What is An Orgasm?

For men, the answer is straightforward. Although orgasm and ejaculation are controlled by different physiological mechanisms, it is quite rare for orgasm not to be accompanied by ejaculation. So, if one moment a man’s penis is erect and ejaculate is expelled through his urethra, and the next moment his penis is soft, then an orgasm has more than likely taken place. Such an overt signal makes it nearly impossible for a man to fake orgasm. In women, the sign that orgasm has occurred is not as obvious, and that makes it harder to define. It also makes it more difficult to know exactly when or if an orgasm has occurred. In fact, sex therapists often see women for treatment who do not know whether they have ever experienced an orgasm.

In the 1950s, Kinsey and his team of sex researchers proposed that “the abrupt cessation of the oft times strenuous movements and extreme tensions of the previous sexual activity and the peace of the resulting state” was a sure indicator that orgasm had occurred in women. In the 1960s, William Masters and Virginia Johnson described orgasm in women as a “sensation of suspension or stoppage.” By 2001, there were no fewer than twenty-six distinct definitions of women’s orgasm in the research literature. In 2003, the Women’s Orgasm Committee for the World Health Organization met in Paris, France, and was given the job of reviewing the extensive research on women’s orgasm and creating a definitive description. The group adopted the following:

An orgasm in the human female is a variable, transient peak sensation of intense pleasure, creating an altered state of consciousness, usually accompanied by involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated circum-vaginal musculature, often with concomitant uterine and anal contractions and myotonia that resolves the sexually-induced vasocongestion (sometimes only partially), usually with an induction of well-being and contentment.

Sometimes it even amazes us how researchers can manage to take an extraordinary experience and make it sound like a complicated medical affliction. (Full disclosure: Meston headed the committee.) Here, instead, is how one woman in our study described her orgasms:

You get caught up in the moment. You start aching, and sweating. You can feel every inch of your partner beside you. You feel the warmth from their body and start letting your imagination run. —heterosexual woman, age 21