Santé – Orgasm is not important

Published in Santé magazine
on November 4, 2024

Maui and Hester have been a couple for three years and started seeing me because they did not always seem to understand each other. The communication didn’t run smoothly, causing unnecessary fights. By now things have improved and they laughingly tell me how happy they are with each other. “We actually have a great time together, sexually as well. Since I’ve been with Maui I seriously don’t know what hit me,” Hester begins as she rubs her girlfriend’s leg.

“In my previous relationship, with Ton, I really wasn’t satisfied. During sex with him, I never came. But now we both always orgasm,” she says beaming. Maui also begins to laugh. I explain that in heterosexual partner sex, men have orgasms much more often than women. This orgasm gap occurs partly because heterosexual sex is mostly focused on penetration and most women do not climax that way. Because lesbian partner sex often focuses more on clitoral stimulation, women then cum much more often.

“Well, that’s true,” Maui responds. “I’ve never been with a man, so I don’t know anything about that. But in my previous relationships with women, there was always a lot of attention to each other’s pleasure. And it’s the same now, with Hester… We take our time and always make sure we both enjoy ourselves.” She looks at her girlfriend for a moment.

"Yes, and I also think that, partly because the sex is so good, we managed to get our communication back on track," Hester then adds.

At the end of my day, I walk through the building where I work. For a week now, a man has been working on a cabinet there and I’ve had a few chats with him. I walk by to check on the progress and see that he’s almost finished. Proudly he shows me what he worked so hard on. “You must be a huge perfectionist,” I say in awe. “How wonderfull that you can build something like that.”

Praktijk van relatietherapeut seksuoloog Jolien Spoelstra Haarlem
Hoe zeg ik sorry?

“Well perfectionist,” he says, “my wife does think I always work way too long, but when I start something I want to finish it.” Then he laughs and bumps his elbow against mine. “I can tell you this, because you are a sex therapist, right?” I nod. “Well, so I explained to my wife, it’s the same with sex: For women, orgasming is not important, but once a man starts something… he wants to keep going until it’s done!”

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This post is also available in: NL ENG

This post is also available in: NL ENG