Why many women may not have an orgasm? – healthmag.gr

According to Rowland, Cempel and Tempel, as reviewed in their recent study “Women’s Attributions Regarding Why They Have Difficulty Reaching Orgasm”, reports of difficulty or inability to orgasm in women vary from 10 to 40%.

Many factors can inhibit the ability to orgasm: age, hormonal status, sexual experience, physical arousal, general health, type of arousal, type of sexual activity (eg masturbating or not) and whether the relationship is short or long term.

Further studies show that while the majority of women can masturbate to orgasm, up to 50 percent of women do not experience orgasm during intercourse, even with added stimulation.

Why do women find it difficult to orgasm?

There are many possible factors, ranging from decreased sexual desire, pain during intercourse, difficulty with sexual arousal, and psychological and relationship factors, including stress and post-traumatic symptoms. Researching sexuality is difficult due to complex and interrelated factors, including statistical challenges as well as social stigma and taboos around discussing sexuality. However, given the extent of the problem, research is needed to guide clinical interventions for women and couples for whom reduced sexual satisfaction is a source of individual distress and relationship problems.

In order to better understand what women themselves attribute difficulties with orgasm to, Rowland and her colleagues surveyed 913 women over the age of 18, including 452 women who reported more severe problems achieving orgasm at baseline.

For women with more severe difficulty, 45% reported problems with orgasm during half of sexual experiences, 25% in three-quarters of sexual experiences, and 30% in almost all sexual experiences.

The researchers first formed several focus groups to develop a set of commonly reported factors and then developed an online survey that measured demographics, lifestyle, relationship status, how often they had sex, relationship quality, medication use, sexual responses, physiological factors (eg stimulation and lubrication) and orgasm.

Finally, they looked at the level of distress from orgasmic difficulty, which does not necessarily correlate perfectly with actual difficulty, as some women are not bothered by it or prefer to abstain from sexual activity for various reasons. Three groups were identified for comparison: women who had difficulty with orgasm but were not distressed by it, women who were distressed, and women who did not have difficulty with orgasm.

All were asked why they thought they had difficulties with orgasm, using 11 categories identified during the initial focus group and study development, including a 12th category ‘Other’. These are:

1. I’m not interested in sex with my partner.
2. My partner doesn’t seem interested in sex with me.
3. I don’t enjoy sex with my partner.
4. My partner doesn’t seem to enjoy sex with me.
5. I am not aroused/enthusiastic enough during sex.
6. I don’t lubricate enough during sex.
7. I feel pain and/or irritation during sex.
8. We don’t have enough time during sex.
9. I feel uncomfortable or self-conscious about my body/appearance.
10. I feel that medication or a medical condition interferes with orgasm.
11. I feel that stress and/or anxiety make it difficult for me to orgasm.
12. Other

The most common ones general reasons given by the women were:

• The stress and anxiety, which were mentioned by the 58%
• The lack of sufficient stimulation or stimulation by almost 48 percent and
• Not enough time by 40 percent.

The relevant common issues were:

• negative body image, reported by 28%
• pain or irritation during sex from 25%
• insufficient lubrication by 24% and
• medication-related problems by almost 17%

The other factors were mentioned less frequently, by less than 10 percent of respondents.

Some of these factors go together. For example, lack of arousal was linked to stress and anxiety, lack of time for sex, lubrication problems, and genital pain or irritation.

Women with a negative body image also tended to report stress and anxiety. Lack of lubrication, as expected, was associated with lack of time and genital discomfort.

Many of these factors are seemingly easy to address and likely reflect the quality of the relationship and the carelessness of the partner, among other reasons.

There are simple ways to improve orgasm frequency and quality through technique changes and specific communication strategies that improve overall sexual satisfaction and relationship.

While many of these approaches to improving orgasm and sexual satisfaction seem like common sense, obstacles such as poor relationship quality, inadequate or dysfunctional communication styles, unresolved individual issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and sexual and medical disorders, are often difficult. to really face.