Editing Orgasm (section)

==== Dysfunction and satisfaction ====
{{Further|Orgasm gap}}

The inability to have an orgasm, or regular difficulty reaching orgasm after ample sexual stimulation, is called anorgasmia or inorgasmia.<ref name="Bullough">{{cite book |vauthors = Bullough VL, Bullough B |title = Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia |publisher = [[Routledge]] |page = 32 |date = 2014 |access-date = December 6, 2014 |isbn = 978-1-135-82502-7 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-cqlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055204/https://books.google.com/books?id=-cqlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |url-status = live }}</ref> If a male experiences erection and ejaculation but no orgasm, he is said to have [[sexual anhedonia]] (a condition in which an individual cannot feel pleasure from an orgasm) or ejaculatory [[anhedonia]]. Anorgasmia is significantly more common in women than in men,<ref name="Rosenthal 2">{{cite book |first = Martha |last = Rosenthal |title = Human Sexuality: From Cells to Society |publisher = [[Cengage]] |date = 2012 |page = 150 |access-date = October 22, 2013 |isbn = 978-0-618-75571-4 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d58z5hgQ2gsC&pg=PT170 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055213/https://books.google.com/books?id=d58z5hgQ2gsC&pg=PT170 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Weiner2">{{cite book |vauthors = Weiner IB, Stricker G, Widiger TA |title = Handbook of Psychology, Clinical Psychology |publisher = [[John Wiley & Sons]] |date = 2012 |access-date = October 22, 2013 |pages = 172–175 |isbn = 978-1-118-40443-0 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A_NaK3cwQSsC&pg=PA172 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055236/https://books.google.com/books?id=A_NaK3cwQSsC&pg=PA172 |url-status = live }}</ref> which has been attributed to the lack of [[sex education]] about women's bodies, especially in [[Antisexualism|sex-negative]] cultures, such as clitoral stimulation usually being key for women to orgasm.<ref name="Weiner2" />

Approximately 25 percent of women report difficulties with orgasm,<ref name="Carroll 2">{{cite book |author = Janell L. Carroll |title = Discovery Series: Human Sexuality, 1st ed |publisher = [[Cengage]] |pages = 302–303 |isbn = 978-1-111-84189-8 |date = 2012 |access-date = August 25, 2013 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gU3SZSh-eXsC&pg=PT334 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055149/https://books.google.com/books?id=gU3SZSh-eXsC&pg=PT334 |url-status = live }}</ref> 10% of women have never had an orgasm,<ref name="Plotnik">{{cite book |author1 = Rod Plotnik |author2 = Haig Kouyoumdjian |title = Introduction to Psychology |publisher = [[Cengage]] |date = 2010 |page = 344 |isbn = 978-0-495-90344-4 |quote = Inhibited female orgasm refers to a persistent delay or absence of orgasm after becoming aroused and excited. About 10% of women never reach orgasm... }}</ref> and 40 percent or 40–50 percent have either complained about sexual dissatisfaction or experienced difficulty becoming sexually aroused at some point in their lives.<ref name="Knoepp">{{cite journal |vauthors = Knoepp LR, Shippey SH, Chen CC, Cundiff GW, Derogatis LR, Handa VL |title = Sexual complaints, pelvic floor symptoms, and sexual distress in women over forty |journal = [[The Journal of Sexual Medicine]] |volume = 7 |issue = 11 |pages = 3675–82 |date = 2010 |pmid = 20704643 |pmc = 3163299 |doi = 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01955.x }}</ref> A 1994 study by Laumann et al. found that 75 percent of men and 29 percent of women always had orgasms with their spouse, while 40 percent of men and 80 percent of women thought their spouse always orgasmed during sex.<ref name="Laumann">{{cite book |isbn = 978-0-226-47020-7 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=72AHO0rE2HoC&pg=PA130 |title = The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States |last1 = Laumann |first1 = Edward O. |page = 130 |date = December 15, 2000 | publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date = February 1, 2022 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055148/https://books.google.com/books?id=72AHO0rE2HoC&pg=PA130 |url-status = live }}</ref> These rates were different in non-marital straight relationships (cohabitational, long-term and short-term heterosexual relationships), with rates increasing to 81 percent for men and 43 percent for women orgasming during sex with their short-term partners, and 69 percent for men and 83 percent for women thinking their short-term partners always orgasmed.<ref name="Laumann" /> Women are much more likely to be nearly always or always orgasmic when alone than with a partner.<ref name="Kinsey Institute" /> In a 1996 study by Davis et{{nbsp}}al., 62 percent of women in a partnered relationship said they were satisfied with the frequency/consistency of their orgasms.<ref name="Kinsey Institute" /> Additionally, some women express that their most satisfying sexual experiences entail being connected to someone, rather than solely basing satisfaction on orgasm.<ref name="Wincze">{{Cite book |author = John Wincze |title = Enhancing Sexuality: A Problem-Solving Approach to Treating Dysfunction |date = 2009 |publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] |page = 60 |isbn = 978-0-19-971802-3 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8YxbeHsgiGMC&pg=PA60 |access-date = October 21, 2015 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055151/https://books.google.com/books?id=8YxbeHsgiGMC&pg=PA60 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Gurian">{{cite book |author = Michael Gurian |title = The Wonder of Aging: A New Approach to Embracing Life After Fifty |publisher = [[Simon & Schuster]] |date = 2013 |page = 178 |access-date = December 9, 2014 |isbn = 978-1-4767-0671-9 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XyS5ebuXJWgC&pg=PT178 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055155/https://books.google.com/books?id=XyS5ebuXJWgC&pg=PT178 |url-status = live }}</ref>

Kinsey's 1953 ''[[Kinsey Reports|Sexual Behavior in the Human Female]]'' shows that over the previous five years of sexual activity, 78 percent of women had orgasms in 60–100 percent of [[Women who have sex with women|sexual encounters with other women]], compared with 55 percent for heterosexual sex.<ref>[[Alfred Kinsey|Kinsey, A.]]; [[Wardell Pomeroy|Pomeroy, W.]]; [[Clyde Martin|Martin, C.]], & [[Paul Gebhard|Gebhard, P.]] ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'', Philadelphia: Saunders (1953), {{ISBN|978-0-253-33411-4}}.</ref> Kinsey attributed this difference to female partners knowing more about women's sexuality and how to optimize women's sexual satisfaction than male partners do.<ref name="Weiten" /> Like Kinsey, scholars such as Peplau, Fingerhut, and Beals (2004) and Diamond (2006) found that lesbians have orgasms more often and more easily in sexual interactions than heterosexual women do,<ref name="Weiten" /> and that female partners are more likely to emphasize the emotional aspects of lovemaking.<ref name="Weiten" /> In contrast, research by Diane Holmberg and Karen L. Blair (2009), published in the ''Journal of Sex Research'', found that women in same-sex relationships enjoyed identical sexual desire, sexual communication, sexual satisfaction, and satisfaction with orgasm as their heterosexual counterparts.<ref>{{cite journal |title = Sexual Desire, Communication, Satisfaction, and Preferences of Men and Women in Same-Sex Versus Mixed-Sex Relationships |first1 = Diane |last1 = Holmberg |first2 = Karen Lyndsay |last2 = Blair |pages = 57–66 |doi = 10.1080/00224490802645294 |pmid = 19116863 |issn = 1559-8519 |journal = [[Journal of Sex Research|The Journal of Sex Research]] |volume = 46 |issue = 1 |date = 2009 |url = http://static1.squarespace.com/static/527403c4e4b02d3f058d2f18/t/52743826e4b08c252c719b66/1383348262856/Holmberg+%26+Blair+JSR+Vol+46+Iss+1+2009.pdf |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170125072622/http://static1.squarespace.com/static/527403c4e4b02d3f058d2f18/t/52743826e4b08c252c719b66/1383348262856/Holmberg%2B%26%2BBlair%2BJSR%2BVol%2B46%2BIss%2B1%2B2009.pdf |archive-date = January 25, 2017 |citeseerx = 10.1.1.533.9867 |s2cid = 26863933 }}</ref>

If orgasm is desired, anorgasmia may be attributed to an inability to relax. It may be associated with performance pressure and an unwillingness to pursue pleasure, as separate from the other person's satisfaction; often, women worry so much about the pleasure of their partner that they become anxious, which manifests as impatience with the delay of orgasm for them. This delay can lead to frustration of not reaching orgasmic sexual satisfaction.<ref name="Carroll 2" /> Psychoanalyst [[Wilhelm Reich]], in his 1927 book ''[[Die Funktion des Orgasmus]]'' (published in English in 1980 as ''Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis'') was the first to make orgasm central to the concept of mental health, and he defined [[neurosis]] in terms of blocks to having [[orgastic potency]]. Although orgasm dysfunction can have psychological components, physiological factors often play a role. For instance, delayed orgasm or the inability to achieve orgasm is a common side effect of many medications.

Specifically, with simultaneous orgasm and similar practices, many sexologists claim that the problem of [[premature ejaculation]]<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.sexarchive.info/IES/italy.html |title = The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Italy |publisher = .hu-berlin.de |date = January 1, 1999 |access-date = October 15, 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305193730/http://www.sexarchive.info/IES/italy.html |archive-date = March 5, 2016 }}</ref> is closely related to the idea encouraged by a scientific approach in the early 20th century when mutual orgasm was overly emphasized as an objective and a sign of true sexual satisfaction in intimate relationships. [[Menopause]] may involve loss of hormones supporting sexuality and genital functionality. Vaginal and clitoral atrophy and dryness affect up to 50–60 percent of postmenopausal women.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid = 10022110 |volume = 281 |issue = 6 |title = Sexual dysfunction in the United States: prevalence and predictors |date = February 1999 |journal = JAMA |pages = 537–44 |vauthors = Laumann EO, Paik A, Rosen RC |doi = 10.1001/jama.281.6.537 |doi-access =  }}</ref> Testosterone levels in men fall as they age. Sexual dysfunction overall becomes more likely with poor physical and emotional health. "Negative experiences in sexual relationships and overall well-being" are associated with sexual dysfunction.<ref>Laumann EO, Paik A, Rosen RC, "Sexual dysfunction in the United States: prevalence and predictors", ''JAMA'', 2007 August, {{cite web |url = http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/561934 |title = Vaginal Atrophy: The 21st Century Health Issue Affecting Quality of Life |access-date = May 25, 2011 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110101113135/http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/561934 |archive-date = January 1, 2011 }}. Retrieved May 24, 2011</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors = Yee LA, Sundquist KJ |date = 2003 |title = Older women's sexuality |url = https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2003/178/12/older-womens-sexuality#i1082816 |journal = The Medical Journal of Australia |volume = 178 |issue = 12 |pages = 640–643 |doi = 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05393.x |pmid = 12797854 |s2cid = 33581540 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170112032713/https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2003/178/12/older-womens-sexuality#i1082816 |archive-date = January 12, 2017 |df = mdy-all |url-access = subscription }}</ref>