Orgasmic women strut their stuff

Something in the way she moves attracts you like no other lover. The sum of her stride length and vertebral rotation is quite large. The flow of energy from her legs through her pelvis and up to the spine is free, her gait is open. She saunters, she sashays, she glides.

This is a woman capable of vaginal orgasms, finds a study set to be published in the September issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. In fact, trained sexologists -- oh yes, Virginia, there is such a thing -- have discovered that in four out of five instances, a trained eye could distinguish between the woman with a history of reaching orgasm from penile penetration alone from the woman who, well, must content herself with the kind that results mainly from clitoral stimulation.

Did we mention? Research has shown that the ability to achieve vaginal orgasm is linked to better mental health, say the authors of the latest study. (Could Sigmund Freud have been right?) So she's not only more sensuous, more confident, more open. She's also better-adjusted!

The authors of the study believe they've found evidence that some women may be physically predisposed to having vaginal orgasms, long considered the "superior" orgasm in psychoanalytic circles. They do suggest, however, that women enjoying vaginal orgasm may just be happier and have a little extra ooomph in their stride because they're just so, well, satisfied.

Lest you think this was some undergraduate psych major's idea of prurient fun, let's set the record straight. Two psychology professors and two graduate students at the University of the West of Scotland videotaped 16 female university students in Belgium as they walked across an open space. Knowing nothing about the subjects' sexual history, they found that -- with the proper training -- they could reliably distinguish the vaginally orgasmic women from all others.

Well, of course there's an important lesson here for those who treat sexual dysfunction in women, says the editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. "Women with sexual dysfunction should be treated in a multidiscliplinary manner," concludes Dr. Irwin Goldstein, editor in chief of the journal. Treatment for these women might go beyond talk therapy and medication and include far-ranging therapies like moving, breathing and muscle patterns, say the authors.

--Melissa Healy

Photo credit: Vincent Thian / Associated Press

Comments

[Kathleen]

They observed 16 women! What a robust scientific analysis!

[Warren]

Oooh, yeah. I think I saw one like that the other day.

[jason]

So basically they're saying, women who shake their hips when they walk are happier, sexier, and live longer? Someone should have told Marilyn Monroe that...

[Figgins]

OK, lets try this on women strolling down a street filled with other pedestrians, dog-walkers, uneven sidewalks, etc., someplace other than Belgium.

[Glen Quagmire]

Oh yeah. Something else to think about when I watch women walk down the street. Giggity.

[marie]

Wow, did Freud write this article? Are we going back to the Victorian era? This quote makes me wonder if these psychoanalysts have ever had a clitoral orgasm: "...vaginal orgasms, long considered the "superior" orgasm in psychoanalytic circles." Most likely not, which is why this piece sounds like patriarchal hogwash.

[yip]

"Did we mention? Research has shown that the ability to achieve vaginal orgasm is linked to better mental health, say the authors of the latest study. (Could Sigmund Freud have been right?) So she's not only more sensuous, more confident, more open. She's also better-adjusted!"

Now women have to try to achieve another goal to be defined as BETTER ADJUSTED!!!

[Yawn]

Another dumb study, another waste of time.

[yip]

Also this study was lead by a MAN. I think we women can figure out where this is going. Vaginal orgasms make a better adjusted woman--according to these guys. Are we travelling back in time...........

Please!

[sandy Wichman]

Amazing....everything superior in a woman must relate to serving MEN....absurd...In the circles I run in the men and women agree that a clitoral orgasm is absolutely superior...involves more creativity and offers greater levels of mutual satisfaction.
I would say that these are indicators of is well-adjusted....not a bodily reaction that makes sure it involves penetration by a male. Absurd!

These scientists need to re-group, re-think and start looking at something other than hoochy hips!

[Jeff A. Namhie]

No wonder men love watching women walk.

[Xenu]

Hello ladies! News flash: vaginal orgasm doesn't require a man! So let's drop the feminist chip on the shoulder angle. It simply doesn't apply here.

[Wilhelm Reich]

Just get them all an orgone accumulator!

[Jeannie Allen]

Do editors do their homework before they believe everything they hear?? Will women have to watch their backs when they walk down the street now for eyes oggling them to see which kind of orgasm they are having? What?? Are vaginal orgasmic women more knock kneed? WHAT? Why doesn't this so called research team use that funding for something USEFUL like PGAD--(Persistent Sexual Arousal Disorder) a disorder that impinges on nerves causing unrelenting UNWANTED PAINFUL orgasms??? Let's put that money to better use then which side we reach an orgasm from. Perhaps the way the woman walks was just a sign of gas! And let editors be more responsible in publishing "research" on SIXTEEN women for God's sake---that's not research---that's lust in sheep's clothing!!!

[Superhands]

Next thing you know, they'll be telling you that breast cancer is caused by a lack of traditional "women's work!"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6214655.stm

:)

[cody mccall]

"Treatment for these women might go beyond talk therapy and medication and include far-ranging therapies like moving, breathing and muscle patterns, say the authors."

And, by the way, moving to Belgium. I look for the Brussels tourist bureau to get very busy very soon.

[Spambotnet]

Congratulations on the soon-to-be most-read story!

Why don't you post a video of the respective walks in mini-skits and tight pants. You might even be able to charge for that.

[R Greene]

Could the authors of this story please evaluate for us the University of the West of Scotland? Hint: it is a vocational school, not a research university. Hence any "research" such as what is reported here is a ploy to dupe journalists into putting its name into the newspaper. Do your due diligence, please.

[James P]

"Amazing....everything superior in a woman must relate to serving MEN..."

Ummm, when my women has an orgasm, it sure isn't she who is doing the "serving" at that moment...

[Vanessa]

Love the fireworks photo!

[Indeed]

That really makes a lot of sense, thinking about ex girlfriends.

[Suzy Q]

She saunters, she sashays, she glides ... or maybe her knickers are in a twist.

[Kevin]

When talking to the popular press, scientists get away with all kinds of nonsense that other scientists know to be pure malarkey. Reporters need to be as skeptical of scientists as they are of other "experts". If they feel themselves unqualified to critically examine the data, they should leave the science reporting to someone who can do the job properly.

[kal]

A few years ago we women were hopeful and optimistic that this was an area of women's health that would see progress and scientists and researchers would use their best efforts and time to help women who were suffering. Boy were we wrong.

Frankly the public could not care less if one could tell by the way a woman walks if she has one type of orgasm vs another. However it make us more than just irritated to state that a vaginal orgasmic women is better adjusted. Next they will be saying that if a woman cannot have an orgasm at all she has some type of hysteria or deep rooted problem............

I guess we were wrong about our hopes and instead this is the type of journal article that is published. One step forward and ten steps backward--we women give up that scientists are there to help us.

[The Women's Sexual Health Foundation]

The Women’s Sexual Health Foundation believes that a woman’s sexual health should be taken seriously and treated as a legitimate concern.

It is our mission to advance valid and appropriate scientific information to the public and professional community.

When we see articles such as A Woman’s History of Vaginal Orgasm is Discernible from Her Walk addressed in the LA Times, we believe it is important to make your readers aware of the following.

The article was not strongly based in science and had many flaws, including that it did not represent the population at large specific to women who have sexual health difficulties.

Lisa Martinez
Executive Director
www.TWSHF.org

[elise]

My husband sent me this link...what I find interesting is that I have both kinds of orgasms (vaginal and clitoral, depending on what we're doing!) BUT my stride, while long and strong, does not involve much hip rotation at all. Yet he and previous lovers have noted that despite my walk not having the stereotypical hip sway, it's nonetheless a sexy walk.

I think it's more about the flow of energy to the pelvis, myself, and having an integrated body. Though there may also be some physical characteristics (in both partners...) and behavioral characteristics (in both partners...) that predispose a woman to orgasms brought on by vaginal stimulation.