<< Muscular Spasms and Convulsions >>

Muscular spasms or more intense convulsions are the usual product of the sudden release of tension in orgasm. Sometimes these spasms are localized and mild, amounting to nothing more than slight movements of some particular part of the body. Usually they are more pronounced and extend to all parts of the body. Sometimes they may involve the entire body in extreme convulsions.
We have had access to a considerable body of observed data on the involvement of the entire body in the spasms following orgasm. The situation was graphically described by Roubaud 1876:17, whose description has not been surpassed by later authors.

In some persons the spasms which follow orgasm may subside within a moment or two. They may be so mild and pass so quickly that it would be difficult to observe that there had been any spasms at all. The average individual, however, may be in spasm for a half minute or a minute or more before subsiding into a normal physiologic state. Some persons may experience spasms or more extreme convulsions for two or three minutes, or in rare cases for as long as five minutes after the moment of orgasm.

The more extreme convulsive movements into which some individuals are thrown after orgasm bear a striking resemblance to those which may be observed in epilepsy (Figure 140). There may be some common physiologic mechanism which accounts for the resemblances between the spasms or convulsions in epilepsy and those following orgasm, but the mechanisms are not yet understood. The convulsions following orgasm also resemble those which follow an electric shock. This makes it all the more amazing that most persons consider that sexual orgasm with its after-effects may provide one of the most supreme of physical satisfactions.

In the most extreme types of sexual reaction, an individual who has experienced orgasm may double and throw his whole body into continuous and violent motion, arch his back, throw his hips, twist his head, thrust out his arms and legs, verbalize, moan, groan, or scream in much the same way as a person who is suffering the extremes of torture. In all of these respects, human females and males may react in essentially the same way. In some individuals the whole body may be thrown, or tossed, or rolled over a distance of several feet or yards. On occasion the sexual partner may be crushed, pounded, violently punched, or kicked during the uncontrolled responses of an intensely reactive individual. The movements are obviously involuntary, and they are for the most part beyond voluntary control. Some persons whose responses are mild can control their movements if there is some social advantage in reacting without attracting attention; but for those whose responses are more extreme, any deliberate control is nearly impossible.
Involuntary vocalization at orgasm is, of course, a matter of common knowledge. It is also reported in: Roubaud 1876:17. Bloch 1908:50. Talmey 1912:62; 1915:93. Bauer 1927(1):157. Van de Velde 1930:246. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):150, 166. Haire 1937:200. Brown and Kempton 1950:207.

>>