Climax as Orgasm: On Debussy’s ‘L’isle Joyeuse’

What is orgasm? A model of sexual trance and climax via rhythmic entrainment

Orgasm is one of the most intense pleasures attainable to an organism, yet its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. On the basis of existing literatures, this article introduces a novel mechanistic model of sexual stimulation and orgasm. In doing so, it characterizes the neurophenomenology of sexual trance and climax, describes parallels in dynamics between orgasms and seizures, spec...

Review Symposium Sometimes an Orgasm Is Just an Orgasm

Women's orgasm.

An orgasm in the human female is a variable, transient peak sensation of intense pleasure, creating an altered state of consciousness, usually with an initiation accompanied by involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated circumvaginal musculature, often with concomitant uterine and anal contractions, and myotonia that resolves the sexually induced vasocongestion and myotonia, gene...

Of bugs and boojums: female orgasm as a facultative adaptation.

Wallen (2006, 2007) joins Lloyd (2005) in arguing that data on women’s orgasm frequencies contradict mate choice hypotheses for the evolution of female orgasm—and support the hypothesis that female orgasm is an evolutionary byproduct of male orgasm. I agree that female orgasm is not as reliable as male orgasm in the context of penile-vaginal intercourse, and that women’s reported orgasm frequen...

Orgasm and migraine.