The female orgasm is a “poorly understood element of female sexual response,” according to the researchers, so they decided to study it.

Researchers examining the mysterious female orgasm have decided that “moaning” is not a component of the phenomenon and should be eliminated from a scale commonly used to quantify it.

Premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women were invited to complete a questionnaire regarding their solo and shared orgasmic experiences.

Both the Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) and the Bodily Sensations of Orgasm Scale (BSOS) – extensively employed in scientific studies on the experience – were incorporated.

The ORS includes “trembling,” “quivering,” “building,” and “pulsating” – as well as emotional intimacy-related words such as “loving,” “passionate,” and “sensitive.”

BSOS symptoms include “rapid respiration,” “lower limb spasms,” “facial tingling,” “sweating,” and “increased heart rate.

Researchers at the University of Ottawa discovered a variety of physical experiences in both categories, such as “choppy/shallow breathing,” “increased blood pressure,” and “heat flashes.”

However, they suggest that “copulatory vocalizations (such as groaning)” be excluded from the BSOS.

Referring to a 2011 study, they state that moaning may be, at least in part, “within the conscious control of women.”

The study recommended that “moaning” be permanently eliminated from the measurement.

The female orgasm is a “poorly understood element of female sexual response,” thus researchers recruited 637 women aged 18 to 82 to examine.

Prior research has tended to focus on non-occurrence, frequency, and malfunction, according to the authors, with little attention paid to “subjective psychological elements.”

After completing their research, the scientists concluded that “pleasant fulfillment was the most essential factor in evaluating orgasm.”

They observed that adjectives about emotional connection “may be less appropriate in a solo environment.”

Nonetheless, scientists discovered that some women “continued to report emotional connection during solitary orgasm.”

They attribute this to “accessing a more profound experience of one’s own body” or experiencing a “transformative embodiment.”

According to them, this translates to “feeling fully present in their bodies.”