The vaginal orgasm mystery
The question of vaginal orgasm has attracted the attention of scientists throughout history. In 1954, researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, who were studying arousal and orgasm, decided to find out what happens to the cervix and vagina during sex. They equipped their lab with a new, unusual device — a penis camera — to find the answer to their question. The women who participated in their study had sex with a machine that recorded and filmed their internal physiological processes. Masters and Johnson’s conclusion that the participants experienced orgasms only from mechanical movements from the penis camera raised many questions. Previous observations by Dickinson and Kinsey showed how important the clitoris is to a woman’s pleasure, so the doubts were reasonable.
The understanding of vaginal orgasm was a subject of interest not only to scientists but also to women themselves. In 1924, Marie Bonaparte, a great-great-granddaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to conduct her research. She was a passionate woman and wanted to enjoy sexual relations. Although Marie was not a doctor, her experiment involved 243 women and measured the distance between the clitoris and the vagina. She hypothesized that the shorter the span, the more likely a woman would find satisfaction in traditional sex. As a result, Marie Bonaparte classified women into three categories:
- Téleclitoridiennes (21%) — clitoris to vagina measures more than two and a half centimeters — has problems achieving orgasm.
- Paraclitoridiennes (69%) — measures no greater than two and a half centimeters — experiences orgasms easily through the movements of the penis
- Mesclitoridiennes (10%) — measured precisely two and a half centimeters — can reach orgasm depending on their mood or partner’s skills.
Neuroendocrinology professor, Kim Wallen, confirmed the validity of Bonaparte’s idea.
Although there were different views on orgasm, Roach considered Alfred Kinsey the closest to the truth. He believed a woman’s erotic responses depend not on physiology but her willingness to experience pleasure. By choosing a position from above, they declare their desire and take control of orgasm into their hands.
And what about the success of the penis camera? It turned out that the secret was not in a unique technique, but the participants in the experiment, who achieved coital orgasm with ease.