Pathways To Experiencing Orgasm in Women

Women’s bodies are capable of experiencing orgasm in many ways. Women can achieve orgasm through a number of different means and types of stimulation.

The female orgasm continues to be the subject of intense scientific interest. Doctors puzzle over the different means by which women can achieve orgasm, and the things that can prevent orgasm in women.

Orgasm in Women: What Happens, Exactly?
When women do climax, "there are changes throughout the whole body, a head-to-toe kind of experience," says Michael Ingber, MD, a physician in urology and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at the Atlantic Health System in Morristown, New Jersey, and a fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health.

How Women Achieve Orgasm
One of the ways women can experience orgasm is through a goal-oriented four-step process. Let take a look at them.

1. Excitement In this state of desire or arousal, the woman initiates or agrees to sex, and as it commences she finds herself focusing mainly on sexual stimuli. Blood begins to engorge the clitoris, vagina, and nipples, and creates a full-body sexual blush. Heart rate and blood pressure increases. Testosterone and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin are involved in these processes, says Dr. Ingber.

2. Plateau Sexual tension builds as a precursor to orgasm. The outer one-third of the vagina becomes particularly engorged with blood, creating what researchers refer to as the "orgasmic platform." Focus on sexual stimuli drowns out all other sensations. Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration continue to increase.

3. Orgasm A series of rhythmic contractions occur in the uterus, vagina, and pelvic floor muscles. The sexual tension caused by lovemaking or self-stimulation releases, and muscles throughout the body may contract. A feeling of warmth usually emanates from the pelvis and spreads throughout the entire body.

4. Resolution The body relaxes, with blood flowing away from the engorged sexual organs. Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration return to normal.

Different Types of Stimulation, Different Types of Orgasm

Women are blessed with bodies that are capable of experiencing orgasm in more ways than one. Some researchers believe that there are as many as 12 types of female orgasms. The most common type is a "clitoral" orgasm, says Ingber. Clitoral stimulation has been proved the surest route to orgasm.

Vaginal Stimulation, the G-Spot, and Intense Sexual Pleasure

But some women can also experience orgasm through vaginal stimulation. The G-spot is an area felt through the wall of the vagina, an inch or two behind the back of the pubic bone near the junction of the bladder and the urethra and made up of tissues of the clitoris, urethra, and the female prostate gland, says Dr. Whipple. Some researchers believe that when stimulated, the G-spot causes intense sexual pleasure in some women; others question whether women can feel such pleasure at this location at all.

Sensory Pathways, Stimulation, and Orgasm Generation

Women also have been able to have orgasms through stimulation of the breasts or other parts of the body, or through the use of sexual imagery without any touch at all. Researchers have even found a nerve pathway outside the spinal cord, through the sensory vagus nerve, that will lead a woman to experience orgasm through sensations transmitted directly to the brain. "There are many nerve pathways that are responsible for the experience of orgasm in women," says Whipple.

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