In “Three Essays on the theory of Sexuality” Sigmund Freud stated that there were two types of female orgasms, vaginal and clitoral, and declared the latter to be “infantile and immature.” Women who didn’t transfer the center of sensitivity to the vagina, Freud labeled as frigid. “It was the idea that launched a thousand fake orgasms,” says Faye Flam* in “Female orgasm: from Freud to Lloyd.”
An article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine says otherwise. In fact, women who report primarily stimulating their clitoris to reach orgasm also higher trait sexual drive and higher sexual arousal. To determine this, a research team led by Nicole Prause of UCLA asked 88 women ages 18 to 53 to answer detailed questions about their sexual and orgasm history as well as depression and anxiety. The women in the study watched films and reported on their responses. The researchers concluded that “Women who reported primarily stimulating their clitoris to reach orgasm reported higher trait sexual drive and higher sexual arousal to visual sexual stimulation and were better able to increase their sexual arousal to visual sexual stimulation when instructed than women who reported orgasms primarily from vaginal sources.”
This study focused on cisgendered women, so more diverse research remains necessary.
Learn more:
18 Women Describe What an Orgasm Feels Like to Them.
Read about another study of female orgasm. The Biggest-Ever Orgasm Study Tells Us More About How Women Come.
*The article is not related to this study, but is still educational: Female orgasm: from Freud to Lloyd.
