It’s been 10 years since we made it our mission to change the lack of research around female orgasms and sexual pleasure. For women and people with vaginas, sexual function is still a taboo subject that doctors and partners are all too comfortable shying away from.
But we believed then what we still scream from the rooftops now: knowledge is pleasure. Especially when it helps women actually enjoy their sexual health, not just “manage” it.
Ten years, top researchers and doctors from around the globe, and about 300,000 smart orgasms later (yes, we’re counting — wouldn’t you?), we’ve learned some seriously juicy things that prove it.
Here are our top 6 favorite things:
1 - O Patterns Are Not Static
Back when we started Lioness, we knew definitively there were three orgasm patterns that a person could have. Thanks to the Lioness, we’ve actually broken down the percentage of users who experience each one too! (Thank you to the 10,663 users who opted in to make this possible!)
- Coming in at 60.40% of all orgasms Lioness users are having, the Ocean Wave pattern is the most common o-pattern. These orgasms look like a sine wave graph. The pelvic floor contracts and releases multiple times (the number of times can vary), first quickly, and then slows down until rest.
- 30.95% of Lioness users experience the Volcano pattern which is one extended pelvic floor movement.
- Only 8.65% of users experience the Avalanche pattern. The avalanche orgasm is similar to the ocean wave in that it’s also a series of pelvic floor movements, but unlike the ocean wave, it starts from a high point and gradually relaxes.
Back then, we thought it was only possible to have one of these types. Over time, however, Lioness users have shared their data with us and the proof we were wrong is in their pleasure! Orgasms can and do actually vary by pattern, and even our co-founder Anna Lee has experienced this phenomenon (feminomenon?). As she puts it, “I’ve always been a consistent Ocean wave, but when I practice edging to high arousal, my data has look like an Avalanche instead.”
2 - The average female orgasm lasts ~24.4 secs
Whether using our Orgasm Selector or real-time marking in Live View , Lioness users have been marking their Os for a while now. From the simple act of highlighting orgasms, we’ve been able to aggregate this data and find the average female orgasm lasts ~24.4 seconds.
The coolest part? The Lioness data lines up with some incredible research conducting in the 80s and 90s:
- - Female orgasm average: 35.6 seconds. Sample size: 11 women (Bohlen, Held, & Sanderson, 1982)
- Female orgasm average: 19.9 seconds. Sample size: 26 women (Levin & Wagner, 1985)
- Female orgasm average: 21.9 seconds. Sample size: 9 women Carmichael, et al.,1994)
3 - The average force of an orgasm is about 69.9 gF
…and that’s about what it takes to snap a skinny Hot Cheeto in half! (Or a regular one if you’re not into that type of spicy.)
We’re often asked if you have to insert the Lioness to get orgasm data, and the answer is yes! That’s because those sensors need to be inside the body to track pelvic floor contractions (aka orgasms).
Thanks to the many, many Lioness users inserting the Lioness and tracking their orgasms, we’ve found that the average force of a vaginal orgasm is 69.9 gF — and the average force of an anal orgasm is about 100 gF! In the world of food, that’s enough to squish a blueberry. (We know because Anna spent a lot of time figuring this stuff out to make gF make more sense.)
4 - Longer sessions make for better orgasms
We live in a day and age where everyone wants things fast and optimized — the quickest route, the fastest delivery, the most instantaneous response. But it appears orgasms are not into instant gratification!
After a year of Sexperiments, we have seen a consistent correlation between longer sessions and longer, stronger, higher-rated orgasms. Here are some of the most notable increases we’ve seen:
Edging
On an aggregate scale, session length increased by 5 mins and 24 secs, while orgasm length increased by 9 secs!
See the data here.
Mindful Masturbation
Overall average session length increased from 7 mins 43 secs to 9 mins 59 secs, while the average peak force of orgasms increased by 9 gF.
See the data here.
CBD:
On average, Lioness users who masturbated with CBD serum or CBD suppositories saw an overall increase in orgasmic force and star rating. Users also found they achieved orgasm faster!
See the data here.
5 - Age can impact orgasms
One of our favorite researchers, Dee Hartmann (pelvic floor physical therapist and co-author of the Pleasure Prescription) led a study with 26 Lioness users to see how their data compared depending on age ranges between 21-60, five of whom were peri or post-menopasual.
Her research showed that women ages 31-40 yo took the longest to orgasm (~598 seconds) but produced the longest orgasms at ~30 seconds. Women ages 51-60 , however, Hartmann found took the least amount of time to achieve orgasm (~219 seconds) but experienced the strongest orgasmic peak force of 1425 gF.
6 - Masturbating with a partner improves pleasure overall
Much to our surprise, mutual masturbation was incredibly successful at creating opportunities for longer sessions and better O’s. Here’s what we reported in our Sexperiment wrap-up:
“Two heads are better than one has never been more true! On average, Lioness users who masturbated with a partner saw an average peak force of 86 gF during orgasm compared to 62 gF during baseline sessions. Here’s what else they found:
- The average orgasm length increased to 56 seconds (compared to 44 seconds in baseline session
- The average time to orgasm increased to 10 min 45 secs minutes (compared to 4 min 59 secs in solo sessions)
- Overall average session length increased to 20 min 51 seconds (compared to 7 min 56 secs in sessions without socks)”
So if you’re not foregoing partnered sex for some mutual masturbation, we highly recommend giving it a try.
10 Years later and we’re just getting started
From myth-busting orgasm patterns to measuring the force of a Hot Cheeto snap, we’ve turned pleasure into power — and we’re just getting started.
If there’s anything ten years, 300,000 orgasms, and a boatload of pelvic floor contractions have taught us, it’s that when women are given the tools, they will explore, learn, and rewrite the rules of their arousal.
Join us as we look toward another 10 years and beyond of better, smarter, orgasms. We’ve got our Lioness vibrators in hand and our data at the ready — do you?
