BY: SAMANTHA TAPP
You don’t need any convincing from science to have sex. You don’t need to be told it’s good for your physical health or your mental health for you to want to get laid. You know it’s natural, you know you want to, and you definitely know you don’t need to be convinced. What you, and every other sexual person, does want to know is: how do I do it better? How do I achieve the ultimate pleasure possible?
Well, ladies you’re in luck. And for the people that can’t quite figure out what the hell is going on down there, listen up, because in this case, science is going to tell you a little about the female orgasm. Unfortunately for some women, they just aren’t able to have vaginal orgasms, for others it happens all the time. Researchers have been long trying to figure out what differs (other than a shitty sexual partner) between women that enables only some to have vaginal orgasms.
Researchers have done some pretty bizarre studies to figure out how to best get a woman going and they have found a couple of answers. A couple of these tips may enhance your sex life, or just make you wonder how the hell women got paid to participate in these studies (or how you can get involved), but at the very least you may learn something from these crazy sex studies.
Check out your lips
In a study conducted in 2011 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers sent out an online survey that asked 258 women about the shape of their lips, along with their ability to experience a vaginal orgasm. According to co-author, Rui Miguel Costa, at the University of the West of Scotland, a prominent and sharply raised lip tubercle (the tiny spot at the middle of the upper lip) is associated with a greater chance of having a vaginal orgasm. While the lip has nothing to do with desirability, Costa suggests that the lip and orgasm connection may have to do with what goes on before a woman is born. In other words, whatever shapes a fetus’ tubercle may also shape the neural circuits that affects the ability to orgasm as a woman matures.
In another study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers found that women who walk with an energetic, fluid stride have the best chance of achieving a vaginal orgasm. Researchers from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and the University of West Scotland, conducted a questionnaire on students’ sexual behaviour.
The students were split into two groups, those who have vaginal orgasm rarely and those who have them regularly, and then were asked to walk. The students were asked to think about pleasant thoughts (like a vacation) for 100 metres, and then think about a loving relationship for another 100 metres. Two sexologists were able to correctly tell which women had orgasms or not 81 per cent of the time. No, it doesn’t mean one group was crazily swinging their hips, but rather women who can have vaginal orgasms don’t have blocked pelvic muscles, which gives them the natural, fluid stride.
Researchers noted that it’s not a seductive walk that shows who can achieve an orgasm and the walks can only be determined in flats, as heels distort the walk.
Put socks on your feet
You don’t want cold feet when you’re going to have sex- metaphorically or physically. In a study conducted by Gert Holstege, at the Center for Uroneurology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the research found that when women wore socks during sex, they were able to achieve an orgasm 80 per cent of the time, compared to the 50 per cent without socks. According to Holstege, to calm a woman’s amygdala and prefrontal cortex (the areas of the brain responsible for anxiety, danger, and fear) there needs to be a comfortable environment that makes her feel safe and secure- and this includes having warm feet.
Researchers have usually looked to the high levels of testosterone in men as the answer to why they’re so horny. But scientists from the University of Michigan conducted a study that found that women with higher levels of testosterone have a greater desire to masturbate, but they are less interested in having sex with a partner. They concluded that anxiety plays a factor in human sexual desire. The results found that the women with high testosterone levels could be due to higher stress because of the adrenal glands, which release the hormone, go crazy during stressful times.
The researchers suggest that the desire to masturbate instead of having sex could mean that some women have the urge to ease anxiety by themselves instead of potentially adding more stress to their lives.
More skin, less latex
Researchers Gordon Gallup and Rebecca Burch from State University of New York at Albany, and psychologist Steven Platek of the University of Liverpool, found that performing oral sex or having sex without a condom has its benefits. No, not just pleasurable benefits, but both mental and physical health benefits for women because of the effects of semen’s ‘mood-altering chemicals.’
The researchers asked 293 women to complete two surveys about their sex lives and their mental make up. Then, the researchers measured the seminal plasma circulating in the women’s systems and compared it to the survey data. The results found that women who chose to go bare had significantly less depressive symptoms than those who chose to wrap it. The answer to why a condom has this effect? The mood-altering chemicals found in semen: cortisol, which is connected to affection; oxytocin, which is connected to mood elevation; and serotonin, which has anti-depressant qualities.
So, not to promote unsafe sex, but you may want to try it.