(Cornell) Lecture on Female Orgasm (Masturbation as Alternative to Marriage in Ithaca)

Cornell Daily Sun ^ | September 10, 2004 | by Xiaowei Cathy Tang

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ITHACA--Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller, experienced sex educators who co-founded the Alternatives to Marriage Project, discussed the myths and truths of the female orgasm in front of a packed crowd at Robert Purcell last night.

Solot began with a narrative of her experiences with masturbation, from her teenage years, when her mother gave her a brochure entitled "What Every Teen Should Know," to her college years at Brown, where she attended a one-time class on self-stimulation.

Solot and Miller proceeded to ask students what they had heard about the female orgasm from their parents, friends and the media. Responses ranged from "When you've had an orgasm, you know" to "Female orgasms are better than male orgasms." Solot then unveiled her collection of orgasm-related magazine covers, including one called "What Men Think About Your Orgasm Face."

Solot provided three main reasons for the mystery surrounding the female orgasm. She first pointed to the silence many households adopt regarding the subject of masturbation and sexual anatomy. She made the observation that "as children, we are constantly exploring our bodies. Our parents tell us, 'This is your nose, this is your knee,' but when our hands move to our genitalia, our parents move our hands away. At some point, we begin internalizing that there's something bad about that region."

Second, for girls the most frequent advice parents and health educators told them was how to say no to sex. However, "when the time actually comes for sex, girls are not sure what to do anymore," Solot said.

Third, Solot explained that unlike men, who "touch their reproductive organ every time they pee," women have most of their sexual areas "all tucked neatly inside, so they rarely have an opportunity to see the anatomy of their peers" or to intimately know their own. "This can cause women to fear that there is something wrong with their organ," Solot said.

The couple then separated the audience by gender. While Miller led the men to another room, Solot encouraged the women to share some of their orgasm experiences. When asked about the circumstances surrounding their first orgasm, students contributed a myriad of responses, from an accidental discovery at the playground to cunnilingus.

Following the same gender discussions, Solot and Miller dove into the more technical aspects of their lecture with diagrams of the female erogenous zones and a lesson on the steps of the arousal cycle. The couple agreed that "oral sex is usually more effective than intercourse in bringing women to orgasm" but encouraged masturbation as the first step for women in understanding their sexual needs. To illustrate their point, Solot and Miller displayed their collection of vibrators, including the Nimbus 2000 broom, a vibrating reconstruct of the broom Harry Potter used to play Quidditch.

Miller, pointing out that he and Solot are an unmarried couple, welcomed the audience to "learn from the perspective of partnership." He noted that "men have a range of reactions to female orgasms" and that "lots of people with female partners want to learn about this topic and have lots of questions." His comment was confirmed by the large turnout of both men and women in the room.

Barbara Jastran, a sex health therapist at Gannett, described the lecture as "very informational" and educational for "an audience who is very curious about this topic and is searching for answers."

The lecture was sponsored by Community Development, Hillel, the Women's Center and Gannett as part of their effort to provide students with accurate, pertinent information regarding sex.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Pictures?

From their website:

Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot are the founders of the Alternatives to Marriage Project, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for equality and fairness for unmarried people. They are the authors of the new book, Unmarried to Each Other: The Essential Guide to Living Together as an Unmarried Couple (Marlowe & Company, November 2002). As speakers, writers, and researchers, Miller and Solot explore the issues facing people who choose not to marry, cannot marry, or live together before marriage. They are experts on the issues facing unmarried relationships and families, having interviewed hundreds of unmarried people and studied the research on marriage and cohabitation. Their views are enhanced by their own experiences in a committed, long-term unmarried relationship since 1993.

[Aquinasfan]

Cornell was the first (and only) major non-sectarian college founded in this country.

The critics of the idea back in 1873 were right.

[dead]

I shouldn't have asked.

[NativeNewYorker]

To illustrate their point, Solot and Miller displayed their collection of vibrators, including the Nimbus 2000 broom, a vibrating reconstruct of the broom Harry Potter used to play Quidditch.

[harrycarey]

Either way, marriage or toy, Bush still gets the female vote.

---

Sex Toy Fans Pick Bush As Top Fantasy Bedroom Buddy
NCBuy ^ | 2004-08-26


Posted on 08/27/2004 8:25:09 AM EDT by presidio9


George W. Bush may be a conservative, but he has liberal sex appeal with the ladies.

Case in point: He's the presidential candidate that women most want to bed, according to a survey by an online sex toy company.

Forty-five percent of the 1000 proud sex toy fans who answered the MyPleasure.com poll chose Bush, compared to 33 percent who prefer John Kerry as their fantasy bedroom buddy.

As for vice-presidential candidates, John Edwards gets the motor revving for 18 percent of the women polled, while Dick Cheney brings up the rear with only 3.5 percent.

You may find it unusual that sex toy users pick a conservative as their ultimate presidential sex partner, and you're not alone.

MyPleasure.com founder/sexologist Sandor Gardos admits surprise at the survey results, adding: "We assumed the sex toy buying audience might lean to the left politically. Clearly, we were wrong. It just goes to show you, whether you are Republican or Democrat, everyone loves sex."

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

The beauty part is that they won't procreate so their ilk will die off.

[Moleman]

How does a real man know if his wife/girlfriend has had an orgasam?<br)

[Righter-than-Rush]

>>George W. Bush may be a conservative, but he has liberal sex appeal with the ladies.>>

Why would a married man give a rat's @ss about being sexy to other women? Geez, is the press full of whores? </rhetorical>

[ChadGore]

"Sometimes a broom is just a broom" (c)Freud

[blackdog]

Masterbating two bagger women is not a new phenomenon. Personal, private methods of dealing with sexual urges is not the stuff of podiums.

These people need to get a real job. Grant money's gone astray here.........Getting paid to self satisfy? Sounds like a liberal utopia.

[GSWarrior]

They should get some sun or something.

[Salvation]

sickening to even see this on the news page

[blackdog]

A real man doesn't care.......

[blackdog]

He asks the neighbor?

[PsyOp]

Bailiff! Whack his pee-pee!!!

[LurkinNoMas]

LOL!!!

[andy58-in-nh]

Well, I'm sure that every mom and dad will be pleased to know that the $40,000.00 a year tuition that are shelling out by borrowing against their home and working three jobs is going for a good cause. (/sarcasm)
And this training will prepare students for productive lives in what way? Has John Kerry promised the establishment of a Department of Self-Abuse?

[Gingersnap]

Hey! Let's have some compassion for the poor students at Ithaca. Imagine how frustrating it must be to be soooo stupid that you need a lecture series to initiate and operate what amounts to a pleasant neurological reflex.

This is like needing lessons to get drunk. Those poor kids!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

sickening to even see this on the news page

I think it important that we not stick our heads in the sand and ignore what our colleges are teaching.

[Fudd]

Sure, this "alternative" to marriage may be fun. But who's going to take out the trash, squash the bug in the sink, and open the jar of pickles? Who's going to wrestle and roughhouse with the kids, show them how to throw a football, show the sons how to use a urinal?