Orgasm Equality

ā€œNope, I never have.ā€

He was asking me, again, as if I hadnā€™t already told him I donā€™t orgasm, as if it was just so appalling that I couldnā€™t possibly have been telling the truth the first time. In a twisted way, it was amusing that he was so insulted by what people with a vulva experience. I was a 21 year-old and had never had a orgasm. For most people who are socialized as a female, this isn’t surprising.Ā 

But of course I hadnā€™t. Even after living in a school district that covered (slightly) more than abstinence in sex-ed, even after voraciously reading every sex listicle or Yahoo answers thread, even after watching people fuck on TV and Chrome Incognito, I had barely heard anyone talk about what makes a vulva feel good.

Every mainstream magazine targeting women boasts the same derivative kind of article like ā€œ29 Ways to Drive Him Wild.ā€ Movies constantly show women having a orgasm from penetration, when in reality, a majority of people with vulvas donā€™t.Ā I literally once read an article about how to cut a grapefruit for the use of stimulating a penis, yet Iā€™ve never read about how to stimulate a vulva. God forbid we want to pleasure ourselves, or our partners with vulvas.

The closest magazines get is usually along the lines of “Hereā€™s how to accidentally get off during vaginal intercourse…ā€ implying that intercourse is the only sexual act that matters. Laurie Mintz describes in Becoming CliterateĀ that language exemplifies the ways society centers sex around the male experience. Most people understand the word ā€œsexā€ to mean vaginal intercourse between vulva and penis.Ā  This reliably leads people with penises to orgasm, and simultaneously negates the experience of non-hetero sex, manual, and/or oral sexā€”Ā which are generally a more reliable route to orgasm for people who have a vulva.Ā 

Same goes for the overuse of the word and focus on “vagina.” The reason why Mintz encourages, rather, the use ofĀ  “vulva” is that it’s more anatomically correct, plus it includes all of the different machinery that, depending on the person, may be more crucial to their sexual satisfaction than the vagina. The fact that the anatomy of female genitalia is not common knowledge, and that society frequently use the wrong word reinforces the idea that these bodies and their subsequent needs are not important.

What further proves this lack of consideration is the normalization of female pain during intercourse.Ā 

ā€œA casual survey of forums where people discuss ā€˜bad sexā€™ suggests that men tend to use the term to describe a passive partner or a boring experience… But when most women talk about ā€˜bad sex,ā€™ they tend to mean coercion, or emotional discomfort or, even more commonly, physical pain,” assertsĀ Ā Lili Loofbourow in her incredible articleĀ ā€œThe Price of Male Pleasure: Female Pain.”Ā Heterosexual women are taught to expect little from sex or else face disappointment. Weā€™re taught that our bodies are for satisfying men, not ourselves. That our partner’s pleasure is more important than our pain. Thatā€™s bullshit, and Iā€™m angry about it.

Unfortunately, it is normal for a person socialized as female not to orgasm or enjoy sex. If youā€™re someone in that situation, know this: you are normal. You are not alone. If it doesnā€™t always feel that way, I understand. It definitely didnā€™t to me.Ā Most of the time I felt like I would never enjoy sex, and any attempts to change that felt hopeless.Ā I felt like a freak, worried maybe there was something medically wrong with me. I tried so hard to do everything I could to please my partners that when my lack of orgasm hurt their ego, I felt like I had let them down. I wished I could orgasm to make them feel good.

So thatā€™s how I got to be 21, an expert on all things dick-approved but completely at a loss for what to do with my own vulva.Ā I finally decided I deserved pleasure as much as my partners did, and that I would pursue mine as eagerly as I had theirs. As unfair as it is, I wasnā€™t going to stumble across sex-positive media centered around the female body and experience, so I had to seek it out.

I started masturbating. I bought a couple of vibrators. On OMGYes.com I found videos of people with vulvas explaining and demonstrating exactly what motions and rhythms worked for them.Ā I read Come as You AreĀ and Becoming Cliterate,Ā which are both books specifically geared towards helping people with vulvas revolt against the toxic sexual norm and craft the fulfilling, reciprocal sex lives that we deserve.

Reading about other people who had struggled like me and had gone on to learn to enjoy sex gave me hope. It also made me feel normal for the first time. I could recognize how society had lead me to this position, which gave me the knowledge to walk away from all of the ideas that didnā€™t serve me, and walk right into my bedroom and give myself my own goddamn orgasm.

Deciding my pleasure was importantĀ  and worthy of time and effort were the biggest factors leading to my orgasm, and in fact, it many ways more important than the orgasm itself.

In reality some people with vulvas donā€™t orgasm, and that’s okay, too. They can lead just as exciting and satisfying sex lives as everyone else. However, what good sex does include is knowing you and your partnerā€™s body, which is why the lack of education on vulva satisfaction is so upsetting. When I initially admitted to a partner I had never orgasmed, I thought a lot about how his shock reaction revealed how little he understood the female body. Although, through the months and the books and the vibrators since, I was surprised to find out how little I understood about my own body, as well. Both parties needed to change.

If youā€™re having sex with someone, your pleasure should be as important as theirs. Oral sex should be reciprocal. Everyone should be taught where the clitoris is. Female masturbation should be as widely accepted by society as male masturbation. Public and private sex education should cover pleasuring people with vulvas! Additionally, emphasis should not be placed on vaginal intercourse as the sole valid form of sex.

More than anything, we need to talk about sex: as a community, as a society, with our parents, with our children. Reassure your friends that they are normal. Ask your partner to tell (or show!) you what makes them feel good. As Loofbourow says, ā€œsex is always a step behind social progress in other areas because of its intimacy.ā€ So, letā€™s talk about intimate justice and orgasm equality. Letā€™s give the next generation the education they need to have mutually satisfying encounters, instead of struggling and scrambling for years like many of us have. Letā€™s tell them what we wish our partners had known. And what we wish we’d known.