Male Orgasm

0RGASM AND EJACULATION in the male are separate events, though interlinked. The male reaches the orgasm first, and a second or two later ejaculation of semen takes place. During copulatory movements as the penis is moved to and fro, the sexual tension mounts in the male and soon reaches its peak when he can no longer control himself. This is the beginning of the orgasm in the male. At the point of orgasm, the male stops the coital movements and thrusts his penis into the female partner very deeply. For the purpose of description, the events during the male orgasm can be divided into physiological and psychological.

Physiological

Physiologically, orgasm in the male is a total body response with all the organs and systems participating. The main body reactions are vaso congestion, and muscle contractions with spasm of most of the muscles of the body. The pulse rate quickens and is 100 to 170, the systolic (maximum) blood pressure rises by 40 to 80 millimeters of mercury (mm of Hg) while the diastolic (minimum) blood pressure goes up by 20 to 40 mm of Hg. The respiration rises to about 40 per minute and many males perspire profusely as well.

The male genital organs are the centre of attention. Orgasm in the male has two distinct phases expulsion and emission or ejaculation. It may be compared to loading a pistol and later firing it. During the first phase the internal genital organs like the prostate, the seminal vesicles and the inner portion of the urethra pump the seminal fluid into the firing area, the prostatic urethra; simultaneously the urethral bulb increases two to three fold in size. Early in this stage, the urinary bladder is sealed off so urine is not voided during ejaculation. In the second phase, the urethral sphincter muscle contracts at intervals of 0.8 seconds, expelling the semen into the vagina in six to eight consecutive jets. It is interesting to observe that the vaginal muscles in the female contract with the same frequency.

Psychological

The psychic manifestations are a feeling of ecstasy, a moment of profound joy. The man loses conception of time and space during these few sublime moments. However, all good things come to an end, and the male soon returns from love to his normal work. Men often engage in sex when they are tense, tired, bored, preoccupied or in a hurry. They mechanically go through the motions of reaching orgasm and then complain that sex fails to stimulate them. But if a man wisely indulges in intercourse when he has active sexual desire, orgasm stimulates and exhilarates his whole being. Refreshed in mind and body, he is able to pursue his normal activities with more zest after a brief rest.

Psychologically there are two phases in the male orgasm. It would be interesting to correlate them with the two stage physiology of male orgasm. During the first phase, the male feels ejaculation is 'inevitable now' and he can no longer control it. it takes place immediately prior to the first phase of emission and later accompanies it. However, there is a delay of one or two seconds between the feeling of inevitability of ejaculation and actual ejaculation taking place while the semen fills up the urethral bulb. During the second phase as ejaculation occurs, the male passes through two stages: the sensation resulting from contractions of the urethral bulb, and the pleasurable sensation created by the volume of the seminal fluid.

In other words, the greater the volume, the more pleasurable the feeling of release. This is most marked when one has sex after a period of abstinence. The greater volume of fluid at the first orgasm gives him more pleasure than the second orgasm after the refractory period. Thus the first orgasm is most satisfying to the male, unlike the female whose second or third orgasmic experience is reported as more pleasurable than the first. According to Masters and Johnson, the first two or three contractions of the penile urethra are more gratifying than the rest (often they are hardly perceptible), as after the first few forcible contractions males develop a sort of anesthesia along the urethra and do not feel the later contractions.

There are exceptions, however John, a businessman, meticulously counted the number of his urethral bulb muscle contractions during an ejaculation and compared notes with his friends. He was shattered to learn that one of them beat him in the numbers game! In a very agitated and perturbed frame of mind, he telephoned me, 'Doctor, there is something wrong with my ejaculatory motor. Albert can score eleven whilst I have never gone beyond eight.' I advised him not to be performance oriented and count his contractions or compare notes with others as it would only make him self conscious and miserable.

Male and female orgasms compared

The most significant difference in the orgasm of the two sexes is ejaculation in the male while there is no emission in the female. The male is quicker in reaching an orgasm, its duration is shorter and he returns to normal more quickly than the female whose orgasm lasts much longer and is slower to come on and return to normal; some women enjoy the orgasmic thrill for hours afterwards. The other difference is that while the male almost always reaches an orgasm, only about 30 per cent of females have an orgasm every time. The male can reach an orgasm during intercourse only once while the female is capable of a single or multiple orgasms during the same intercourse, or often none at all.

The female experiences a greater variety of orgasms in intensity and duration as compared to the male. Dr. Masters has called the sexual experience in the male as 'a rose is a rose sort of thing’; while in the female it 'goes all the way from poppies to orchids.' In other words, the female may have a very mild orgasm of short duration or an explosive one continuing for some length of time. Dr. Masters maintains that in terms of intensity and duration, all males experience the same kind of orgasm, though the pleasure they derive may differ from partner to partner. Many sexologists have challenged Dr. Masters' observations and Barnard Zilbergal in Men and Sex states that 'men are capable of variety in duration and intensity like the female. There are many males whose orgasmic experience varies from orgasm to orgasm.

Coitus Interruptus

We have stated earlier that the male reaches the orgasm first and a second or two later ejaculations takes place. The male can thus utilize this time lag between orgasm and ejaculation to withdraw his penis from the vagina and discharge outside.

If the penis is withdrawn from the vagina during the sex act before ejaculation takes place, it is called coitus interruptus or withdrawal. This was the commonest method of preventing conception before the advent of modern contraceptives like the condom, the loop and the pill. Many couples still indulge in coitus interruptus as it is the simplest and most inexpensive birth control method. But the method is harmful, especially for the female, as the sexual tension mounting in her is not relieved, and the sudden withdrawal of the male organ before ejaculation jars her nervous system, leaving her pelvic organs congested with blood for a long time, unless the male partner manually stimulates her clitoris and relieves her tension or she herself masturbates. The male also is tense and anxious to withdraw in time lest he discharges inside the vagina; this is not as pleasurable as discharging inside it. Finally, in spite of both partners sacrificing their pleasure, it is not a very safe method of birth control because unwanted pregnancies often occur. Coitus interruptus is the enemy of' carefree sex and should be resorted to very rarely only when it is not possible to use other birth control methods.

Simultaneous orgasm

Most manuals on sex recommend that the partners should ideally have a simultaneous orgasm. The male ejaculation strongly triggers off orgasm in the female partner. However, in practice it is difficult to achieve a dead hit or a photo finish coitus with both partners simultaneously orgasmic, because unlike the male who is almost always orgasmic, only 30 per cent of women always are, according to the Hite Report. Secondly, women usually take longer to come and many men just cannot prolong their ejaculation. In such cases, the male should stimulate his partner's clitoris while the penis is in the vagina. This is easier if the couple are using the woman on top position. Another alternative for the male who has a tendency to come too quickly, is to lessen the intensity of his pelvic thrusting and so reduce his sexual stimulation and prolong ejaculation.

In conclusion, as Dr. Masters has said, 'There is no quarrel at all with mutual orgasm if it happens naturally but to strive for it and to feel frustrated if you don't attain it that's a bad hang up.' Besides, at the height of orgasm both partners are so self oriented that it is not possible for one to enjoy the orgasm of the other.