Female Orgasm

5 Pages 1298 Words

Female Orgasm and the Question of Its Significance

The orgasmic experience, shroud in an almost divine appreciation, is regarded as the peak of one’s potential for sensuous pleasure. Physiologically, orgasm is a series of rhythmic contractions of specific sexual “target organs” paralleling a release of built-up muscle tension and genital vasocongestion, swelling due to increased blood flow (Masters & Johnson, 1966; Matlin, 2000). Orgasm is generally perceived as the peak of sexual experience, and the significance of female orgasm has been an opposing position taken up by researchers. This idea springs from the fundamental observation that while male orgasm is essential for conception to take place, female orgasm is not, but it is being said that it can help. I hope to learn what factors, if any, female orgasm contributes to reproduction or if it’s merely just for pleasure.
I will first explain the female orgasm and what takes place. Upon sexual arousal, a woman's heart beats faster and she starts breathing more quickly. Various muscles throughout her body tighten, breasts enlarge, and nipples tend to stand erect. The visible part of the clitoris also swells. Secretions begin inside and at the opening of the vagina. The labia flatten out and open up, and the vagina lengthens and widens internally. The vaginal changes are mostly due to an engorgement of blood in the pelvic area that provide a generally pleasurable warmth. As her arousal climbs, most of these changes become more pronounced. The area of principal orgasmic importance is the outer third of the vagina; what Masters and Johnson refer to as the “orgasmic platform” (p. 76). This target area is the focus of vasocongestion, increased blood flow that produces swelling of the labia and the release of moisture into the vagina, which first develops in the excitement phase. When a woman reaches orgasm this vasocongestion as well as the muscle tension that has been b...