Anti-climactic: Investigating how late adolescents perceive and deal with orgasm difficulty in the context of their intimate relationships

Abstract

There is a long history of survey research indicating high rates of orgasm difficulties among adults. We sought to investigate how male and female heterosexual late adolescents perceive difficulties with orgasm, whether gender differences were apparent, and how they tried to resolve these difficulties (if at all). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 53 heterosexual male and female adolescents, aged 18–21 years. Interviews were guided around the question of when sex was not as good as they thought it should be, with subsequent open-ended probes questioning them about specific difficulties around sex, including difficulty having, reaching, or timing orgasm, their feelings about these difficulties, and any efforts they took to resolve these difficulties. The majority (71%) of young women and a third (33%) of young men reported having difficulty reaching orgasm in partnered sex, whereas 38% of men also reported ejaculating too quickly. Themes that emerged included reports of not being taught about pleasure in school or at home, that sex was completed after the male partners' orgasm, and some participants resorting to faking orgasm when feeling that they were taking too long. Resolution of orgasm difficulty tended to occur in the context of communicative relationships for both the young men and women in the sample. The results of the study provide insight into issues with orgasm for young people specifically, and the role of communication in sexual problem-solving, which may be applied in sexual health education contexts, including online forums.

The Influence of Types of Stimulation and Attitudes to Clitoral Self-stimulation on Female Sexual and Orgasm Satisfaction: a Cross-sectional Study

“…It is also possible that well-educated young women are particularly engaged in self-optimization, which may encourage sexual pressure to perform. Moreover, there is little education about sexual functioning at school (Cormier & O'Sullivan, 2018), which could be a possible reason for this pressure. It is especially important for adolescents to discover their own bodies: Regular masturbation during this time facilitates experiencing orgasms during sexual intercourse (Carvalheira & Leal, 2013).…”

Let’s talk about sexual health education: Youth perspectives on their learning experiences in Canada

“…wanting access to more inclusive information that is practically While the importance of online and community-based pro-and culturally relevant, and includes positive messaging about gramming cannot be overstated, the literature suggests a sense of sex and relationships ( e.g., Causarano et al, 2010 ;Cormier & appreciation for receiving sexual health education at school. For O 'Sullivan, 2018 ;Larkin et al, 2017;Martinez & Phillips, 2008; example, a sample of high school students in New Brunswick re- Narushima et al, 2020 ;Flicker et al, 2009 ).…”

“…Y outh in these Toronto-based studies (Causarano et al, 2010;Narushima et al, 2020) also expressed wanting to receive more positive messag es and learn more about sexual pleasure. In another Canadian study, Cormier and O'Sullivan (2018 ) observed that participants (ages 18-21) retrospectively felt dissatisfied that their sexual health education had skipped over sexual pleasure as a topic.…”