<< Orgasmic Response >>

As the responding individual approaches the peak of sexual activity, he or she may suddenly become tense—momentarily maintain a high level of tension—rise to a new peak of maximum tension—and then abruptly and instantaneously release all tensions and plunge into a series of muscular spasms or convulsions through which, in a matter of seconds or a minute or two, he or she returns to a normal or even subnormal physiologic state.

This explosive discharge of neuromuscular tensions at the peak of sexual response is what we identify as orgasm. The spasms into which the individual is thrown as a result of that release, we consider the after-effects of that orgasm. Many psychologists and psychiatrists, emphasizing the satisfactions that may result from sexual experience, suggest that the after-effects of this release from sexual tensions may be a chief source of those satisfactions. They are, therefore, inclined to extend the term orgasm to cover both the release from tensions and the after-effects of that release. There are, however, several advantages in restricting the concept of orgasm to the sudden and abrupt release itself, and it is in that sense that we have used the term throughout the present volume.
The concept of orgasm as the period of time during which the spasms (and, in the male, ejaculation) occur is implicit in various works, as in: Adler 1911: 30 ff. Van de Velde 1930:173, 184-188. Kuntz 1945:312-313, 323. Harden-bergh 1949:226. Stone and Stone 1952:185—186. On the other hand, the concept of orgasm as a sudden release of neuromuscular tensions is supported by such measurements as those in: Pussep 1922:61 ft. Boas and Goldschmidt 1932:99. Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950a:955, 957; 1950b:61-66.

Some, and perhaps most persons may become momentarily unconscious at the moment of orgasm, and some may remain unconscious or only vaguely aware of reality throughout the spasms or convulsions which follow orgasm. Consequently few persons realize how they behave at and immediately after orgasm, and they are quite incapable of describing their experiences in any informative way.

Sometimes the recession from the high peak of orgasm is accomplished in a single great sweep. Sometimes there are momentary pauses in the recession, or some brief resurgence to a subsidiary peak or peaks which are, however, always lower than the maximum at which orgasm occurred. The return to the physiologically normal or subnormal state is, however, usually accomplished in a short period of time.

The abrupt cessation of the ofttimes strenuous movements and extreme tensions of the previous sexual activity, and the peace of the resulting state, provide in their contrast the most obvious evidence that orgasm has occurred. It is the best means of identifying orgasm in the human female, and it is the best means of identifying orgasm in the human male in instances in which ejaculation cannot be observed. Because this sudden release is not often seen among females of infrahuman species of mammals, we conclude that they are not reaching orgasm. In coital relations, the neuromuscular tensions of the responding infra-human female are usually maintained after the cessation of coitus, and they disappear only gradually, without the explosive discharge which characterizes orgasm. Moreover, after coitus the females of the infra-human species are usually as responsive as they were before coitus, and this is not generally true of animals that have experienced orgasm.

On the other hand, the statement that orgasm never occurs among the females of any of the infra-human species does not seem to be entirely correct, although it apparently applies to most individuals of most of the species. Reference to Figures 133 to 135 will show that blood pressures among female dogs build up in essentially the same way as they do among male dogs in coitus (Figures 129-132), and the females similarly show a sudden return from the high peak of tension to normal levels of blood pressure. If measurements of other aspects of the physiology of responding female dogs parallel the data shown for blood pressure, it is difficult to understand why this should not be identified as a record of orgasm.

The difficulty has originated in the fact that there have not been well understood criteria for interpreting orgasm when it appears in these infra-human females. However, looking at the specific record which some of the students of mammalian behavior have been able to provide, we find descriptions of what appear to be good cases of orgasm among rabbits and among chimpanzees. There is a record of masturbation in a female chimpanzee which has apparently been reaching orgasm regularly over a considerable period of years. We ourselves have had the opportunity to observe another female chimpanzee in a physiologic reaction which may well have been orgasm.

While most cows who mount other cows give evidence of erotic arousal, they do not ordinarily show any build-up to peaks of tension, from which there is the sort of sudden release which is characteristic of the bull at the time of orgasm. On the other hand, we have reports of mounting cows giving a sudden lunge at the peak of response, and then dropping back into inactivity as though they had experienced orgasm.
Dr. Marc Klein of the Université de Strasbourg informs us that he believes orgasm occurs in the female rabbit. In a letter of February, 1952 he states: “I have very often observed a quite definite peak of response with climax, from which the female falls back abruptly into a quiet state .... the two partners fall together on one side; . . . the female is shrieking and sometimes even the male is shrieking himself. The female thrusts the male aside by a sudden movement of the pelvis and the two animals at once come back to the normal stature on the four limbs . . . . it is an individual response of the female which is far from appearing in all females even of a definite strain .... there are enormous individual differences in this behavior.” Our chimpanzee data come from the observations of Dr. Henry Nissen of the Yerkes Primate Laboratory at Orange Park, Florida, and concern primarily the adult female Alpha. We have observed an additional female in what seemed to be orgasm. The data on completed thrusts in cows mounting other cows come from Dr. Albert Shadle of the University of Buffalo.

Figure 140f. Electroencephalogram of human subject in sexual activity

From unpublished data provided by courtesy of Dr. Abraham Mosovich.

       Four electrodes, attached to the head at different points, recorded four lines simultaneously. The three sets of lines are not continuous, but represent samples from three phases of the record. For example, the sample of phase 2 begins approximately half a minute after the end of the sample of phase 1. Read from left to right.
       PHASE 1: With the beginning of sexual stimulation, rapid, low voltage (small) waves develop in the brain. Such waves are known to occur during excitement. These are subsequently obscured by spikes resulting from muscle contraction and tremor.
       PHASE 2: With orgasm, very high voltage, slow (large) waves develop in the brain. These appear to be flat-topped only because the machine was not set to record waves of such height. Interspersed with and partially obscuring the large slow waves are spikes resulting from muscle spasm. This phase resembles petit mal epilepsy or the later stages of grand mal when the subject is passing from tonic rigidity to clonic spasms.
       PHASE 3: Later, the large slow waves vanish and the low voltage, rapid (small) waves reappear. These are periodically interrupted by spikes from rhythmic clonic muscular spasm.

The very strenuous activities which the females of all species of cats, including the house cat, the tiger, and the lion, regularly display after coitus, may involve a most strenuous series of convulsive movements which turn the body in a wild succession of circles for some moments or some minutes after the cessation of coitus. While we have previously been uncertain of the interpretation of this phenomenon, it may represent the after-effects of a true orgasm.

It is true, however, that there are no records of orgasm among the females of most of the infra-human species of mammals, and apparently most individuals among most of the species just cited do not appear to reach orgasm in any of their sexual activities, even though some individual females may do so. The matter will not be finally settled until extensive physiologic measurements are made on these infra-human species; but as far as our knowledge yet goes, the human female is unique among the mammals in her capacity to reach orgasm with some frequency and regularity when she is aroused sexually.

Sexual orgasm constitutes one of the most amazing aspects of human behavior. There is only one other phenomenon, namely sneezing, which is physiologically close in its summation and explosive discharge of tension. Sneezing is, however, a localized event, while sexual orgasm involves the whole of the reacting body. While the summation of neuromuscular tensions is a phenomenon with which neurophysiologists are well acquainted, the mechanism of the explosive discharge of such tension is not understood.

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