Vaginal vs. Clitoral Orgasm

It is true that the clitoris is an extensive network of erectile tissue capable of creating exceptional levels of pleasure, and yes, it is true that the structures located there are, for many women, the most accessible points for reaching orgasm.

A few months ago, or perhaps a year ago, I can no longer be certain since with two children days feel like seconds and years like months, an article about orgasm went viral. It claimed that vaginal orgasm does not exist and that the clitoral orgasm is the only way for women to reach climax.

vaginalni-klitorralni-orgazam-slika

This claim contradicts my experience and that of thousands of women worldwide. It also disregards a current scientific finding that the cervix is a zone of pleasure for women, a place where orgasm can occur. This has been confirmed even in women who are paralyzed from the waist down.

A few aspects of that article stood out to me. First, the researchers who wrote it were not sexologists, which means they lacked a meaningful point of reference regarding vaginal orgasms. Second, they did not address the neural pathways involved in female sexual pleasure that contribute to the rich array of sensations women can experience.

They also assert that the clitoris is nothing more than a female penis, which reduces women’s orgasmic experience to a male equivalent, without ejaculation of course.

What unsettles me about that article, and others of its kind, is the compartmentalization of the female orgasm and the either or approach, meaning clitoris or vagina. They are unaware, indeed they have no idea, that women’s pleasure is optimal when the entire mechanism is engaged and operating at its fullest.

In truth, the female pleasure system is exactly that, a system that works most effectively when all of its parts are stimulated.

It is true that the clitoris is a wide network of erectile tissue capable of generating intense pleasure, and it is also true that for many women the structures located there are the simplest points for achieving orgasm.

Yet does that necessarily negate the existence of the other ten or more types of orgasm that women can experience? Some of those arousal points are not even connected to clitoral anatomy, for example:

orgasm via the perineal sponge or perineal body (a cluster of tissue and blood vessels in the lower part of the female genital area, located between the vaginal opening and the rectum)
anal orgasm
cervical orgasm
orgasm at the PFE point (located on the posterior vaginal wall, in the area between the urethra and the vagina. This point is also known as the U-spot or cul-de-sac. Stimulation here can lead to so called ejaculatory orgasms, although many women can squirt through stimulation of other points, while some will not ejaculate from this point)
orgasm at the AFE point (also known as the AFE zone, AFE, A-spot, epicenter, or the other G-spot. Stimulation of this point can release vaginal fluids very quickly without any other stimulation. With continuous stimulation a woman may experience an intense orgasm).
orgasm through nipple stimulation
orgasm through full body stimulation
uterine orgasm
G-spot, and more

All of these types of orgasm activate different neural pathways that run from the pelvis to the brain.

These neural pathways matter far more than the clitoris alone, since every woman has her own unique distribution of nerve endings that nourish zones of sexual pleasure. For example, some women have more nerve endings in the clitoris, some in the cervix, some in the anus, and so forth.

Many of these nerve endings can go offline as a result of trauma, yet they can also be reawakened through therapeutic sexual techniques.

Another point I wish to emphasize, as I believe I have in all my writings so far, is the importance of the mind and how our emotional and mental nature is more influential than our physiology.

There are stories and testimonies from women that clearly show how their emotional nature profoundly shapes their sexual response. One woman shared that during a period when she felt quite unwell and sad, she noticed that her clitoris, previously easy to stimulate, had become completely numb. It did not matter how long or how perfectly that area was stimulated, because her emotions had created an invisible barrier between her and pleasure. After she was able to release that emotional blockage, she felt sensation in her clitoris return.

Personally, I find the debate about whether the source of the female orgasm is in the clitoris or in the vagina to be rather absurd.

Why not talk instead about the astonishing complexity of the entire system? Why not be consistently amazed by how erectile tissue, the nervous system, the brain, the body, the heart, and the mind all work together to produce states of ecstasy and bliss that are unique to the human nervous system? Not only that, they cannot be produced in any other way than through sexual and sensual pleasure.

I believe we do a disservice to women and men when we try to split the different parts of the anatomy of sexual pleasure and exalt one over another. Just as Western medicine tries to separate the body from the mind and soul and fails, this clitoris versus vagina approach will only cause frustration and confusion.

The best sexual experience for women and men comes from understanding the entire system of sexual pleasure. Learning does not end there, what is learned and gained needs to be cultivated with love, attentiveness, clear communication, and care.