Poll: When did you first learn how to orgasm?
- Posted by sexcalumny on August 13th, 2007 filed in Polls, Orgasm, Female Orgasm, Male Orgasm, What is Normal?
This poll is stolen shamelessly from Jezebel.com, although it has been stripped of the charm and snark peculiar to that site. But it is an irresistible question, posed mainly to the female readers (although, naturally, it is anonymous and open to everyone):
How old were you when you learned how to orgasm?
- Younger than 14 (56%)
- 18-22 (22%)
- 14-17 (17%)
- 22-25 (6%)
- Over 25 (0%)
- I still haven’t (0%)
- I’m not sure (0%)
Total Votes: 18
Loading …If you go over and check out the original post, which I think you should, you’ll read the tale of the original, conversational version of this poll among the Jezebel writers: some of them mastered the art of definitive orgasms before they mastered algebra, while several others did not until after college. Read the comments following the poll and note that both early and late bloomers report feeling shame about their orgasm status - it makes one wonder what the culturally perceived “normal” orgasm age is, and how it is supposed to be attained when discussing such personal details is deemed culturally inappropriate.
Voila: a poll, and a comment box. Feel free to tell us about how you first got there!
August 13th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I was really early. I learned in 1st grade, although I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time. I used to think sexual stimulation “tickled” and I had found a fun way to “tickle myself” but then I would notice I would eventually the tickling sensation would get REALLY strong, and then after it would become kind of numb and I was not able to do it anymore.
My first orgasm involving cum was around 6th grade. I was very lucky as a friend’s brother explained that eventually my penis would produce cum, and that I shouldn’t freak out when it happened. As a result I remembering being excited when it happened and telling the brother. He was actually a pretty cool guy about it. He told me it wasn’t something to tell people, but he was glad to know his advice helped.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Well, I’ll spill. I fall into the 22-25 category. Why? I’m not exactly sure… My first sexual experience was sort of shameful, and I figured that not enjoying it was God’s punishment for me. Second sexual relationship gave me a word for that - frigid - and never let me forget it. Then I avoided sex for awhile. Then I tried sleeping with women (lightbulb: “I don’t hate sex, I just hate that one man!”) I read some books. Several years of borderline promiscuity later, I came by myself - boyless and toyless. It’s been great fun opening up ever with and without partners ever since. : )
Edward, I think your story about the older mentor is kind of cool. I’ve never really thought about how men learn sex - I’ve always figured it was just out there for them, outside of the body and emphasized in the culture in a way that womens’ sexuality is not. Which may be partly true, but there is still a lot of learning and explanation needed.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Yeah, I was glad to have him. I mean cumming for the first time can be scary. Especially for a guy, if he doesn’t know that it’s going to happen.
It wasn’t until I answered this poll that I thought back to that time, where I had that mentor figure. I also remember hearing about people who didn’t know they would eventually cum when they masturbated and how SHOCKING that was to them when it happened.
August 15th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I was somewhere between five and a half and seven first time I had an orgasm. I had no idea what it was for several years after that though.
First orgasm from somebody else was when I was 18.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I fall into the ‘under 14′ category, but like Edward Cullen, I didn’t understand what I was doing at the time. I just knew sometimes I would feel like touching myself, and I would continue to feel that way until I felt a stronger sensation that left me satisfied. Being from a socially conservative religious family, once my mom caught me doing this, she told me it was a bad habit; thereafter, I had to learn to do it unobtrusively.
I think I was around 18 (freshman year of college) when I connected that feeling of satisfaction with ‘orgasm’.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:55 am
I am not entirely certain when it was, but I am pretty certain it was when I was 12-13… No real mentor, and somehow or the other I muddled through what I was doing and what it all meant to/ for me. The first time with someone else around for it would have been when I was 19 and towards the beginning of my second year at college.
Having said all that, I would also add that b/c of some fun religious stuff and the lack of any sort of mentor for things, it took me a long time to enjoy orgasms fully and/or not have profound guilt associations about them. Not that sort of thing prevented me from doiing it you understand… ;)
August 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
[…] that mean orgasm to you. I don’t know how old you are, but as you might notice from our recent Orgasm Poll and the website it links to, people (women especially) come to terms with their particular […]
August 27th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I am in the ‘Younger than 14′ category though it was much younger — perhaps 7 or so. My experience is very like the others above. I didn’t know exactly what was going on with my body and I certainly didn’t know what the word ‘orgasm’ was. I just knew that if I did these specific things it felt good and after a while that feeling would get stronger for a time. I didn’t ejaculate for a few more years and, at when it finally did happen, it scared me. I had no idea what it was and was too embarrassed to ask my parents about it. Google, of course, was still quite a few years away. Incidentally I saw a comedy special by Billy Connolly around age 11 or 12 that clued me in. He was as close to a mentor as I ever got. My first time with someone else was at age 15 but I didn’t really learn to control when I climaxed until my early 20s.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:07 am
E.V.~ actually, I hadnt meant to be unclear with the dots. It is just a thing I typically do these days with msging. Not sure when I picked that habit up. I just tend to use it solely as a pause, and not here as indicative of any larger problem for me. Fyi I’m a 26 yr old male.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
i love it all, i did it when i was 6 and i do it now, i just want to find someone to do it with, at least over the comp