An article on Titian’s Venus of Urbino (c. 1530s) reads, in part,
After examining the contemporary literature, Goffen came to the conclusion that the Urbino Venus is actively masturbating. “Under most circumstances, this kind of self-caress was unequivocally condemned by medieval and Renaissance theologians and physicians,” she noted. But in the context of marriage it may have been at times an absolute necessity, for it was believed that if a woman did not have an orgasm during intercourse she could not conceive, and the chances were even better for conception if both husband and wife climaxed simultaneously. To reach this blissful and fruitful end, female masturbation was considered acceptable. Indeed, as Goffen discovered, 14 out of 17 Renaissance theologians studied by Jean-Louis Flandrin, the French cultural historian, permitted women to reach orgasm through masturbation and thus, they believed, encourage gestation.
My question is, when and how did they come to this conclusion? Don’t you think a woman would have noticed that she became pregnant without having an orgasm during intercourse?
It seems there is greater sperm retention in the female if she orgasms which increases the likelihood of an egg being fertilized. It is not necessary she orgasm to get pregnant, but it seems it might help.
The study below is not conclusive though.
I would be surprised if people in the past thought orgasm was necessary for conception. Surely they had lots of examples of it happening without the woman having an orgasm (such as being raped and getting pregnant).
Sep 23, 2017 — The sixth century physician Aetios of Amida thought of the female orgasm as a sign of conception : “[if] in the very coitional act itself she …
Aetios wrote extensively on contraception, almost all of it nonsense except for (accidently?) correctly identifying vinegar as useful, so presumably this was incidental to his ideas.
But the notion also has a dark side.
I.e., if a woman got pregnant after a rape, she must have enjoyed it and it wasn’t rape after all.
History allows such a range of opinions of every subject that infinite care must be taken to conclude that any given pronouncement is what people believed, even in a certain time or place.
Given the lack of knowledge & proficiency (or the sheer lack of concern) many men have for giving a woman an orgasm (especially younger men), if female orgasm actually were necessary for conception, the human race would be severely endangered
Considering the level of knowledge about sex in general and female sex in particular, I doubt it was ever significantly thought about by most people even if they were aware there was such a thing.
It’s only been in recent years (maybe the last 10 or 20 years?) as far as I’m aware that serious scientific educational material about sex has discussed that when women experience orgasm, the contractions help pull sperm into the uterus and so make fertilization more likely (if it happens at the right time). Plus… that women may have a stronger sex drive during ovulation…
I would be curious to find the original sources for “14 out of 17 Renaissance theologians studied by Jean-Louis Flandrin” that stated this back when such things were rarely discussed.
(OTOH, the Vasari corridor from the Uffuzi is reopening this year, I understand. If you have a chance to see it, it’s an interesting tour.)
I seem to remember a Straight Dope column mentioning that Galen (c. 100s?) thought hysteria was caused by a buildup of toxins, and that these toxins were expelled in female ejaculate. IIRC Galen was a huge influence on medieval and possibly even later medicine.
Several centuries later, medical pioneer Galen also blamed the uterus for hysteria but denied its upward mobility. He believed female “sperm” (probably female ejaculate, as discussed here before, see The Straight Dope:What’s in female ejaculate?) was released during sex; its accumulation via abstinence could produce toxic vapors, resulting in hysterical symptoms, namely shortness of breath and convulsions.
I don’t have a cite for this, but I’m pretty sure the Talmud says that the female orgasm greatly increases the chance of conceiving a boy rather than a girl, which of course was the much preferred outcome in those days of patriarchy. So women may have been oppressed, but at least that particular false belief worked out to their benefit!
And of course, not only is it possible for a woman to get pregnant without an orgasm, it’s also possible for her to have an orgasm without being willing. Which, when it happens, probably has all sorts of psychological problems it triggers.
This was a minor point in the movie The Last Duel when Marguerite was being questioned about her claim of being raped and whether the rape resulted in her pregnancy.
