Much debate has been fought over the female orgasm. At one point, science doubted the vaginal orgasm even existed, and conservative society believed that since female pleasure wasn’t necessary for conception, it wasn’t all that important.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve learned that the female orgasm not only exists, but comes in many forms. While clitoral, vaginal, or even anal variations are no longer surprising, few have heard of the myotonic variety.
How does a myotonic orgasm occur?
At the biological level, all types of orgasms occur more or less the same way and include three components:
- blood flow to the tissues of the genitals;
- myotonia, that is, muscle tension and subsequent involuntary rhythmic contractions;
- general excitation of the nervous system.
Without the first, men wouldn’t have erections, and women wouldn’t have vaginal lubrication. Without the second, no one would make weird faces or point their toes to the ceiling. Without the third, nothing would exist.
But despite the common fundamental mechanism, myotonia and blood flow can be achieved in different ways.
Some women discovered as children that they could experience pleasurable sensations and even achieve sexual release by crossing or squeezing their legs.
This is the myotonic orgasm, as it’s called in Russian sexology. In the West, it’s known by another term: corgasm (from the English words “core” and “orgasm”). It’s triggered by tensing the abdominal, pelvic, and thigh muscles, which can be achieved in a variety of ways: crossing or squeezing your legs, cycling, using a rope or a log, and even just doing crunches.
Alfred Kinsey, the grandfather of modern sexology, wrote about orgasm in his 1953 book. Five percent of the women he surveyed claimed to experience orgasm while exercising. And Dr. Debbie Herbenick, a leading modern researcher in this field, found 61 years later that 10% of her respondents experience myotonic orgasm.
Perhaps it’s because people are exercising more? Debbie even wrote a book about orgasms, noting, “You’re more likely to feel it if you’re putting your muscles under intense strain. For example, if you do as many crunches or leg raises as you can handle.”
What women say
Ordinary women are also happy to share life hacks. An employee of the company that makes the period tracking app Clue, whose first orgasm occurred while climbing a rope, recommends:
The key to orgasms is to pull your stomach in. Plus, they require repetitions and a certain degree of muscle fatigue, like in Pilates.
The girls from Reddit decided to keep up. Some had positive experiences:
I do this in public places when my boyfriend sends me dirty texts or teases me with photos. It turns me on, and I can sometimes cum with my legs crossed and squeezed tightly.
Oh yeah, I’ve been doing this for years. I stumbled upon this method by accident when I was eleven. You press in all the right places. Everything happens easily, quickly, conveniently, and discreetly.
For some, it’s simply pleasant:
I can’t finish from this, but I can more than start and get turned on.
But there were some negative aspects too:
I’ve been trying to stop for a month now. The pressure on my clitoris is too aggressive. It seems to be making me less sensitive, and it’s becoming harder to cum from oral sex.
I can only cum if I cross my legs and squeeze them tightly. Is there a way to overcome this? Will I be able to achieve orgasm some other way?
What does medicine say?
In Russian sexology, myotonic orgasm is generally considered a deviation from the norm, a maladaptation. This does happen, but the causes of the disorder are always different.
Some women have accustomed their bodies to this type of stimulation—like the Reddit user who couldn’t achieve orgasm from oral sex anymore. There are also psychological reasons. Anxiety and shame from the fact that a familiar method of pleasure is considered wrong can discourage sex altogether.
Research in this area has only been conducted in America, so it’s difficult to say what Russian sexologists are basing their claim on when they claim that women who don’t experience orgasm from penetration “have not experienced true intimacy.” Especially since only 17% of women experience orgasm from penetration.
According to Dr. Herbenick’s survey, cases of physical maladjustment as a result of early orgasm experience are rare, and muscle tension (not excessive, but normal) is considered in modern sexology to be one of the components of any type of orgasm.
So is this normal or not?
Evidence-based medical consensus and common sense agree that normal masturbation is that which promotes a healthy sex life and enjoyment of one’s body.
If the myotonic orgasm has supplanted other orgasms and a woman is dissatisfied with this, she can consult a neurologist, psychologist, or sexologist. But if it brings her joy and brightens her life, she can simply exert herself and enjoy it.
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