"The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm"

While reading Anne Koedt's "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm" I noticed some key terms she used throughout her article were frigidity; stimulation; deception; confusion. I typed the word 'frigid' into dictionary.com and was surprised that they actually had this definition: "sexual unresponsiveness (especially of women) and inability to achieve orgasm during intercourse ," along with the other meanings of cold, bitter, etcetera. I thought the wordplay of women not "achieving" an orgasm made it seem like if you don't get an orgasm than you have done the opposite-- failed? I think in her article she was trying to show exactly the opposite of the meaning that dictionary.com provides for frigidity. She was doing women a favor in writing this to explain that if some women don't have consistent orgasms, or none, doesn't mean there's something wrong with them. By using words such as deception, myth and confusion she was letting the audience know that obviously women are being told something other than the truth about their sexual stimulation. I thought it was really interesting how she pointed out that all the "standard" positions are more favorable to the men, and how it is not as equally stimulating for both.

In my own terms, Koedt is saying that women need to know about their bodies; know that there is more to sex than "standard" positions; and you should tell your partner that you want to be treated equally when it comes to climaxing. When she goes on to give reasons of why men maintain the myth of the vaginal orgasm, every excuse/reason had something to do with the male ego, like they just couldn't let women partake in any of the pleasure too or it was all meant for just them. It's disturbing how some cultures even go as far to remove the clitoris so there is not even a chance of pleasure. By providing this information to the audience, in my own terms, she is trying to anger women. You can't write almost 4 pages of why men won't let this myth go and not trying to be instilling anger in somebody.