Thoughts surrounding the big O have thankfully progressed from deep misunderstanding to…slight comprehension. Nevertheless, this article goes out to the vaginas of the past: the used, the abused, and the unenthused.
Philosophically Speaking…
It may surprise you (like it surprised me), that female pleasure during sex was not shunned all throughout history. In Ancient Greece the female orgasm was actually kind of a big deal. The famous Philosopher, Aristotle believed that female ejaculation or as he called it, “female essence” (I’m very about that lingo), needed to be released during intercourse and was necessary for child-bearing.
However, there is a catch. While pleasure is mentioned and recognized, it is only applicable in terms of reproduction. In other words, the vagina was still seen as a labor mechanism serving to pump out babies instead of a delicate organ in need of some tender loving care.
Victorian Era Hysteria
We can pinpoint the Victorian era as a time of medical fallacies in the name of misogyny. At this time, women were so misinformed about their sexuality that any type of arousal sent some running to the doctors out of fear and confusion. However, even a doctor’s visit was met by sexual falsehood. The women who simply desired pleasurable sex were diagnosed with a madeup bullsh*t medical term called “hysteria”. Basically, they were denounced crazy by medical professionals for wanting to get their lil 19th century freak on.
However, it wasn’t all too dark for the Victorian vaginas; vibrators were actually invented in the era to treat “hysteria”. When a female did orgasm it was called “hysterical paroxysm”, and–alas, hysteria no more! The Victorians just wanted to make women feel crazy; I guess not much has changed since then.
Wait–Girls Masturbate Too?
It’s the 1940’s and Alfred Kinsey is talking all kinds of sex: frequency of male masturbation, sexual peaks in females, and that homosexuality is much more common than previously thought. Although, what may have been some of his most important work had to do with the long-overdue acknowledgement of the female orgasm. Finally, someone said the O word! Kinsey also discovered that women masturbate outside of sex for pleasure (this was an extremely taboo topic at the time).
Disclaimer: While we can thank Alfred Kinsey for sexual liberation of the 40’s, we must acknowledge that he was accused of unjustifiable sexual crimes at the time as well.
Dr. William Masters and Virginia Wolfe expanded on Kinsey’s work and dove deeper into the topic of the female orgasm. Masters and Wolfe discovered that women could orgasm multiple times while their male partner could only once: huge victory for the vag.
Sex in the 60’s
Sex-positive pioneers challenged all customary ideas about the act and shoved their way towards sexual liberation. Women no longer felt like they had to wait until marriage–they were horny, why wait? Sex was now a separate act apart from getting married and having babies, pleasure was free.
The Big O Today
Today, the female orgasm is known everywhere to everyone. Health experts have conducted extensive research on female sexual pleasure and recent technology has made various types of safe and effective birth control methods for women. It is nice to know the facts are out, yet some partners are still playing dumb in the bedroom.
Because of stigmas from the past and inaccurate representations of sex in pornography, a woman’s right to equal pleasure is still an afterthought.
If you ever find yourself devoid of satisfaction in the bedroom, don’t assume you are doing something wrong. Let your partner know and then find and express what you like.
To read more about what you may need to get it going in the bedroom or on own check out these:
https://www.glamour.com/story/how-to-orgasm-during-sex-tips