he female orgasm has always been a matter of intense interest (especially to the half of the world population who possess a vagina), but the reality of what women actually experience is often shroud-ed in mystery (mostly to the other half of the population, who don’t possess one).
Some women argue it’s essential for or-gasms and others refute its existence, but for many women, vaginal orgasms and the mysterious G-spot are nothing but an unat-tainable dream. Whatever your stance, the G-spot has always been controversial and
the subject of considerable media hype. Statistics vary greatly, but past surveys suggest that the majority of women have never experienced an internal G-spot or-gasm, and some women even fi nd it diffi cult to achieve a clitoral one. According to the 2008 National Orgasm Survey, 72 per cent of women have got a G-spot, although only 31 per cent claim to have experienced a vaginal orgasm and 36 per cent of women don’t orgasm at all during sex unless they stimulate their clitoris themselves.
While some ‘experts’ dismiss the idea
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Anterior wall erogenous zone or Freudian myth?
Rhalou Allerhand examines the mystery of the G-spot
Illustrations: Matt Reynolds
THE
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that G-spot and clitoral orgasms are distin-guishable, and some argue that the G-spot doesn’t exist at all, there are also lots of women who would be happy to experience an orgasm of any kind, and couldn’t care less which way it comes.
The location and even existence of the G-spot has long been hotly contested in medi-cal circles. Despite professional and scien-tifi c scepticism, as a concept the G-spot has actually been widely accepted by the public and many women who haven’t even experienced one still believe that it’s achiev-able. But some specialists argue that the term has led to over-anxiety among women who cannot reach satisfaction this way, and can leave women and their partners feeling inadequate.
Dr Petra Boynton, a sexual psychologist at University College London, argues that an entire industry has grown up around the concept of the G-spot, and labeling women who are unable to achieve vaginal orgasm as ‘dysfunctional’ has had a negative effect.
She says, ‘We’re all different. Some women will have cer-tain areas within the vagina which will be very sensitive, and some won’t — but they won’t neces-sarily be in the area called the G-spot.
‘If a woman spends all her time worrying about whether she is nor-mal, or has a G-spot or not, she will focus on just one area, and ignore everything else. It’s telling people that there is a single, best way to have sex, which isn’t the right thing to do.’
As an avid reader of Just Seventeen and More magazine, from my early teens I studied the Position of the Fortnight intently every week and, despite not being terribly successful with my own, have always as-sumed that the G-spot exists. After carrying out some research, which basically involved pestering all the ladies in my offi ce, I was interested (and mildly envious) to discover that more than half of them claim to have fully functioning G-spots which, with a bit of special attention, can perform wonders for orgasm intensity.
‘I defi nitely have one, and think I would be a little bit lost without it,’ claimed Sandra from IT. ‘I fi nd that a G-spot orgasm is more intense and lasts longer than a clitoral or-gasm. I see the clitoral orgasm as a quick fi x, whereas a G-spot orgasm is when you’re in for the long run and mean business.’
Some women will have
certain areas within the
vagina which will be
very sensitive
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‘It takes me quite a bit longer; the longest amount of time has probably been around thirty minutes. It takes longer for me to achieve a G-spot orgasm, but it’s well worth the wait.’
Personally, despite my familiarity with the apparent location, I’ve not had much truck with my own, and manipulating the area gen-erally makes me feel the need to pee, rather than scream out in orgasmic bliss. But ever the investigative journalist, I was determined to search out the truth behind the elusive fe-male pleasure zone.
For many women, it’s a highly sensitive area that provides hours of pleasure when massaged. For others, much like me, it’s a spongy bit that, if pressed, creates an over-whelming urge to urinate. And then some women don’t feel any sensation at all.
There are a number of different theories about what the G-spot, which technically is more of a G-zone, actually is. Some ex-perts say we should consider it more of an ‘anterior wall erogenous complex’, although saying that is nearly as tricky as fi nding the damn thing.
One view is that it’s an area of tissue simi-lar to the male prostate. Further research has shown that stimulation of the G-spot area can increase the pain threshold, so this sen-sitive and erogenous area is one of nature’s natural childbirth painkillers. So as you can see, the theories are divided and no one can agree on what to do with the G-spot, much less whether or not it even exists.
Named after the German
gynecolo-sands of years (indicating that perhaps yogic fl ying hippy sex isn’t so daft after all). How-ever, the purported location of the G-spot has changed over time, and many experts continue to quibble over its location and ex-istence. The G-spot orgasm is sometimes referred to as vaginal, because it results from stimulation inside the vagina, including dur-ing intercourse.
The concept of purely vaginal orgasm was actually fi rst hypothesised In 1905 by the original sexpert Sigmund Freud. Freud boldly argued that clitoral orgasm was an adolescent phenomenon, and upon reach-ing puberty the proper response of a ma-ture women would be to change to vaginal orgasms. While most women would prob-ably be very pleased if this theory were true, Freud provided no evidence for his wild as-sumption, and the consequences of the theory were greatly elaborated, partly be-cause many women felt inadequate when they could not achieve ‘mature’ orgasm via vaginal intercourse wihch involved little or no clitoral stimulation.
Using ultrasound, Italian scientists claim to have found the fi rst compelling evidence that the G-spot exists, but say not all women appear to have one and the location varies. If you’re one of the lucky ladies, it’s alleged to be approximately a few centimetres up, on the front inner wall of the vagina and usu-ally no bigger than a pea; but once you’re sexually aroused and in the mood for some action, its size can increase signifi cantly.
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anatomical differences between women who said they experienced vaginal orgasms and women who did not. The scans identifi ed an area of thicker tis-sue where the G-spot is allegedly located, which was not visible
in the women who had never managed to achieve a vaginal orgasm.
The latest research, carried out by Dr Em-manuele Jannini at the University of L’Aquila, was published in the Journal Of Sexual
Med-icine. ‘For the fi rst time, it is possible to de-termine by a simple, rapid and inexpensive method if a woman has a G-spot or not,’ Dr Jannini told New Scientist magazine. The team used ultrasound to scan twenty wom-en and discovered that an idwom-entifi able G-spot is only present in women who could experi-ence vaginal orgasm, and for these women, the tissue between the vagina and the ure-thra was found to be considerably thicker than in the other women.
The ultrasound was used to measure the size and shape of the tissue inside the front wall of the vagina, often suggested as the location of the G-spot. In the nine women who reported being able to achieve vaginal orgasm, the tissues between the vagina and the urethra were on average thicker than in the 11 women who could not reach orgasm this way.
‘Women without any visible evidence of
a G-spot cannot have a vaginal orgasm,’ explained Jannini, ‘but they can still have a normal orgasm through stimulation of the clitoris.’
So if you’re on a quest to plunder your undiscovered G-spot, it’s worth remember-ing that you just might not have one, and ferreting around down there for hours might be a futile task. However, it’s also entirely possible that you do have one, but much like my jelly tummy, your inner muscular area just needs a bit of attention.
As fans of Sex And The City will know, the pelvic fl oor muscle or Kegel exercise is sup-posedly key when it comes to achieving or-gasmic ecstasy. Arnold Kegel, of the epony-mous exercise routine, published a study in 1952 highlighting this link and demonstrated that ‘sexually dysfunctional’ women taught a resistive exercise programme could achieve orgasm for the fi rst time.
So, based on his fi ndings, it’s worth re-membering to do your Kegels, as it can do wonders for your pleasure quota and hope-fully assist with locating your elusive G-spot and achieving the much sought-after vaginal
area of thicker tissue
where the G-spot is
allegedly located
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orgasm. And, as luck would have it, you can do them discreetly on the bus and no one will ever know.
Publishers of the 2008 Orgasm Survey claim that the link between a healthy and strong pelvic fl oor and better sex will improve the general health and sexual wellbeing of millions of women, improve and restore mil-lions of relationships, and reduce the inci-dence of stress incontinence which affl icts many women. They suggest purchasing a Pelvic Toner, available from www.iwabo.
co.uk, which is a progressive resistance vag-inal exerciser, designed to help women meet the fundamentals of Kegel exercise.
To make sure you’re doing manual Kegel exercises correctly, try to stop the fl ow of urine while you’re going for a pee. If you succeed, you’ve got the basic move. Or try inserting a fi nger inside your vagina and squeezing the surrounding muscles. You should be able to feel your vagina tighten and your pelvic fl oor move upward. Then relax your muscles and feel your pelvic fl oor move down to the
start-ing position. As your muscles become stronger this move-ment will be more pronounced and hopefully soon you’ll be bathing in orgas-mic bliss. This may or may not open the hidden door to your G-spot, but either way you will benefi t sexually, as a strong-er pelvic fl oor muscle equals more powerful orgasms either way. As experts argue that we aren’t all bless-ed with an interior wall pleasure zone, if you do decide to embark on a G-spot discovery expedition, the fi rst step to enjoying vaginal orgasmic heaven is establishing whether or not you actually have one. Stroking is usu-ally the most enjoyable form of stimulation, although sex toys can play an important rôle. Sexperts recommend inserting the forefi nger and making a ‘come hither’ motion towards the front vaginal wall, but you’ll need to ex-periment with pressure and length of stroke to fi nd out what makes you — or your good lady wife — tick.
It’s incredibly normal for you to feel the need to pee when your G-spot is being stimulated, so make sure you’ve been to the toilet fi rst to avoid confusion. It also helps if you’re already sexually aroused. The fi rst couple of times it might be a bit odd, so it’s best to battle through the urge, as Kate from the post room in my offi ce agreed. ‘I didn’t like it at fi rst, as I just felt like I needed to wee, and I didn’t want to do that on my
boy-It’s normal to feel
the need to pee when
your G-spot is being
stimulated
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spot, you may or may not be able to feel stimulation during intercourse, but you’re most likely to feel something if you have your pelvis raised, so experiment with conven-iently placed pillows. Another popular posi-tion to stimulate the relevant area is doggy style, which should be quite pleasing for all parties involved.
It would seem that the majority of us do have faith in the existence of the elusive pleasure button. If you are keen to experi-ment solo, or your partner needs a helping hand, you can now get all manner of sex aids designed specifi cally for the area. Seasoned sexpert and TV regular Tracey Cox has launched her own supersex G-Spot Orgasm Kit, designed specifi cally for stimulating the area — featuring a single speed curved vi-brator designed to stimulate the G-spot, wa-ter-based lube and a G-spot orgasm guide. ‘Opinion divides on whether there is a universal pleasure spot that’s the same on all women, but there’s absolutely no doubt that most women fi nd stimulation of the front vaginal wall extraordinarily exciting,’ says Tracey. ‘The supersex G-Spot Orgasm Kit helps you to explore this ultra-sensitive area and up your orgasm quota.’
Research carried out by LoveHoney. co.uk on behalf of Tracey Cox revealed that the desire to discover the G-spot is remarka-bly high, with 90 per cent of the 1500 people they asked agreeing that they would happily use a sex aid to help them achieve G-spot orgasms, 50 per cent happy to ask their partner to help them in their quest, 23 per
everyone’s at it.
As any man convinced he’s been weed on will tell you, some women can even ejaculate when their G-spot is stimulated. Research has shown that approximately 10 per cent of women expel between 9 ml and 900 ml of fl uid from the urethra during arousal and orgasm, but experts have yet to agree on what this fl uid actually is, so concentrate on your personal sexual fulfi llment rather than worrying about squirting at your lover. And if you do mysteriously produce gluey fl uids upon orgasm, Lord knows us women spend enough time on the receiving end of it, so it’s about time the boys got an eyeful of sticky white stuff.
You may or may not have a sensitive G-spot, and everyone is unique, so if that spe-cifi c area does nothing for you, don’t feel pressured into commencing a quest for the Holy Grail just because everyone else seems to be having vaginal orgasms in abundance. The key to a healthy, happy sex life is be-ing open and honest with your partner and having lots of fun experimenting, so don’t succumb to the pressure to perform won-ders with your G-spot if it just isn’t playing ball. But spending a few hours investigating the area (or asking your man to assist) might be half the fun, even if you don’t fi nd your apex of passion whilst you’re down there. There are so many ways to enjoy your sexu-ality, and the G-spot is just one of them. So ignore Sigmund Freud: you are not sexually dysfunctional if you can’t achieve a G-spot orgasm; you’re just rather lucky if you can.
