american_mama
11-11-2013, 08:09 PM
Dh and I have been watching the Showtime show "Masters of Sex," based on lives and research of the sex researchers Masters and Johnson. According to the show, their early research focused a lot on male and female orgasms, and make it clear this is undiscovered territory in 1957. They say things that I wonder about. Specifically, in a recent episode, a woman with a nearly non-existent sex life says she doesn't know if she's ever had an orgasm and Virginia says "You would know." Do you agree? I do not. I think some women don't know if a sensation is an orgasm or not, especially if that sensation occurs infrequently.
Both in the show and in real life, they conducted research with real humans in a lab, who masturbated to orgasm or had sex with assigned partners. They even had a vibrator (although I don't know if it actually vibrated), presumably just for the women. I can believe that the people willing to volunteer for the study leaned on the sexually free side, but the series also portrays a high level of sexual ignorance at the time. I would suspect that many women in the study had never seen a vibrator before and I would think lack of familiarity would reduce the number of women having an orgasm with a vibrator. The setting also didn't help - the solo subjects are on a hospital bed, in a hospital room, hooked up to a few monitors, and initially with Masters and Johnson in white coats observing in the same room. The show shows them later observing behind a glass window. I just think it shows orgasms as a simple mechanical process - provide the tools and it will happen - and I don't think it is that straightforward for a lot of women. Maybe it is for a lot of men and a few women, but not for most women, I don't think.
What do you think? On the flip side, I wonder if I am making female sexuality too narrow.
Both in the show and in real life, they conducted research with real humans in a lab, who masturbated to orgasm or had sex with assigned partners. They even had a vibrator (although I don't know if it actually vibrated), presumably just for the women. I can believe that the people willing to volunteer for the study leaned on the sexually free side, but the series also portrays a high level of sexual ignorance at the time. I would suspect that many women in the study had never seen a vibrator before and I would think lack of familiarity would reduce the number of women having an orgasm with a vibrator. The setting also didn't help - the solo subjects are on a hospital bed, in a hospital room, hooked up to a few monitors, and initially with Masters and Johnson in white coats observing in the same room. The show shows them later observing behind a glass window. I just think it shows orgasms as a simple mechanical process - provide the tools and it will happen - and I don't think it is that straightforward for a lot of women. Maybe it is for a lot of men and a few women, but not for most women, I don't think.
What do you think? On the flip side, I wonder if I am making female sexuality too narrow.