Four out of five women fail to reach climax through sexual intercourse alone, a new study has revealed.
The findings break the myth that most women can orgasm through intercourse.
And 75 percent of females reported that clitoral stimulation was necessary for them to have an orgasm.
US researchers also reported that women have ‘a diverse set’ of preferences when it comes to genital touch, location and pressure.
They note from the findings of their poll of 1,000 women aged 18 to 94 that there are no universal ‘sex moves that work for everyone’.
This highlights the importance of couples having conversations about their preferences and desires, the report in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy states.
Nearly 75 percent of women surveyed said that clitoral stimulation was either necessary for them to climax during intercourse, or helped their orgasms feel better (stock photo)
‘The study results challenge the mistaken, but common, notion that there are universal sex moves that work for everyone,’ said study author Brian Dodge, associate professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington.
Aiming to ‘fill the gap in scientific and public understanding of sexual pleasure’, the team found 18 percent could experience the big ‘O’ from vaginal penetration alone and nearly 75 percent said that clitoral stimulation was either necessary for them to climax during intercourse, or helped their orgasms feel better.
A damaging myth
Mail Online Sex expert Tracey Cox says that the idea most women can orgasm through intercourse is ‘the biggest and most damaging myth about sex’.
‘Most women don’t orgasm through intercourse and only 30 per cent can do it,’ she said.
‘Like all sex educators, I’ve been harping on about this for years.
‘The result is men have at least three times as many orgasms with a partner than women do.
‘The rates for casual sex are even more abysmal: only four percent of women have orgasms through casual sex.’
Her advise to women to make sure they are getting satisfaction in the bedroom is to take matters into their own hands – literally.
‘The single, most important thing you can do to even up the tally is to give yourself the same clitoral stimulation you use when pleasuring yourself.
‘This basically involves thinking of his penis and pelvis as more of a masturbatory tool – something to rub and stimulate your clitoris with and against – than an appendage that thrusts (ineffectively, if pleasantly) in and out of your vagina.
‘Sounds selfish? Sorry to be blunt but who cares? He won’t – he’ll end up climaxing one way or another, believe me! And for once in your life, you might too.’