OMG: CNN Discovers, A Bit Late, That Women Usually Need Clitoral Stimulation to Climax; Then Writes Propaganda Piece Against Conventional Heterosexual Sex

Instapundit rightly goofs on this, but I wonder if I read on through or just decided this was silly trash and stopped reading.

It gets a bit worse.

Many of us equate "sex" with "intercourse" and use those words interchangeably. Yet highly satisfying sex doesn't have to be limited to penetration -- and doesn't even have to include it at all.

According to a recent study, many women report that they require clitoral stimulation to have an orgasm.

I can only repeat Instapundit's joke here: "Breaking news from 1973."

Now, as I read this, I began to wonder: "Who is this written for?"

It doesn't seem to be written for adult women or even sexually experienced teenaged girls, who I'm pretty sure know that the clitoris is a very important thing in female climaxes. Given that it's now fashionable to talk about vibrators all day long, I think the word is out -- among adult women and even sexually experienced teenagers -- that hitting the Bozo Button (as a friend called it) can really light a gal up.

So who's the audience here?

There's only one group I can think of who is likely to be ignorant that clitoral stimulation is a good and nice thing: pre-teens.

Teen Vogue -- Teen Vogue, which is almost certainly aiming for readers younger than teens or just early teens, because kids tend to read "up" in age level, not at their own recommended level -- is giving advice about how to do prostate stimulation and have anal sex.

And now CNN, hunting for clicks and revenues, seems to be following that model of publishing pieces that couldn't interest more than a percentage or two of adults, but which would be interesting to a sexually-inexperienced tween or early teenager.

And so this reads to me as propaganda. It seems to be saying "Little girls, you can have so much better sex with other girls."

But read it and let me know what you think. Note the following is the "reporter" editorializing in her "news article:

In reading [her] results, I'm struck by the idea that the majority of women report that they often don't reach orgasm through intercourse alone.

Really? I do not believe you find this surprising. Adults do not find this surprising. It's a pretty common thing that if penetrative sex fails to do the job, a man will attempt, or a woman will suggest, hitting the Bozo Button for a bit.

I don't know if this writer is sexually-inexperienced person herself or just pretending to be one to relate to a target audience.

This flies in the face of the stereotype of intercourse as the be-all and end-all of sexual activity -- and suggests that couples should explore the whole range of pleasurable options for achieving climax.

Remember, this is a "news article." She doesn't know where this Patriarchal Idea that actual (procreative) sex is the "be-all-end-all" of sexual activity.

Though maybe it has something to do with that whole "procreative" part, and how bodies are kinda wired for this specific type of sex.

It then goes on to exalt the virtues of non-P-in-V sex or kinda-sex, like kissing, erotic massage, and sex toys.

You know -- things you don't need the dreaded Penis People for:

This term "outercourse" refers to sex that isn't intercourse and doesn't involve penetration. It can include kissing, touching, erotic massage and using sex toys, just to name a few options.

"When we equate intercourse and sex and call everything that comes before intercourse 'foreplay,' we are buying into the cultural script that sex should proceed as follows: foreplay (just enough to get her ready for intercourse), intercourse (during which both women and men orgasm), and game over," Mintz said. But sex doesn't have to involve intercourse at all. Even when it does, other forms of stimulation can add to the experience and may improve the odds of reaching orgasm.

All fine things -- but she seems pretty intent on proving that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle with a Magic Rabbit on the seat.

Again, I'm just baffled. I am not sure who exactly doesn't know that alternate methods of sex, like oral sex, or manual sex (trying to keep this clean), can be pleasurable.

At least, I don't know any adults or sexually-inexperienced teenagers who don't know this.

I don't get the whole pose (if it is a pose) of an adult writer pretending to be dumbfounded to learn what most adults learned around, oh, say the time they were 17 or 18.

More Cowbell: I accidentally misgendered the writer. I assumed that you wouldn't have a guy writing about female sexuality. You know -- sexual appropriation.

I also assumed that only a woman would be assigned to this sort of Female Clickbait topic.

Turns out, the writer is (nominally) a man, and a rather older man, who... well, if he's missed the plot on the clitoris all his life, I have to assume he hasn't explored that particular studio space very often.

posted by Ace at 08:40 PM

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