Line #100 Main/Anorgasmia


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4	->'''Maeve:''' He's having dick problems.\
5	'''Adam:''' Yeah? What would you know, Wiley?\
6	'''Maeve:''' Girls talk, clodpole. Aimee said you can't cum.
7	-->-- ''Series/SexEducation''
8
9	Anorgasmia is the inability to reach orgasm.
10
11	In popular culture, the person with anorgasmia is [[AlwaysFemale usually female]] and just as often heterosexual. Either she has trouble reaching a sexual climax by masturbating, or she has never had a partner who was able to sexually satisfy her. The woman might start [[FakeOrgasm faking orgasms]], just to please her partner or out of fear of embarrassing him.
12
13	Almost without exception [[HappyEnding she will eventually experience orgasm in the end]]. Either by discovering a way to successfully masturbate herself or, more commonly, by finding the right partner or having her current partner learn how to do it properly. When the partner eventually reaches orgasm it is usually combined with TheImmodestOrgasm, as if [[DidTheEarthMoveForYouToo all her year-long frustrations are finally yelled out in one extravagant finale]]. Can also be combined with BiggerIsBetterInBed.
14
15	This trope is popular in erotic stories, but also in more mainstream scenarios. Can be both PlayedForLaughs and PlayedForDrama.
16
17	Anorgasmia is also TruthInTelevision. More women than their partners would dare to admit encounter anorgasmia in relationships at some time. Even though both partners might be tempted to blame the other, it can be attributed to other factors, such as stress, traumatic experiences, a ParalyzingFearOfSexuality, an IncompatibleOrientation, certain (physical and mental) health issues, or certain medications (such as antidepressants, or even ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor birth control pills]]''). Also, contrary to what popular culture often preaches, it's not something that is always "solved" if you have reached it once. Even in happy and stable relationships, it's possible that occasionally a partner might be unable to have an orgasm. Only when it occurs so often that it puts a strain on the relationship can it become a problem.
18
19	Even though in RealLife men can encounter this problem too it doesn't occur that much in popular culture. When male anorgasmia does appear in stories, it's usually considered a desirable mark of exceptional stamina -- even though the inability to ejaculate can be very frustrating and even painful for men. The fact that some men can ejaculate without experiencing an orgasm is practically inexistent in popular culture.
20
21	This is also an increasingly prevalent problem thanks to the increasing use of anti-depressants (for reasons why consult your personal socialreformician). Many anti-depressants can make it difficult or impossible to achieve orgasm or (worse?), make it possible to achieve orgasm ''without the associated pleasure''. Whoof. People who experience this tend, for reasons obvious to many, to reach a depressive state equivalent to that they'd hoped to escape.
22
23	Compare LousyLoversAreLosers, where the lack of orgasm ''is'' one partner's fault.
24
25	See Website/{{Wikipedia}} for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorgasmia more information on the subject]] and consult a sexologist if you need advice.
26
27	Also not to be confused with people [[ThinkUnsexyThoughts desperately trying to avoid having an orgasm.]]
28
29	[[noreallife]]
30	----
31	!!Examples:
32	[[foldercontrol]]
33
34	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
35	* The main plotline of ''Nageki no Kenkō Yūryōji'', known in the US as ''F3: Frantic, Frustrated, and Female''. Hiroe Ogawa is suffering this trope, and the story is about the various (unsuccessful) attempts to resolve this.
36	* Played seriously in ''Manga/FutariEcchi'' when Yura had a bout of not feeling anything during sex and not reaching a climax due to being completely exhausted from the summer heat.
37	* A male example that's played for drama in the hentai manga ''Secret Plot Deep''. WholesomeCrossdresser Yuya gets together with classmate Mari, who has just confessed that she's in love with him...but during the ensuing sex, while she has multiple orgasms over the course of an hour, Yuya doesn't even orgasm once, which frustrates Mari to the point of crying and blaming herself for not being an effective enough lover. Yuya has to assure her that the problem isn't with ''her,'' but with ''him;'' as it turns out, his inability to climax is because he had previously been raped by [[HotTeacher Mayumi]], which in turn compounded the complex he'd already been suffering due to his cross-dressing (which Yuya took up in the first place because of a rather ''warped'' home situation with his parents [[ParentalFavoritism loving his deceased twin sister more than him]] and mistaking him for her when he came out of the shower one day). As a result of all that, Yuya admits, he can't climax normally no matter how he wishes he could. [[spoiler:Yuya eventually confides that the only way he can climax is by being on the receiving end of anal penetration, which Mari happily provides]].
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Comic Books]]
41	* Konstantin Romanov from ''ComicBook/NikolaiDante'' while maintaining his SecretIdentity as the Lord Protector routinely has both male and female sex workers sent to him. When he suggests to one seductress that they take a break in the middle of sex, she notes that he hasn't orgasmed. He tells her that he never does. The act itself is mostly just to remind himself that he still lives after Nikolai left him for dead aboard the ''Potemkin'' during the war. In any case, Konstantin tends to burn his sexual partners to death once he's done with them.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
45	* ''ComicBook/RedEars'': PlayedForLaughs in this comic strip.
46	* A comic strip by Jan Bucquoy features himself being unable to make a woman come. He tries doing all sorts of bizarre things but eventually, he makes her reach orgasm by playing a piece of music.
47	* One story in the semi-autobiographical Dutch comic strip "Barbaraal" has the female protagonist trying to reach orgasm by masturbating. She [[spoiler:eventually succeeds doing so under the shower.]]
48	* ''Creator/{{Gotlib}}s'' Perverse Pepere zigzags the trope: When going into a sperm bank to donate, the usual porn material has no effect on him whatsoever. But a mag with stock charts... [[StockPhrase Rhaaa-Lovely!]] (Of course, P.P. is a mega {{Troll}} and maybe was just acting.)
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
52	* Most fanfiction in which anorgasmia plays a role will always have the female character reach it eventually.
53	* The male variant is a common trope in YaoiGenre and to some extent BaraGenre and SlashFic, occasionally used as a substitute for virginity or as a HandWave for why someone who's a ChickMagnet in canon/in reality is actually gay (where the man is depicted as having his first/his best orgasm with a male partner).
54	* The ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fanfiction/blog ''Fanfic/{{Brainbent}}'' has Sollux struggle with this intermittently: a [[ShownTheirWork realistic]] side-effect of some of his medication.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Film]]
58	* ''Film/TheKingOfStatenIsland''. The main character's girlfriend talks about this issue with him, asking if he thinks it's because of the antidepressants he's on.
59	* ''Film/LiquidSky''. Near the end, Johan explains to Margaret that [[spoiler: she survived because she never experienced an orgasm]].
60	* ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape''. The story starts off with Ann Bishop Mullany having never had an orgasm with her current partner.
61	* ''Film/{{Shortbus}}''. One of the central plot points. Sofia is a sex therapist who has never achieved orgasm in her life. [[spoiler: Eventually she succeeds. The final shot of the film is a close-up of her face while she sexually climaxes.]]
62	* The second half of "Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women" has a story in which Lenora Babbitt tells Dick Langley about the events that had led up to her arrest: She had cut off the penis of her drunken husband Juan Wayne Babbitt because he couldn't satisfy her sexually.
63	* ''Coming Soon''(The 1999 sex comedy, not the Thai horror film of the same name): One of the main characters, Jenny Simon (Gaby Hoffmann) has never been sexually satisfied with a partner or had an orgasm in general. While she is shown desprately trying to find sexually satisfaction with a guy, for reasons never explained, she is never shown trying to achieve her first orgasm ever through masturbation. She does however achieve an unintentional first orgasm ever by way of a water jet in a spa bath.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Jokes]]
67	* A guy picks up a girl at a party and takes her to his apartment for fun times. Once said fun times are over, both are lying back in bed when suddenly the girl starts talking.
68	-->'''Girl:''' You work in a hospital, don't you.\
69	'''Guy:''' Yes! How'd you know?\
70	'''Girl:''' As an anesthetist?\
71	'''Guy:''' Right again!\
72	'''Girl:''' And I bet you five dollars you're the single best anesthetist they ever had.\
73	'''Guy:''' You'd win it! But how did you know?\
74	'''Girl:''' Well, during the past ten minutes...\
75	'''Guy:''' Yes?\
76	'''Girl:''' I didn't feel a thing.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Literature]]
80	* In Creator/MichaelMoorcock's "Gloriana" the titular queen is forever bemoaning the fact that she can't have orgasms, and because of the palace's peculiar acoustics, the entire court can hear her. Of course, when she finally does the entire court gets to hear that as well.
81	* Subverted in John Irving's ''Literature/TheHotelNewHampshire'', where there is a RunningGag about "Screaming Annie", the hooker who [[FakeOrgasm fakes very loud orgasms]]. It would later come out they were in fact not fake.
82	* In the short story "Gilgamesh in the Outback", when people die, they end up in Hell. Now, in this story, Hell isn't really a bad place. You can eat normal food (but have a real hard time passing it) and can have sex (but no orgasm).
83	* Paulo Coelho's "Eleven Minutes". The protagonist (and her fellow hookers) is perfectly happy being a prostitute out of her own will, the only drawback to the job being that she's unable to achieve a proper orgasm.
84	* In ''Literature/TheGirlIn6E'', title character Deanna has become almost impervious to sexual stimulation because she's exhausted her body with full-time sex camming.
85	* In Creator/NormanMailer's short story "The Time Of Her Time" Sergius tries to make Denise experience orgasm because she never could do so before. Eventually, he [[spoiler: sodomizes her and calls her "a dirty little Jew", which causes her to climax after all.]]
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
89	* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. Faye Valentine has her first orgasm (that she remembers, as she has no memory of who she was before being woken from being a HumanPopsicle) with lesbian WrenchWench Mel. While this could be because Faye has finally discovered her sexuality, the way she opens up to Mel about her past implied this is the first lover she's been able to truly relax with.
90	* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Daemon's sexuality is deeply rooted to his emotions, and if he's feeling bad or worrying about something else, he can't do it. He struggles to finish with Mysaria in [[Recap/HouseOfTheDragonS1E1TheHeirsOfTheDragon episode 1.01]], at least in part because he's upset that his brother will replace him with a new heir. He breaks off their sexual encounter and sullenly wraps a SecurityBlanket around himself, while Mysaria assures him that no one can replace him. In [[Recap/HouseOfTheDragonS1E4KingOfTheNarrowSea episode 1.04]], Daemon nopes out of a sexual encounter in a very AmbiguousSituation. In isolation there's no reason to think it relates to his ability to perform sexually, but in this context of his broader sexual history, it's a possible reason. In [[Recap/HouseOfTheDragonS1E5WeLightTheWay episode 1.05]] we meet Daemon's despised, divorced-in-all-but-name wife Rhea, who mocks him about being unable to finish. However, Daemon's sexual problems are very contextual. He goes on to sire six children under what's implied to be circumstances where he feels more secure.
91	* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' features an episode in which Turk and Carla are about to have sex, then the camera moves to the side... then back, to see them both laying in bed looking distraught, and Turk says, "That's never happened to me before," heavily implying that Turk was [[TheLoinsSleepTonight unable to perform]] or [[SpeedSex finished too quickly]]. Later, as each is talking about what went wrong to their respective friends, it's revealed that Turk was fine, but Carla couldn't have an orgasm. They work it out by talking about the anxiety she was feeling about them having become more serious and all the things that could be wrong now that they were getting closer instead of just having fun together
92	* In ''Series/DesperateHousewives,'' it was revealed that wound-way-too-tight StepfordSmiler Bree had never experienced an orgasm in her entire life. When she finally does experience one, the sensation is so strange to her that she immediately jumps out of bed and runs to the doctor, afraid she had just suffered a ''stroke.''
93	* In Season 2 third episode of ''Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder'', it's revealed Michaela during a Keating 5 scene about sex that she never had an orgasm during her relationship with Aiden as she become often teased by the others (especially [[DeadpanSnarker Connor]]) about it throughout the season.
94	* ''Series/NipTuck'': [=McNamara=] & Troy once had a female patient who was unable to experience orgasms as a result of genital mutilation. They performed a pro bono surgery that restored the woman's clitoris, but it took Liz's verbal help to make the patient orgasm successfully.
95	* An episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' revolved around Elaine revealing that she had [[FakeOrgasm faked all of her orgasms]] when she was dating Jerry. She tells him that it wasn't his fault: "I just didn't have them back then." At the end of the episode, Elaine decides to give him one more shot just to help him regain his pride. [[spoiler:He couldn't do it]].
96	* ''Series/SexEducation'':
97	** Otis suffers this, coupled with a ParalyzingFearOfSexuality -- whenever he tries masturbating, he freaks out before he gets to orgasm. This is later revealed to be due to witnessing a traumatic event when he was young.
98	** In the first episode, Aimee complains that her then-boyfriend Adam is unable to come no matter how they have sex. After a spontaneous bout of sex therapy with Otis, it is revealed that he can't get there because of his ParentalIssues. He is eventually able to overcome it.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Music]]
102	* Music/FrankZappa: On the album ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' the track "Do You Like My New Car?" features a sketch where Mark plays himself, while Howie plays a groupie who is in awe of Mark's "professionalism as a rockstar." Yet she tells him that she's "unable to come" unless he sings "his big hit song to her." Being part of The Mothers Of Invention Mark of course never had a hit single, but [[spoiler: since he used to be a member of The Turtles too he just sings "Happy Together" to her.]] This sketch was also [[RealLifeWritesThePlot based on reality]], as Mark did once encounter a groupie who had this request.
103	* ''Music/VelvetUnderground''. The album ''Music/WhiteLightWhiteHeat'' has the track "Here She Comes Now", which has been interpreted as being about anorgasmia.
104	* ''Music/AmyWinehouse''. In "You Know I'm No Good" from ''Music/BackToBlack'' Winehouse mentions being upstairs in her room with her boyfriend, where "he's in a place/ but I can't get joy."
105	* One ''[[EpilepticTrees possible]]'' interpretation of the song ''Orgasm'' by Music/XJapan is that it is about someone experiencing both this ''and'' its titular aversion. It may also be one of the first songs about MDMA to ever be published, at the same time.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Webcomics]]
109	* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'':
110	** Amazonian sex goddess [=DiDi=] is, for the first several years of the strip, unable to reach orgasm during sex. This is largely because men are overwhelmed with her beauty and [[SpeedSex can only last a few seconds]] with her, but on one occasion Peggy performs cunnilingus on her until Peggy's jaw goes numb, without solving the problem; in addition, she appears to [[FakeOrgasm fake satisfaction]] to avoid disappointing her boyfriends. Her desperate need for an orgasm leads to [[TookALevelInJerkass increasingly jerkish behavior]]. She ''does'' eventually shake this problem, but then [[SexEqualsLove gets the impression that the orgasm meant she's in love]] and enters StalkerWithACrush mode.
111	** Sandra admits to problems reaching orgasms in an early strip, but this seems to be less of a problem for her; there are hints that she reaches climax sometimes when drunk, if only because it inspires her to have bizarrely kinky sex. The problem certainly hasn't been mentioned since she moved to [[Webcomic/SandraOnTheRocks her own comic]].
112	* Stella and Claire in ''Webcomic/{{Collar 6}}'' are unable to have an orgasm because of their SuperSoldier conditioning.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Western Animation]]
116	* ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'':
117	** Nick's angst about being a late bloomer includes an inability to pleasure himself, in contrast to his extremely hormonal best friend Andrew. His inexperienced Hormone Monster Tyler doesn't help matters much. The end of Season 3 has him get [[spoiler:Connie]] as a new Hormone Monster to help him successfully masturbate for the first time.
118	** Season 3's "How to Have an Orgasm" is, as the title suggests, about Jessi struggling to get herself off, believing she might not be capable of having an orgasm at all. She eventually succeeds thanks to a new PrecociousCrush and an electric toothbrush.
119	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / Anorgasmia