stylistic:tone
Dysfunction and satisfaction

The inability to have an orgasm, or regular difficulty reaching orgasm after ample sexual stimulation, is called anorgasmia or inorgasmia. If a male experiences erection and ejaculation but no orgasm, he is said to have sexual anhedonia (a condition in which an individual cannot feel pleasure from an orgasm) or ejaculatory anhedonia. Anorgasmia is significantly more common in women than in men, which has been attributed to the lack of sex education about women's bodies, especially in sex-negative cultures, such as clitoral stimulation usually being key for women to orgasm.

Approximately 25 percent of women report difficulties with orgasm, 10% of women have never had an orgasm, and 40 percent or 40–50 percent have either complained about sexual dissatisfaction or experienced difficulty becoming sexually aroused at some point in their lives. A 1994 study by Laumann et al. found that 75 percent of men and 29 percent of women always had orgasms with their spouse, while 40 percent of men and 80 percent of women thought their spouse always orgasmed during sex. These rates were different in non-marital straight relationships (cohabitational, long-term and short-term heterosexual relationships), with rates increasing to 81 percent for men and 43 percent for women orgasming during sex with their short-term partners, and 69 percent for men and 83 percent for women thinking their short-term partners always orgasmed. Women are much more likely to be nearly always or always orgasmic when alone than with a partner. In a 1996 study by Davis et al., 62 percent of women in a partnered relationship said they were satisfied with the frequency/consistency of their orgasms. Additionally, some women express that their most satisfying sexual experiences entail being connected to someone, rather than solely basing satisfaction on orgasm.

Kinsey's 1953 Sexual Behavior in the Human Female showed that, over the previous five years of sexual activity, 78 percent of women had orgasms in 60 percent to 100 percent of sexual encounters with other women, compared with 55 percent for heterosexual sex. Kinsey attributed this difference to female partners knowing more about women's sexuality and how to optimize women's sexual satisfaction than male partners do. Like Kinsey, scholars such as Peplau, Fingerhut, and Beals (2004) and Diamond (2006) found that lesbians have orgasms more often and more easily in sexual interactions than heterosexual women do, and that female partners are more likely to emphasize the emotional aspects of lovemaking. In contrast, research by Diane Holmberg and Karen L. Blair (2009), published in the Journal of Sex Research, found that women in same-sex relationships enjoyed identical sexual desire, sexual communication, sexual satisfaction, and satisfaction with orgasm as their heterosexual counterparts.

Specifically, with simultaneous orgasm and similar practices, many sexologists claim that the problem of premature ejaculation is closely related to the idea encouraged by a scientific approach in the early 20th century when mutual orgasm was overly emphasized as an objective and a sign of true sexual satisfaction in intimate relationships.

If orgasm is desired, anorgasmia may be attributed to an inability to relax. It may be associated with performance pressure and an unwillingness to pursue pleasure, as separate from the other person's satisfaction; often, women worry so much about the pleasure of their partner that they become anxious, which manifests as impatience with the delay of orgasm for them. This delay can lead to frustration of not reaching orgasmic sexual satisfaction. Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, in his 1927 book Die Funktion des Orgasmus (published in English in 1980 as Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis) was the first to make orgasm central to the concept of mental health, and defined neurosis in terms of blocks to having orgastic potency. Although orgasm dysfunction can have psychological components, physiological factors often play a role. For instance, delayed orgasm or the inability to achieve orgasm is a common side effect of many medications.

Menopause may involve loss of hormones supporting sexuality and genital functionality. Vaginal and clitoral atrophy and dryness affect up to 50–60 percent of postmenopausal women. Testosterone levels in men fall as they age. Sexual dysfunction overall becomes more likely with poor physical and emotional health. "Negative experiences in sexual relationships and overall well-being" are associated with sexual dysfunction.