{"id":31929,"date":"2020-11-05T13:36:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T12:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/?p=31929"},"modified":"2020-11-13T09:58:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T08:58:08","slug":"bad-orgasm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Possible To Have A Bad Orgasm?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If someone has an orgasm during consensual sex, people generally assume that the sex must have been good. However, in a recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers found that consensual sex can be bad even when orgasm occurs. They called these kinds of experiences \u201cbad orgasm experiences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31932\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg\" alt=\"is it possible to have a bad orgasm\" width=\"660\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More specifically, the study reports that orgasms during consensual sex did not necessarily mean that the sex was wanted, the orgasm was wanted, the person was aroused or that the sexual experience was enjoyable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the study, participants described experiences where they had an orgasm during sexual experiences that were negative and\/or non-positive in three ways:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having an orgasm after being pressured into unwanted sex by a partner (the authors called this coerced sex in the article but clarify that the participants still classified it as consensual);<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having an orgasm after agreeing to have sex even when they did not want to (the authors referred to this as compliant sex in the article; again, participants had classified it as consensual) and\/or<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having an orgasm after feeling pressured to have an orgasm (i.e., putting pressure on oneself or being pressured by a partner to orgasm).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it might seem like the encounter must have become positive if the participant orgasmed, many participants described these experiences in negative ways even though their orgasm occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How bad could orgasm experiences really be? Evidence suggests that the answer is: very bad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Terms that the participants used to describe their experiences included \u201chollow and mechanical,\u201d \u201cirritating and uncomfortable,\u201d \u201cnot a good experience\u201d and \u201cmental torture,\u201d among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Participants overwhelmingly reported that the orgasms they had during the encounter were less or not at all pleasurable compared to orgasms in other, non-pressured encounters. For example, many participants stated that the pressured orgasm felt \u201cweaker\u201d or \u201cdull,\u201d like a physical response with no associated pleasurable sensations, and\/or physically the same but emotionally less pleasurable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bad orgasm experiences also had negative effects on participants\u2019 relationships, sexuality and psychological health. This was often because participants felt that having an orgasm invalidated their negative emotions, encouraged partners\u2019 problematic behavior and\/or led their partner to dismiss the participant\u2019s expressed concerns. For example, one participant who brought up issues with a partner\u2019s sexual conduct said that their partner responded by saying, \u201cYou enjoyed it, didn\u2019t you?\u201d as if the orgasm overrode the partner&#8217;s problematic behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Identity Matters<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Participants also suggested that stereotypes and expectations related to their identities compounded the negative feelings associated with bad orgasm experiences. For example, women felt pressured to orgasm in order to bolster men\u2019s egos, and men reported feeling pressured to orgasm during every sexual encounter in order to fulfill masculinity stereotypes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, bisexual participants reported feeling that they had to orgasm with partners of different genders to \u201cprove\u201d their bisexuality. Some trans and\/or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/gender-isnt-binary\/\">non-binary<\/a> participants said that having orgasms, in general, triggered gender identity conflict (some participants referred to this as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/gender-dysphoria-in-the-brain\/\">gender dysphoria<\/a>); though for others, gender identity conflict set the stage for unwanted orgasms and\/or being pressured to have sex or orgasm when they did not want to.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Can We Conclude?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clearly, bad orgasm experiences were related to coercion, compliance, and\/or orgasm pressure in ways that were contextualized by people\u2019s relationships to identity stereotypes and experiences. Together, the results of this study send an important message: contrary to popular belief, orgasm during consensual sex is not always a pleasurable experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having an orgasm does not mean that the sexual encounter or orgasm was enjoyable or that the negative feelings of the person who orgasmed no longer matter or have disappeared. Furthermore, identity stereotypes and experiences create added pressures for individuals that can exacerbate the reasons why an orgasm experience is bad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, it is problematic and potentially harmful to assume that orgasm always equates pleasurable, wanted sex. Sexual partners should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/communication-as-a-tool-for-better-sex\/\">communicate their concerns and desires<\/a> even when orgasm occurs because orgasm does not necessarily mean that the sex was wanted, arousal was present, or that the experience overall was \u201cgood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If someone has an orgasm during consensual sex, people generally assume that the sex must have been good. However, in a recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers found that consensual sex can be bad even when orgasm occurs. They called these kinds of experiences \u201cbad orgasm experiences.\u201d More specifically, the study reports that orgasms during consensual sex did not necessarily mean that the sex was wanted, the orgasm was wanted, the person was aroused or that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":31932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[669],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-31929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sexual-health","tag-sexual-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is It Possible To Have A Bad Orgasm?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Possible To Have A Bad Orgasm?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If someone has an orgasm during consensual sex, people generally assume that the sex must have been good. However, in a recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers found that consensual sex can be bad even when orgasm occurs. They called these kinds of experiences \u201cbad orgasm experiences.\u201d More specifically, the study reports that orgasms during consensual sex did not necessarily mean that the sex was wanted, the orgasm was wanted, the person was aroused or that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Volont\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LELO.Official\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-05T12:36:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-13T08:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stuart Nugent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Lelo_Official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Lelo_Official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stuart Nugent\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/\",\"name\":\"Is It Possible To Have A Bad Orgasm?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-05T12:36:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-13T08:58:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1605b31c2d1346d864aae6f6c44dac50\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/is-it-possible-to-have-a-bad-orgasm.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":330,\"caption\":\"is it possible to have a bad orgasm\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/bad-orgasm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Volonte\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Health\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/sexual-health\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Is It Possible To Have A Bad Orgasm?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Volont\u00e9\",\"description\":\"A Pleasure Project by LELO\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1605b31c2d1346d864aae6f6c44dac50\",\"name\":\"Stuart Nugent\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/fa5a6a14328b3190731a72f994c90afb\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f4d70a8164cd4edeb201ab59dc8657d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f4d70a8164cd4edeb201ab59dc8657d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Stuart Nugent\"},\"description\":\"With 16 years in the adult industry, including many years at LELO, it's fair to say Stu has been around the sex toy block a few times. 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