Clitoral Stimulation

As a research student in the United States in the early 1970's, Shere (pronounced 'sherry') Hite circulated a lengthy questionnaire through women's magazines and to passers-by on the street. She asked women to provide answers anonymously to direct questions about their experience of orgasm.

"In fact, for over 70 percent of women, intercourse - the penis thrusting in the vagina - did not regularly lead to orgasm." (p35 The Hite Reports 1993)

Only 30% of her respondents said that they regularly experienced orgasm from intercourse whereas most women who masturbated found it easy to orgasm. By comparing the two experiences, Shere Hite concluded that women will find orgasm more difficult to achieve through intercourse because of the reduced clitoral stimulation.

Women, who are 'successful' with intercourse, either ensure that they obtain direct clitoral stimulation by applying orgasm techniques to sex (by masturbating themselves during sex or having their partner masturbate them) or they find ways of maximising indirect clitoral stimulation by finding suitable positions and techniques for sexual intercourse.

Clitoral stimulation is needed for orgasm

Clitoral stimulation is often associated with female masturbation and some people mistakenly assume that the clitoris is irrelevant to women who experience orgasm through intercourse. This is not the case. The clitoris is the female sex organ and the source of a woman's orgasm however she achieves it. People continue to refer to 'vaginal orgasms' but it is the clitoris that causes orgasm even if it occurs as a result of intercourse.

Women who orgasm through intercourse alone may be completely unaware of the indirect stimulation the clitoris receives as their partner thrusts into the vagina. Equally, women can enjoy many aspects of touching, penetration or non-genitally focused stimulation just as men do. Clitoral stimulation is not the 'be all and end all' of women's experience of sex. Nevertheless, the experts believe that for most women some clitoral stimulation, direct or indirect, is necessary to reach orgasm.

"The source of an orgasm, then, is clitoral. But a woman can feel orgasm mainly in her clitoris or the area beneath it, or in her vagina, or both, or in the whole pelvic area including her uterus, or - indeed - flooding her whole body." (p75 Woman's Experience of Sex 1983)

The clitoris is highly sensitive to touch much as the glans of the penis is. So when we talk about direct stimulation of the clitoris, my personal experience is that this involves stimulating the clitoris through the skin around (the labia) and over (the hood of) the clitoris. I tend to rub downwards from my vulva above the clitoris and press one or two fingers from each hand over the clitoral area.

The sensitive clitoris is pressured through the protective layer of skin immediately around it. During masturbation, my stimulation of the clitoris is not particularly vigorous or even direct. However, stimulation can be focused at crucial moments of arousal and is far more direct than the total lack of sensation that I experience during vaginal intercourse.

Jane Thomas: Author http://www.WaysWomenOrgasm.org and http://www.Nosper.com