Echo's Notorious Sex Blog: What is Sexual Response?

Explaining Sexual Response

The term sexual response is just a clinical way to say "the things that happen to you while you're being sexual".

Sexual response is usually understood to mean things that we don't consciously control. So, for example, choosing to take your clothes off because you're partner is calling you to bed to have sex isn't, strictly speaking, sexual response. Pouring a drink on someone who is being sexually inappropriate, while also a "response" to (unwanted) sexual advances, also isn't, strictly speaking, part of sexual response.

Sexual response is usually measured in the body. Things like increased heart rate, flushed skin, dilation of the pupils, heightened awareness, are all parts of sexual response. Sex researchers have also traditionally defined male sexual response as distinct and different from female sexual response.

What is a Sexual Response Cycle?

Sexual response cycles were first devised as a way for scientists, doctors, and therapists to try and make sense of how our bodies respond to sexual stimulation. The idea of there being a predictable cycle, one that is similar for everyone, is an artificial creation, but it can be helpful when studying or trying to treat sexual complaints and dissatisfaction. The original research that proposed sexual response cycles is over thirty years old, and for the most part the theory has gone unchallenged, with a few notable exceptions.

The original sexual response cycle as defined by Masters and Johnson in 1966 described a process for both men and women of increasing arousal to climax, and included four phases:

Excitement phase
Plateau phase
Orgasm phase
Resolution phase

Helen Singer Kaplan, a prominent sex therapist and author working around the same time as Masters and Johnson, proposed a slightly different model of sexual response. Her proposal grew not out of physiological research in a laboratory, but out of her clinical experience as a sex therapist. For Kaplan, sexual response included:

Desire
Excitement
Orgasm

One of the most important parts of this model is the addition of desire, which is primarily psychological. Nowadays "disorders of desire" are all the rage among pharmaceutical companies looking for a female version of Viagra.

Benefits of the Sexual Response Cycle Concept

Sexuality is so complicated, and is deeply connected to our physical, psychological, and spiritual selves. Because of this, it can be difficult to see the forest from the trees when it comes to our own sex lives.

Sexual response cycles can be a helpful way to start teasing apart sexual experiences, and thinking about sexual behavior in terms of a cycle of sexual response can give people clarity and help them better understand what's going on for them. But it is important not to let the idea of a "typical" or "normal" sexual response cycle make you feel bad if you're experience doesn't match what it says in a textbook (or on a website).

In reality, the sexual response is an imposition on a very fluid process of excitement, arousal, tension, release, and more. At times there may be a "typical" pattern, but other times things will be completely different. Our sexual response flows and changes, and often the descriptions you hear won't exactly match your experience. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you, it is just an example of how sexual response is truly unique to each of us.

Problems with Traditional Descriptions of Sexual Response

Most of the teaching about sexual response is based on the research of Masters and Johnson first published in 1966, and Helen Singer Kaplan's alternate model developed in the early 1970s. There are a number of potential problems with the way that sexual response has traditionally been defined:

Early research had several limitations, not least of which is the fact that the sexual response of individuals willing and able to be observed and monitored while having sex may differ in many ways from the general public.
Sexual response is traditionally only described in terms of physical events (heart rate, blood pressure, engorgement, etc...). While sexual response may be observed in the body, it is experienced cognitively and psychologically, and our subjective experience of sexual response should be included in descriptions.
Creating artificial stages of sexual response ends up informing both research and clinical practice, and by encouraging us to focus on small parts of our sexual experience may create a problem of "not seeing the forest from the trees".

Four phase model of female sexual response

Masters and Johnson were the first researchers to propose a "four phase" model of sexual response. They conducted experimental research with adults, both observing adults engaging in sexual behaviors, and measuring what happens to the body during sexual behaviors.

While this description of female sexual response can be a helpful way to start thinking about your own sexual response, try not to use it as a strict guide to measure yourself against. For one thing, the description only deals with physical changes in your body. Your sexual response is much more than blood flow and lubrication.

If you're experience is different it doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with you. While there are some generalities, the reality is that everyone is different, and everyone's sexual response may be a bit different too. There are limitations to the research that Masters and Johnson conducted, and some researchers argue that separating sexual response into stages doesn't make any sense at all.

Here is what Masters and Johnson found to happen during the four phases of the sexual response cycle for women.

Phase 1 of the Female Sexual Response -- Excitement

In response to sexual stimuli (whether psychological in the form of sexual thoughts or fantasies, or physical in the form of physical stimulation) vaginal lubrication will usually begin. There are many reasons why women may have less (or no) vaginal lubrication, even when there is excitement and arousal. Other physical changes may include:

Vasocongestion will result in the clitoris becoming engorged.
The size and shape of the labia may change.
The inner two thirds of the vagina may expand.
There may be an enlargement of the breasts.
The skin may become flushed, women may experience heightened sensitivity in parts of their body, like the nipples.
Some increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

Phase 2 of the Female Sexual Response -- Plateau

With continued sexual stimulation this phase represents the time between the initial arousal and excitement, up until orgasm. Physical changes during this phase may include:

A continued swelling of the tissues in the vagina, which may be accompanied by contractions of the vaginal opening.
The clitoris can withdraw into the clitoral hood and the external clitoris can shorten in size.
The labia minora increase in size and turn a reddish-purple.
There may be a sex flush, muscle tension, increase in heart rate and rising blood pressure.

Phase 3 of the Female Sexual Response -- Orgasm

Masters and Johnson description of female orgasm does not include any information about female ejaculation accompanying orgasm. Physical changes involved in female orgasm may include:

Contractions of the pelvic muscles around the vagina.
The uterus and anal sphincter also contract in a throbbing or rhythmic way.
Muscles may spasm, blood pressure and heart rate reach a peak.
The contractions (which occur at different speeds, and in different amounts) are usually what are experienced as highly pleasurable feelings of release.

Phase 4 of the Female Sexual Response -- Resolution

Resolution phase refers to the period of time immediately following an orgasm, when the body begins to return to its "normal" state. This phase includes:

Blood that had engorged areas of the body now flows out, swelling decreases, and eventually muscle tension and skin flush go away.
A general feeling of relaxation.

Four phase model of male sexual response

While this description of male sexual response can be a helpful way to start thinking about your own sexual response, try not to use it as a strict guide to measure yourself against. For one thing, the description only deals with physical changes in your body. Your sexual response is much more than blood flow and lubrication.

Here is what Masters and Johnson found to happen during the four phases of the sexual response cycle for men.

Phase 1 of the Male Sexual Response -- Excitement

In response to sexual stimuli (whether psychological in the form of sexual thoughts or fantasies, or physical in the form of physical stimulation) the process of vasocongestion occurs, where more blood flows into the penis than is flowing out, and the result will usually be that a man will get an erection. How long this takes, and what the erection feels like will differ from man to man, and for the same man over time. Physical changes may include:

There are also changes in the scrotum and testes, with the testes increasing in size and the scrotum elevating, coming closer to the body.
The skin may become flushed, men may experience heightened sensitivity in parts of their body, like the nipples.
Some increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

Phase 2 of the Male Sexual Response -- Plateau

With continued sexual stimulation this phase represents the time between the initial arousal and excitement, up until orgasm. For many men the plateau phase is very short, but this is the phase that men can extend as a way of controlling premature ejaculation. Physical changes during this phase may include:

An increase in the size of the head of the penis, and the head may also change color, becoming purplish.
The Cowper's gland secretes fluid, often referred to as pre-cum, which comes out of the tip of the penis.
The testes move further in towards the body, and increase in size.
There may be a sex flush, muscle tension, increase in heart rate and rising blood pressure.

Phase 3 of the Male Sexual Response -- Orgasm

Masters and Johnson further divided the orgasmic phase for men into two separate stages. In the first stage:

Contractions in the vas deferens, seminal vesicles, and the prostate causes seminal fluid ("cum" or ejaculate) to collect in a pool at the base of the penis, in the urethra.
This collection is usually felt as a "tickling" type sensation.

In the second stage of the orgasmic phase:

Contractions of muscles occur in a "throbbing" manner around the urethra, and propel ejaculate (cum) through the urethra and out of the body.
These contractions (which occur at different speeds, and in different amounts) are usually what are experienced as highly pleasurable feelings of release.

Phase 4 of the Male Sexual Response -- Resolution