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Do you ever watch TED Talks? They last around 16 minutes each and are pretty spectacular, bringing together the best and the brightest from fields ranging from psychology and biology to physics and cosmology. The idea is to give these experts a platform to communicate their knowledge to the public in an engaging way.
‘Bonk’ author, Mary Roach, broke the internet with her witty TED Talk. She gave — what is perhaps — the most popular lecture ever. The sex researcher delved into obscure scientific research, some of it centuries old, to present 10 offbeat facts about sexual climax — ranging from the bizarre to the hilarious. Here are the things you probably didn’t know about orgasm — from reaching orgasm after death, to pig pleasure.
We are going to present the first five facts here and the following 6-10 in the next article.
Sex fact no. 1: A human fetus can masturbate in the uterus.
In 1987 the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine published a very diverting paper titled “Sonographic observation of in utero fetal masturbation,” Yes, MASTURBATION!
Dr. Israel Meizner reported seeing a fetus’ hand “(…) grasping the penis in a fashion resembling masturbation movements” over the course of 15 minutes. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a fetal ‘masturbation’ in utero,” said Meizner. Bear in mind this was an ultrasound, so it would have been moving images, like a movie.
OK. So that’s one case. Anything else? Actually, there is! In 1996 two Italian doctors (Giorgio Giorgi and Marco Siccardi) published a letter (‘Ultrasonographic observation of a female fetus’ sexual behavior in utero’) in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in which they described observing a fetus making “masturbation movements.”
According to the description, the 32-week old female fetus was: “touching the vulva with the fingers of the right hand. The caressing movements were centered primarily on the region of the clitoris. Movements stopped after 30 to 40 seconds and started again after a few minutes. Furthermore, these slight touches were repeated and were associated with short, rapid movements of pelvis and legs. After another break, in addition to this behavior, the fetus contracted the muscles of the trunk and limbs, and then clonicotonic movements of the whole body followed. Finally, she relaxed and rested. We observed this behavior for about 20 minutes.”
The male fetus was observed at 28 weeks and the female fetus was observed at 32. Clear indication that humans enjoy touching themselves, even before we are born.
Sex fact no. 2: You don’t need genitals to have an orgasm.
What is an orgasm? Medically speaking, it is a reflex of the autonomic nervous system. “Autonomic” means, this is the part of the nervous system that deals with the things that we don’t consciously control, like digestion, heart rate and sexual arousal.
The orgasm reflex can be triggered by a surprisingly broad range of stimuli. Sure, some fun with genitals immediately comes to mind. But you would be surprised how many parts of the body can make us climax.
Alfred Kinsey, a doctor in the 1940s, interviewed a woman who could be brought to orgasm by having someone stroke her eyebrows. Picture that! She must have loved all those facial massages.
People with spinal cord injuries, like paraplegias, will often develop a super sensitive area right above the level of their injury, wherever that is. The quadriplegics protagonist of the French movie “Intouchables” (starring François Cluzet and Omar Sy) enjoyed having his ears stroked. There is also such a thing as a knee orgasm in the literature.
The speaker, Mary Roach, said that the most curious one that she came across was a case of a woman who had an orgasm every time she brushed her teeth. Something in the complex sensory-motor action of brushing the lady’s teeth was triggering orgasm. The patient went to a neurologist, who was fascinated. He checked to see if it was something in the toothpaste, but no – orgasm happened with any brand or toothpaste-composition. The neurologist then stimulated the woman’s gums with a toothpick, to see if that was doing it. No. It turned out she needed the brushing motion.
You would think this woman would have excellent oral hygiene, brushing her teeth at least twice daily if not more often, right? Sadly, as the journal paper reported, “She believed that she was possessed by demons and switched to mouthwash for her oral care.” Poor soul!
Mary Roach said that when she was working on her book ‘Bonk’ , she interviewed a woman who was able to think herself to orgasm. The lady was part of a study at Rutgers University. Roach interviewed her in Oakland, in a sushi restaurant, and said, “So, could you do it right here?” The interviewee answered, “Yeah, but you know I’d rather finish my meal if you don’t mind.”
However, afterwards, she was kind enough to demonstrate her remarkable skills on a bench outside. It took about one minute. The ‘orgasmic thinker’ said that the last time she had done it was on the Disneyland tram. Picture that!
Sex fact no. 3: You can have orgasms when you are a brain-dead cadaver.
The headquarters for orgasm, along the spinal nerve, is something called the sacral nerve root. If the precise spot is stimulated with an electrode, an orgasm follows. It is a scientifically confirmed fact that you can trigger spinal reflexes in brain-dead people, for example the famous Lazarus reflex. The patients are legally dead, definitely checked out, but are being kept alive on a respirator, so that their organs will be oxygenated for transplantation.
And if the sacral nerve is being oxygenated, you conceivably can trigger an orgasm too. Obviously it is not much fun for the brain-dead person. But it still is an orgasm – nonetheless.
Sex fact no. 4: Orgasms can cause bad breath (for a number of reasons…)
Theodoor van De Velde was a very heavy hetero guy and an author of the book “Ideal Marriage,” but also something of a semen connoisseur. According to his 1930s marriage manual, a slight seminal odor could be detected on the breath of a woman within about an hour after sexual intercourse. According to van De Velde, the semen of a young man had a fresh, exhilarating smell, whereas the semen of mature men smelled, quote, “remarkably like that of the flowers of the Spanish chestnut. Sometimes quite freshly floral, and then again sometimes extremely pungent.”
Who needs to ask about age if you can just smell his cum, right ladies?
Sex fact no. 5: Climaxing can cure hiccups.
In 1999, in the state of Israel, a man began hiccupping uncontrollably and just could not stop. Days went by, he tried everything his doctors or friends suggested but nothing helped. At a certain point, the man, still hiccupping, had sex with his wife. Surprise surprise: the hiccups went away. He told his doctor, who was so impressed by this case, that he published a case report in a Canadian medical journal under the title, “Sexual Intercourse as a Potential Treatment for Intractable Hiccups.”