather tip. Anything that puts the mind into the Now state is a wonderful prelude to sexual pleasure. Combine the deep trust between a Dom and a sub and add in any kind of mutually agreed upon physical stimulation and you have an ideal situation for the brain to stop thinking... and allow orgasm to happen, often multiple times.
So, the anxiety or pain a sub might feel during play is different from that which an actual and unwilling victim of exactly the same behavior would experience.
Sex is complicated! But this article really explained a lot to me and I found it fascinating.
is it possible that you feel a urinating feeling upon having or reaching orgasm?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYES! I have several times -- but I'm 48 years old.,. Another but... I've never had such strong orgasms in my life before this so that may have something to do with it as well.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you feel that sex, well, orgasms give you the same rush as say, thrill seeking does? That "fear/anxiety" thing is very stimulating and can be somewhat addictive, yes?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi agree
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisya i agree
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow! The theory of partial brain shut-down explains why I'm not able to achieve arousal when there are too many thoughts in my head.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisread this part of the article. in the case of the woman you speak of it is most likely because high levels of oxytoxin released during orgasm. oxytocin is also called the cuddle hormone because it makes two partners feel more attached to each other especially if they are their first sexual partners.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"But that lack of emotion may not apply to all orgasms in women. Komisaruk, Whipple and their colleagues studied the patterns of brain activation that occur during orgasm in five women with spinal cord injuries that left them without sensation in their lower extremities. These women were able to achieve a “deep,” or nonclitoral, orgasm through mechanical stimulation (using a laboratory device) of the vagina and cervix. But contrary to Holstege’s results, Komisaruk’s team found that orgasm was accompanied by a general activation of the limbic system, the brain’s seat of emotion.
Among the activated limbic regions were the amygdala and the hypothalamus, which produces oxytocin, the putative love and bonding hormone whose levels jump fourfold at orgasm. The researchers also found heightened activity in the nucleus accumbens, a critical part of the brain’s reward circuitry that may mediate orgasmic pleasure in women. In addition, they saw unusual activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula, two brain areas that Rutgers anthropologist Helen Fisher has found come to life during the later stages of love relationships. Such activity may connect a female’s sexual pleasure with the emotional bond she feels with her partner."
you have footage, i dont know if thats kinky or creepy
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisa loving testement none-the-less
Is there any possibility a multiple ejaculate for girl/women? Because I read in this <a href="http://how-to-make-a-girl-squirt.blogspot.com/">http://how-to-make-a-girl-squirt.blogspot.com/</a> that they can teach to make women have multiple ejaculate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks
What an informative article!!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are FOUR Basic STEPS to Having Orgasms Every Time You Make Love
Step #1: Your mind has to be ready to receive an orgasm. 90% of the problems that women have in achieving orgasm stem from a psychological nature. You must clear your mind of negative thoughts and emotions.
You must feel loved, appreciated and respected. You must also become calm and relaxed. You need your mind and body to work synergistically together because they are essential elements in the entire psychological and physiological process for achieving an orgasm.
Having some foreplay just prior to making love is simply not good enough to supply all of the psychological and emotional support that a woman needs to achieve an orgasm. You must get your male partner actively involved in your psychological support process each day.
Your body has to be ready for an orgasm. First you have to make sure that you don't have any sexual dysfunction that will stop you from achieving an orgasm. You must also not be too tired, drunk, stoned or impaired because you need a clear mind to properly receive sexual stimulation.
The better you treat your body and the more you nourish and condition your body with the proper food, sexual training exercises and sexual stimulation techniques such as Harmonic Foreplay, Intimate Foreplay and Sexual Harmonics will help dramatically increase your sexual desire and sexual responses which in turn will make it much easier to achieve orgasm(s) and multiple orgasms.
The Perfect Orgasm Position - Woman on Top Position
When it comes to achieving orgasms and multiple orgasms on a regular, consistent basis there is only one perfect sexual position to use during intercourse. It is a very simple position called the "Woman on Top" position whereby the man will lie down on his back with his legs outstretched.The woman will sit on his penis in an upright position facing him.
This is a female dominant sexual position that allows the woman to have full control over how quickly and deeply she is penetrated and how much friction she feels against her clitoris. This position allows the man to caress her breasts and to use Sexual Harmonics to create maximum stimulation and pleasure.
The woman on top position is the absolute best sexual position for a woman to achieve orgasms because it allows the woman to achieve the maximum amount of self controlled sexual stimulation, instant response, and pleasure from her clitoris.
More Orgasm Tips:::
http://bit.ly/g-spot-sex-manual
"The ingredients of desire may differ for men and women, but researchers have revealed some surprising similarities. For example, visual stimuli spur sexual stirrings in women, as they do in men"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am surprised that this is a surprising finding. Any woman could tell you that visual stimuli spurs sexual stirrings. I really don't get why this is such a big surprise. I'm almost offended but I suppose it's partly the fault of women for not being honest about their sexuality. We experience swelling and tingling and throbing and all sorts of feelings simply through visual stimuli.
i know the facts of female orgasm, but no one trust me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi write all thing on my blog. i need to draw your attention.
Porn can not be banned forever, because the fantasies are really helped for everyone.
http://orgasmgirl.blogspot.com/2011/11/porn-can-not-be-banned-forever.html
Clitoral shaft is the key to get an orgasm for female.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://orgasmgirl.blogspot.com/2011/10/clitoral-shaft-is-key-to-get-orgasm-for.html
Women also fall asleep after a real orgasm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://orgasmgirl.blogspot.com/2011/09/women-also-fall-asleep-after-real.html