Based on this thread, I just had to take a sort of informal poll:
Is there an experience (or more than one) that you think is superior, physically, to an orgasm? If so, what? And is it that your orgasms are not as good as this other phenomenon, or that somehow, that experience trumps it?
Maybe it’s just me, but orgasms are really in a category by themselves. Even a great meal or excellent chocolate is not in the same category… I admit it’s only since I’ve turned 30 or so, and it’s even better with the right person (which I feel infinitely fortunate to have found), but I personally cannot fathom the possibility that, all things being equal, a hot shower, scratching an itch, or a foot massage (or a sneeze!) could be better than an orgasm. All things being equal maybe is the operative phrase here… if I had the chicken pox, obviously I’d rather itch, though who knows…
I will admit that there are drugs that would probably produce a physical sensation equal to or better than an orgasm. That’s cheating though-- cutting out the middle man and going straight to brain chemicals.
Please enlighten me, or pipe up and agree with me, since I’m starting to wonder how it could be that my experiences are so far from everyone else’s… or is everyone else being hyperbolic to prove a point? Or what?
Thanks in advance and sorry if you now know more about me than you ever wanted to.
Well, when I had my gallbladder removed, I was given a shot of Demerol when I woke up from the surgery. I tell ya, that stuff made me feel smooooooooth. Like everything was allll riggggght. Additionally, a voice whispered to me that if I picked my nose, I would feel better. So I started diggin’ for gold and I felt pretty great. Later on a nurse told me that when they brought me back from the recovery room I was still brushing my nose with my hand and waving at people in the hall.
That’s the only experience that I could say was almost as good.
There’s that sensation, when you’re really, really tired, exhausted, maybe, and you finally get into bed, and it’s warm, and cosy, and safe, and you just feel the weight of gravity on every bone, and then you start to fall into the welcome weight of sleep… That sensation when sleep is about to happen.
That’s a good feeling.
(Of course, feeling this just-about-to-sleep sensation after an orgasm is even better.)
A really good back rub is occasionally better than an orgasm. Particularly if I’m stressed. My shoulder muscles have a tendency to knot up under stress, and just my girlfriend’s hands stroking my back is enough to relax them.
I also agree about the ‘about to fall asleep’ sensation. Generally if you are in a position where you haven’t been able to sleep for a long time (like been awake for 48 hours straight or something) and having all your muscles kind of just ‘unplug’ themselves from your nervous system is a nice feeling.
I think the key here is that these other wonderful sensations last longer than the average orgasm. I’d agree that an orgasm feels better than anything, but once it’s over, it’s over. You can stand in the shower just a few more minutes or have one more bite of that great dessert, but just about the time you’re really enjoying your orgasm, it’s gone.
I’m one of the posters whose comments from the other thread are being questioned here. People vary in their sensitivities, and not just to tactile sensations. A person who is viscerally responsive to color might experience a great sunset as something that rivals a weak orgasm. A musician might have a similar experience with a fine passage of music. A tactilely sensitive person might have other strong sensually satisfying experiences, such as hot showers, foot massage, etc.
Neurologically, peoples’ thresholds to sensations differ. It’s difficult for a person who is primarily tactile to imagine other senses rivaling their own tactile experience. But some people, especially highly sensitive people, will experience things differently.
Bottom line: don’t assume that other people’s sensations are the same as yours.
As an interesting aside: In my sexuality class in college, the process of orgasm was compared physiologically to a sneeze. Muscle tension, tissues congesting with blood, release. All things being equal, I’d take an orgasm anyday. But things are never equal, which is why a hot shower feels satisfying some times more than others, and a great sneeze can beat a weak orgasm.
I dunno. I think it might be like asking whether the blues are better than classical music.
Context is everything. Food to a starving person, warmth to a freezing person, safety to a terrified person - these might not be “better” than orgasm, but I’ve got to imagine, in their time and place, that they feel pretty good, and each would be absolutely necessary before any thought of orgasm could occur.
These are extreme examples, of course, but the point is the same: to everything there is a season.
This may be hair splitting (so to speak) but I think the few moments before an orgasm are better than the orgasm. You know the moment when you realise that you can’t delay things one moment longer…you have just passed the point of no return and here it comes (so to speak).
Just a note: All that “highly sensitive person” stuff is made-up pseudoscience. There is no evidence the “trait” exists. The self-test on that site is obviously loaded.
As for the topic of the thread, no, there is nothing better than a really good orgasm, except for the sex preceding it. Orgasms are just too damn short.
Maybe I am just a Deprovationist/Sadist but everything inside and outside of orgasm is the most erotic to me…it all leads to orgasm but that fact is just contrapuntal to the symphony.
When I finally lost my virginity, I remember saying that if someone says something is “better than sex” they’re either doing it wrong or lying. Still, I do remember one non-sexual moment which came close. I was attending an organ recital given by my church’s choir master (I know. I’m already picturing the puns!) I remember sitting with my eyes closed, my mouth open, knowing the music would have to eventually end, but wishing it wouldn’t. Talk about bliss!
I think the key variable is How good an orgasm are we talking about?
I mean, if I just whack it, run of the mill, I feel good for, like, five-ten minutes. Last month, though, I had a massage and I felt good for the whole damn rest of the day. Like, blissed-out flower children good. So there you are.
What? Doing a drug that stretches out time and makes your whole body buzz? During sex? Preposterous!
And I suppose you’d suggest listening to Portishead, Massive Attack, PJ Harvey, Dead Can Dance, etc while doing it too? Or is Barry White your sexy high?
