Will Having An Orgasm Help Me Conceive?

by Ann Douglas

Myth:
A woman has to have an orgasm in order to conceive. 

Fact:
Experiencing an orgasm each time she has baby-making sex may greatly increase a woman's enthusiasm for working on Project Pregnancy, but there's no "rule" that says she has to have an orgasm in order to conceive.

That's not to say that the female orgasm is an unnecessary frill, designed with no purpose in mind. Unlike the male orgasm, which has a dual biological function—pleasure and reproductive—the female orgasm has a one-track mind. And if that orgasm motivates a woman to want to have sex—and that sex leads to reproduction—well, that's just a reproductive perk, biologically speaking. "There's a difference between sex for pleasure and sex for reproduction," explains Anne Adams, Deputy Executive Director of the American Fertility Association. 

So have we heard the last of the myth of the mandatory female orgasm? 

Highly unlikely. A particular group of scientists have been trying to make the case for years that the contractions that occur during a female orgasm contractions cause the mouth of the cervix to dip down into the vagina, suctioning up sperm. The nay-sayers reply there's not enough data to support this "up-sucking" theory of the female orgasm.

And the takeaway message in the meantime? Treat great sex as a fabulous dividend—not a conception prerequisite. As Adams notes, "There's enough pressure when you're trying to conceive without feeling like you have to have fabulous sex every time." 

Ann Douglas is the author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and numerous other books about pregnancy and parenting.