The Big O: 10 Fascinating Facts About Female Orgasms Every Women Needs To Know

The search for the Big O, the female orgasm, has become the modern quest for the Holy Grail, but how much do women know about their own bodies and their capacity for pleasure?

We've all been indoctrinated with the myth of the orgasm. It's the "culminating moment," when a storm of incredible pleasure blows through your body, and you scream down the house.

At least, that is how female orgasms are depicted in movies and books, and not just in porn, whose main trade is, after all, the myth of the Big O. But there's a lot more to the female orgasm, and knowledge, ladies, is power. So power up with these 10 fascinating facts about the female orgasm, and reach for the Big O.

1. What Is The Orgasm

The orgasm is simply a physiological reaction triggered by the stimulation of a woman's clitoris, or sometimes other erogenous zones of the body. Sexual excitement builds up blood flow to the genitals, and the clitoris becomes erect, just like a mini penis.

The stimulation triggers the orgasm, a series of muscular contractions centered in the pelvic area, which involves the muscles of the vagina, anus, and uterus, and may even involve the whole body. At the point of orgasm, the brain floods the body with dopamine and oxytocin, your own personal feel-good "drug."

2. Meet The Clitoris

The clitoris is the main character in the story of the Big O, but sadly, women know little about this fascinating organ. The clitoris contains 6,000 to 8,000 nerve endings (twice as many as the penis) and like an iceberg, most of it is out of sight.

The "pink pearl" we see is only the visible part of the real clitoris which is actually shaped a little like a wishbone, with what we call the clitoris at the top, and the two "legs" straddling the entrance of the vagina and is in fact about 9 cm long.

3. Multiples Orgasms - Fact Not Fiction

So that incredible clitoris is made for pure pleasure, unlike the penis which is in fact a functional organ "designed" to deposit sperm as close to the entrance of the cervix as possible. The clitoris, when ably stimulated, can deliver more pleasure that the average man can achieve. Pleasure is its only function.

While after the male orgasm, the penis detumenesces, and a new erection must be achieved to experience another orgasm, women can achieve orgasm after orgasm, or even a cascade of orgasms, with prolonged stimulation. The clitoris is the gift that keeps on giving!

4. Orgasms - Long, Short And, In-Between

So how long is your orgasm? If men compare penis lengths, women can compare orgasms. Originally it was believed that the female orgasm lasted 10-30 seconds - just like a man's.

More recent research indicates that the female orgasm can last anything between 20 seconds to a whopping 2 minutes of bliss, with the average somewhere around the one minute mark Yep, the Big O really is big... Eat your heart out, boys.

5. Why Do We Orgasm

For men, the orgasm ends in ejaculation, and the body releases sperm to fertilize the waiting ova (at this point contraception is a good idea). The function of the female orgasm seems to be to encourage the woman to want to mate, just because it feels good.

There is some indication that the muscle spasms which ripple through the vagina during orgasm may help to "move" the sperm along towards the uterus, but since many women (sadly) become pregnant without orgasming, the theory is still being debated.

6. Orgasm - Male Versus Female

Orgasms have always been easy for men, and difficult for women to achieve. Sexual intercourse is almost always a guaranteed orgasm for the man - 4 minutes of the old in-and-out and there goes Old Faithful.

Women have to work laboriously from 10 to 20 minutes to achieve their orgasm, and then it's a maybe. The Big O seems to depend as much on the emotional as the physical stimulation, and how well the woman and her partner know her body, and what turns her on.

7. Identifying Your Orgasm

So how do you know if you've had an orgasm? So many women who enjoy sex never achieve a cataclysmic event that they identify as an orgasm. The earth didn't move, but that doesn't mean she didn't have that orgasm.

Orgasms vary in intensity from woman to woman, and while some may indeed have a cinematic fire-works-type orgasm with full sound effects; others will achieve a quieter, pleasurable culminating moment that leaves them relaxed and suffused with a feeling of well-being.

8. Achieving Your Orgasm

No-matter what Hollywood and the porn industry may tell you, having an orgasm is not an automatic reaction women have 3 seconds after a penis is inserted into their vaginas. In fact, very few women have an orgasm solely through penetration. For years, it was believed that there was a point inside the vagina that would trigger more powerful orgasms, named the G Spot,

That theory has been debunked, the G Spot is the entire clitoris, all 9 sensitive centimeters of it. To achieve an orgasm, that's the "button" to push, and the best way to learn how is to explore your own body through masturbation.

9. Orgasms And The Common Headache

An added advantage to having an orgasm, apart from the obvious pleasure, is that it seems to have an analgesic effect on headaches.

Women who suffer from migraines have reported that their headaches are either much reduced by orgasm, or vanish completely. So girls, don't reach for that painkiller, have an orgasm. This, doctors believe, is due to the release of dopamine and oxytocin triggered by an orgasm.

10. A Pleasure, Not An Obligation

One of the factors that may be preventing women from achieving orgasm is that they feel they have to have one. Once, women were thought to receive no pleasure from intercourse, then they were "allowed" to have orgasms, now they are obliged to have them - every single time...

So much so, that many women fake orgasms, which paradoxically, makes it so much harder to have one the next time around. Once you've faked an orgasm with one particular man, it's hard to explain that what he's doing isn't working for you.

Girls, it's a pleasure, not an obligation, and stressing about it will only make it more likely you won't have one. Make it, don't fake it, make the quest for the Big O your own journey to self-discovery and pleasure.