In a society where sex is still taboo and often considered only a means of reproduction rather than a source of pleasure, orgasm is not talked about often. Consequently, awareness is quite low, which causes the spread of many myths. This is especially true for women’s orgasms, because female pleasure is not on the agenda in patriarchal systems.
You’ve probably heard many times that women almost never have orgasms or don’t like sex. Not only that, but this is also partly why, in the case of heterosexual couples, intercourse ends after the man’s orgasm. This problem is not new, but what is new is that in recent years women have started talking about it — with partners, specialists and even in closed groups where they share their experiences and get advice and support.
A society that considers women’s pleasure to be unimportant clearly thinks and researches little on the positive value of orgasm for health. However, some scientists are actively studying this issue and have interesting results. In order to make available information on the positive impact of orgasm in Georgian, scientific journalist Tsira Gvasalia and illustrator Ekaterine Lolua created the Orgasm project.
This is a Facebook page where scientific and technical information about orgasm is published based on research and data. The materials are also published on the website Cactus Journalism – Orgasm.
“We start by explaining what orgasm is and what it means. Also, why it can be good for health in addition to being pleasurable and helping people achieve intimacy with their partners. On the one hand, it is medical, and on the other hand, it is more graphic and interesting — Eka’s interpretation as a result of turning it into paintings,” Tsira Gvasalia tells us.
Tsira recalls that she purchased an American book “The Science of Orgasm” back in 2017, but then she only got through it superficially and put it on a shelf. She planned to get back to it later and read it in depth. While visiting her friend, illustrator Ekaterine Lolua, she thought of turning the conversation about the benefits of orgasm into a project for the first time.
“Three years ago, I visited my friend, Eka, with whom I became even closer later. I noticed her paintings, which described close-up views of the human body. I suddenly connected the topics discusses in this book and Eka’s paintings and thought it would be interesting to combine our interests. I always thought how to use in jurnalism pure scientific literature, in which all standards are respected and which is related to the collection of data in medicine and science”, – Tsira tells us.
After sharing the idea with her friend, Tsira and Ekaterine started working on the project. They collected 14 post ideas for the first stage, which would be published after the start of the project, and presented it to the donor organization. The project received funding from the Women’s Foundation. According to Tsira, Orgasm can help many people in their sexual emancipation, but it covers so many topics that it is impossible to fulfill it in one small project.
She also tells us about the work process – Tsira and Eka agreed on which topics they wanted to talk about. According to them, information sharing should first start with explanatory materials, because this topic is taboo in society. Tsira translated scientific works on orgasm and shared them with Eka, while Eka made paintings based on the texts.
The authors of Orgasm began the conversation by sharing background information, including the evolutionary basis of the female orgasm, anorgasmia, the role of orgasm in pain regulation, the interaction of sleep and orgasm, clitoral dysfunction as a result of injury, and more. Tsira also says that inclusivity and the representation of queer bodies are important to them, which is reflected in their posts in the form of drawings.
“The page indirectly touches on many different topics. For example, protection against sexually transmitted infections and vaccination against papillomavirus, which is free for women under 45 in our country. In addition to focusing on enjoyment, we must also consider safety.
It was also important for us to state that we do not consider sex to be a form of relationship between a woman and a man and that we are gender sensitive. We took this into account in the drawings. Although gender was not our main theme, we wanted to have this component as well, even if in small doses,” says Tsira.
According to Tsira, the page’s user statistics show that talking about orgasm is embarrassing for people — there is a lot of engagement and interest, but they hold back from liking the page or leaving comments.
“The feeling of orgasm is one of the most important and useful things that the human body can produce, because of its neurological basis. Technically, an orgasm is the result of peripheral stimulation, impulses generated in the brain that cause muscle contractions. It’s a brain-driven sensation that’s very diverse and rewarding in many ways,” — Tsira Gvasalia.
According to Tsira, we should consider orgasm as a great ability of our body, which is not only pleasant, but also useful. She also says that for a better orgasm you need to take care of your health. For example, sleeping continuously for 7-8 hours, drinking water often, eating right and being physically active, as well as abstaining from alcohol and drug use.
“The usefulness of orgasm is also indicated by its use for other purposes – for example, in the case of migraine, pain can be lessened through orgasm. Unlike the corresponding drugs, which are neurological depressants and have other strong side effects, orgasm has no side effects.
According to one hypothesis, stimulation of the nipples reduces the risk of cancer – during regular stimulation of the nipple, oxytocin is released, which compresses and moves the stretched myoepithelial tissues, after which the stretched gland is released, and the cancerous fluid is expelled from the breast. Studies also show that frequent ejaculation over the years reduces the risk of prostate cancer,” says Tsira.
Tsira also talks about the importance of relationships and communication with both our partner(s) and our doctors.
“We should be open and communicate with each other. Let’s listen to each other, share and trust — everything is possible if we want to. Couples therapy is also important, which is unfortunately not implemented in our culture,” says Tsira.
“For me, orgasm is euphoria, adrenaline, friction and closeness. In the end, great pleasure. One solution to anorgasmia is to simply not focus on the orgasm and enjoy the process. At this point, if you’re relaxed enough, you might experience an orgasm quite suddenly, because it’s mostly the brain that triggers the orgasm, not the friction. I really want those who read our articles and illustrations to understand the role of orgasm on a medical level. Orgasm and sex don’t seem to be demonized, they don’t seem to be taboo, but in reality they are and there are many myths”, – Ekaterine Lolua.
Orgasm is part of the umbrella project, Cactus, which, based on international sources, collects reliable, scientific information about health and environmental pollution and translates it into Georgian to make this information more accessible to readers.
“Cactus is the main project, under the umbrella of which exists Orgasm. The goal of Cactus is to establish a culture of finding correct information and reliable sources in Georgia,” Tsira explains.