Sexuality: facts and tips / What is an orgasm - and how do I get there?:

Women can come to orgasm in different ways, but purely clitoral or vaginal orgasms are rare. Nonetheless, it can feel different depending on what is stimulated more.

What does vaginal orgasm or clitoral orgasm mean?

A clitoral orgasm refers to an orgasm you achieve when your clitoris is stimulated. Consequently, you reach a vaginal orgasm when your vagina is stimulated. "Stimulate" means to activate or heat up. During sexual stimulation, you trigger and increase sexual arousal. You can stimulate a location by touching it, by targeted movements, by tensing, or by alternating tensing and relaxing the muscles in that area.

Do vaginal orgasms exist at all?

Many believe that stimulation of the clitoris is necessary in order to orgasm. However, there are scientific findings that argue against this: women with a complete spinal cord injuries, for example, cannot reach orgasm when they stimulate the clitoris, but they can reach orgasm when they stimulate the cervix specifically. It has been shown that stimuli on the clitoris reach the brain via the spinal cord, and from the cervix they reach the brain via the vagus nerve, which does not go through the spinal cord. That is why this route is not interrupted in women with spinal cord injuries.

Is there a purely "vaginal" or "clitoral"?

When you have sex by yourself or with a partner, depending on what you are doing, sometimes the clitoris or sometimes the vagina will primarily be stimulated. You cannot really separate the two because the clitoris and vagina are extremely close together. Therefore, there is probably no purely vaginal orgasm in women with intact nerves and spinal cords. The clitoris is probably always stimulated somehow, because, apart from its glans, it has legs – called the clitoral crura – and erectile tissue. These parts of the clitoris are internal and flow around the vagina, which means they are also stimulated when the vagina takes in a penis or something else. You can see this in the illustration below.

What's the role of attention?

Since the clitoris and vagina are not so easy to separate, what’s more interesting is where your attention lies. Think about how you masturbate: Where is the attention? On the glans of the clitoris? Focusing on a particular spot? Is it a larger, more generalized area of the vulva? Is your attention focused on the vagina? Where exactly in the vagina? How exactly are you getting aroused? Or, are you stimulating yourself inside and out? In a small area or a larger area?

How do I stimulate clitoris and vagina?

Depending on where you stimulate your genitals, you will address different nerve endings. Nerve endings are the endpoints of the nerves on the skin or under the skin. The clitoris is more than just a small spot, and the vagina is full of different, and differently, arousable sites. Consequently, the clitoris and vagina can be aroused in completely different ways. The clitoral glans, the internal labia, the mouth of the urethra, the vaginal entrance and the anus are loaded with nerve endings, which are sensitive to gentle touch and friction. The tissue under the skin, the wall of the vagina, the pelvic floor muscles and the sphincter are full of nerve endings that are sensitive to vibration, pressure and stretching.

What areas of my brain become active?

Researchers have discovered that different areas in the brain become active, depending on where women stimulate themselves during sex. In particular, three different areas are activated, depending on if you:

• stimulate the vulva – i.e. the outer genitalia –, especially the clitoral head and the region around it
• stimulate the vagina, but not the cervix
• stimulate the cervix in the vagina

So, you can see: both stimulation of the clitoris and within the vagina can be arousing.

Is there a difference in the orgasmic experience?

Surveys show that orgasm is experienced differently depending on whether it is achieved by clitoral stimulation or by vaginal stimulation. This is not just about the different nerve receptors, it’s also about the arousal technique: when you ask women who arouse themselves by rubbing or pressing on the glans of a clitoris, most will say they do so in a still, rather tense body posture. Due to the high muscle tension, the body is not so well supplied with blood, and the woman will feel less. Women who stimulate their vagina often move much more. This encourages better blood flow; therefore, the woman feels more. Consequently, it is not surprising that women describe orgasms through vaginal stimulation as whole body experiences, while women who specifically stimulate the clitoris, experience orgasm more specifically there. Women who stimulate the clitoris and vagina together describe their orgasms as particularly all-encompassing and intense.

How many women have orgasms during intercourse?

In a survey we asked 1417 women how often they achieved orgasm during vaginal intercourse. About one quarter said that they almost always or often achieve orgasm, without additionally stimulating the clitoris. By contrast, more than half of the women said they rarely or never reach orgasm. (The exact numbers are: 11 percent said 'almost always', 17% 'often', 17% 'in about half of the cases', 29% 'rarely', 26% 'never'). We also asked women about their experience of stimulating the clitoris during intercourse: more than two-thirds of the women said that they achieve orgasm often or always when they do so, and less than one fifth said they rarely or never reach an orgasm in this way. (The exact numbers are: 41 percent said "almost always", 31% "often", 10% "in about half the cases", 12% "rare", 7% "never").

Can I learn to have a vaginal orgasm?

Because the outer and inner genitalia have different nerve endings, you will perceive different types of stimulation as arousing depending on the location. If you have learned to orgasm by stimulating your clitoris, that does not mean that you automatically can achieve orgasm via stimulation inside the vagina. It's like languages: If you speak English you cannot automatically speak Spanish. Many women first learn to orgasm by stimulating the clitoris. The arousal to orgasm in the vagina, e.g. during sexual intercourse, is associated with completely different learning steps. That is, if you are always stimulating the outside genitalia, you will not learn to orgasm by stimulating the vagina. That would be as this you always study English vocabulary and think you're learning Spanish as well. Please read our text on sexual learning to understand this better.

Is there more literature on vaginal vs. clitoral?

If you want to read more about clitoral and vaginal orgasms, you may be interested in the book "The Orgasm Answer Guide" by sexologists Barry Komisaruk, Carlos Beyer-Flores, Beverly Whipple and Sara Nasseradzeh. If you are interested in scientific studies, we recommend the article "Women's clitoris, vagina and cervix mapped on the sensory cortex: fMRI evidence" by Komisaruk et al. If you're interested in our own research, we recommend the article "Body Movement Is Associated With Orgasm During Vaginal Intercourse in Women" by Bischof-Campbell et al.