Female Orgasms, Like You've Never Seen Them Before

"The world of orgasm is physical, but it is also a world of fantasy, culture, history — and very much a world of the soul," photographer Linda Troeller and writer Marion Schneider write in their book Orgasm: Photographs & Interviews. Troeller and Schneider collaborated on Orgasm to explore that world, inviting 25 women — nine German, six American, three Dutch, three Israeli, two Colombian, one French, and one Portuguese — to share their personal relationships with orgasm.

"I worked a lot with connection in trying to learn how you can get better orgasms. If as a girl, you use the muscles you use for peeing and you contract them...I learned quite quickly that you can get better orgasms." —Natty, Germany

"Orgasm is something that I crave and love to have as often as possible — a few times a day, actually. I'm a squirter — a female ejaculator is I guess what they say, and that makes it extremely enjoyable, not just for me but also for my partner." —Amelia, United States.

"If I was asked to give one clear definition of the word orgasm, I would say that it is the release of tension. Sometimes orgasm is related to some kind of emotional overflow." —Keren, Israel

"Women's sexuality is politically determined, but women should be self-determined in all areas of social, political, and private life, which includes sexuality. Heteronomy should be strictly unacceptable. No exceptions under any circumstances." —Sabine, United States

 

"When I was young, I felt hurt very often... You open yourself to someone, perhaps fall in love, and then the other person goes and leaves you feeling used and alone. That hurts, and water helps me to trust." —Nirvano, Germany

 

"The louder I get, the more powerful the orgasm is in my whole body." —Sadie Lune, United States

"I do have fantasies when I create orgasms, and I think they're about everything I missed as a child. About warm and loving environments, somebody who really sees me for who I am... For me, having an orgasm without fantasies would be like being raped." —Marianne, The Netherlands

"Orgasm is a priestly energy — the highest possible mental energy or power that we are able to draw into ourselves through our bodies and that we can then allow to flow into the horizontal world." —Antonia, Germany

"Sunshine on the body is the ultimate aphrodisiac." —Sofia, Portugal

"As I have made orgasm my personal hobby over four decades, I have practiced a lot. Now orgasm has a lot to do with my breath and opening up my body to channeling orgasmic energy, life force." —Annie, United States

"I was able to create rising up to orgasm with the shower eventually, but not the very first time, because the very first time I think it was purely a reflex. Something was stimulating my clitoris, and that had never happened before." —Dragonfly, United States

"I love to feel feathers or be touched by things that are soft — even a paintbrush all over my body can bring me to orgasm. Since I got my breast implants, I enjoy showing my body." —Maria, Colombia

In the book, the women reveal their first memories of experiencing orgasm and the fantasies they have around the event. They also reveal their orgasmic feelings to the camera, showing with their bodies and faces what orgasm means to them. "The chance to be in an intimate situation with a female photographer and a female writer offered safety and security for the interviewers," Troeller and Schneider write, "enhancing the probability that their statements would be a genuine and authentic revelation."