Pre-, post-menopausal, and post-menopausal women were asked to complete a questionnaire about their orgasm experiences in both solitary and partner settings. They included questions for both the Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) and the Body Orgasm Sense Scale (BSOS) – both of which are commonly used in scientific sensory research. ORS includes things like “trembling”, “trembling”, “building” and “pulsating” – as well as adjectives related to emotional intimacy, such as “loving”, “passionate” and “tender”. BSOS includes things like “faster breathing”, “lower extremity spasms”, “face tingling”, “sweat” and “increased heart rate”. Researchers at the University of Ottawa have found that there are different body sensations on both scales, including “shallow / shallow breathing”, “high blood pressure” and “hot flashes”. But they recommend that “combination voices (eg whining)” be removed from the BSOS. Referring to a previous study in 2011, they say that whining can – at least in part – be “under the conscious control of women”. “We recommend that the ‘whining’ element be permanently removed from the measure,” the study said. Describing female orgasm as a “misunderstood aspect of the female sexual response,” they began research, recruiting 637 women between the ages of 18 and 82. Research to date has tended to focus on non-occurrence, frequency and dysfunction, they said, with little work on “more subjective psychological aspects”. After completing their study, the scientists found that “pleasant satisfaction was the most important thing in assessing orgasm.” Read more from Sky News: The tiny mites that have sex on our face “face evolutionary oblivion” Balance on one leg “should be part of middle-aged health control” Adjectives related to emotional intimacy “may be less relevant in a lonely context,” they added. However, they found that some women “even reported experiencing emotional intimacy during solitary orgasm.” They put it down to “access to a deeper experience of our own body” – or to a sense of a “transformative incarnation”. This translates, they say, as a “feeling of full presence in their body.” The study is published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
