If you’re sick and tired of hearing about your friends’ great sex lives while feeling a little insecure because you can’t seem to orgasm during sex, take heart.
It’s not you. It’s not your girlfriend. It’s science.
A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the Indiana University School of Medicine have investigated why some women find it difficult to achieve orgasm, and they’ve found that it’s not all in the mind.
The new study, published in the journal Clinical Anatomy, looked at a range of previous studies in an attempt to clarify the links between sexual anatomy and the ability to orgasm. Some of the studies included magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of couples copulating, which provided information as to which sexual positions were the most likely to culminate in an orgasm.
For women, problems achieving orgasm are more related to sexual positioning. The researchers note that the closer the clitoris is to the vaginal wall during sex, the more likely an orgasm will occur.
The clitoris actually migrates towards this wall during intercourse, and as the MRI scans revealed, different positions are variably effective in helping to encourage this.
The most ideal position, according to the study, is one that stimulates the front wall of the vagina, like “missionary” or “cowgirl.”
The authors conclude that “orgasms are complex phenomena involving psychological, physiological, and anatomic variation.”
It’s safe to say that, then, different folks certainly require different strokes, so to speak.
While more research needs to be conducted on this specific topic, it’s worth noting it’s actually pretty common for women to have a tough time orgasming from sex.
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