The female orgasm has long been studied but what actually happens when a woman becomes aroused? There are various bodily processes which take place when women become aroused during sex, some of which are visible and others which take place within the body. When a woman begins to get aroused, the blood vessels in her genitals dilate which increases the flow of blood to the vaginal walls. This results in fluid passing through them, providing the main source of lubrication to make the vagina wet and sex less painful. The majority of the vagina becomes swollen due to this increase in blood supply, with the clitoris, inner and outer lips, and vaginal opening becoming engorged. Physically, by this stage, the woman will be breathing faster and her pulse will have quickened. By the plateau stage, the blood flow to the lower third of the vagina reaches capacity and leads to the vagina becoming firm – medically, this is referred to as introitus, and this means there will be rhythmic contractions during the orgasm.
As she gets closer to orgasm, the clitoris pulls back against the pubic bone and is no longer visible – in order to reach orgasm, a woman requires constant stimulation in this area. The orgasm stage is the intensely pleasurable release of sexual tension which has built up in the earlier stages of intercourse – it’s characterised by the contractions which take place in the genital muscles, generally 0.8 seconds apart. There is no recovery stage after an orgasm for women as there is with men, so a woman can have another orgasm immediately afterwards if she is stimulated again. After an orgasm, her body will slowly return to a normal state which means the swelling will reduce, her breathing will slow down and her heart rate will return to normal.
Since 2000, researchers have been looking into the various ways that they can influence and improve the female orgasm, through developing drugs that mimic the effects of Viagra in men. So far, these efforts have proven to show no effect on women – while Viagra works to improve a man’s sexual function, it only slightly increases the lubrication in women. The female orgasm is quite different to that of a man, as all women vary and their arousal triggers differ. Some women aren’t very interested in sex, whereas others are passionate about it – the levels of sex drive vary enormously from woman to woman. Research suggests that most modern women are very open about sex and talking about the subject, which compares massively to the thoughts that both men and women had on the subject years before. Various studies have been carried out to determine how women think about sex, and a small study carried out in 2005 showed that a large proportion of young women have very little interest in sex – most of the women questioned were just starting at university and claimed that they had not yet learned how to reach orgasm. This is, of course, perfectly natural and is something which is developed over time through experience. Unlike men, who generally can climax without any problems from the moment they reach puberty, women require help in reaching orgasm. It’s for this reason that many studies have found that most women will often spend a couple of years experimenting with their sexual feelings before they learn how to climax regularly. After this stage, men and women tend to respond to the same sort of stimuli when it comes to sexual arousal.
