The Orgasm: A Celebration
It's National Orgasm Day
Hey horny readers! This week’s newsletter is purely celebratory, a break from the endlessly stressful news cycle. It’s also the last for the next couple of weeks—I’m taking a short summer break!
As always, thank you so much for reading the Adult Sex Ed newsletter. If you’re enjoying it, please share with friends, so they can be hilariously informed.
Adult Sex Ed comedically challenges why we think what we think about sex. In case you’re new, I’m Dani Faith Leonard, a comedy writer, film producer, and performer. In 2018, I started a comedy show called Adult Sex Ed and launched this newsletter last year. Each week, I take a fun deep dive into a topic that I’ve been researching. Want to know more? Read the whole description on substack here.
Ready to plug the holes in your education? Okay, let’s go!
Oh, hey! It’s national orgasm day, which is actually celebrated in a few countries—United Kingdom, Australia, United States, the Netherlands, Canada and South Africa. These aren’t the countries that associate with the most orgasms, and according to a 2017 study, that country is actually Norway. Australia had the highest number of respondents who only rated their orgasms a 1 out of 10 in intensity. Before you shout “naauurr,” they ranked 3rd in frequency. To end on a positive note, 65% of Brazilian respondents claimed to be screamers.
Speaking of wild celebrations, climaxing was so important in Ancient Egypt that they had a whole festival dedicated to it. They believed that their first god, Atum, ejaculated the world into existence, and his magical splooge created the Nile River. This was taken so seriously that every year there was a festival where Egyptian men would go down to the Nile and masturbate, shooting their spunk into the river.
Climaxing was also important in the Middle Ages, but this time, it was the women who got off. Women were believed to have a “seed” that was released when they climaxed, so women needed to climax in order to get pregnant. I guess those Medieval men had to learn their way around a clit! There weren’t any polls about the pleasure gap then, but perhaps this myth was helpful in closing it.
Also helpful: the vibrator, which may not have been invented for the best reason (read The History of the Vibrator here). Vibrators were the fifth household appliance to become electrified. It came out just after the electric toaster and beat the vacuum cleaner by about 100 years. Perhaps the electric element is why the popular euphemism at the time for having an orgasm was jetting one’s juice.
Speaking of euphemisms, one of the first for orgasm was come in 1599. That was actually before the word orgasm was introduced in 1660. A lot of the euphemisms over time sound really familiar because we still use a lot of them today.
A person might melt in 1620, which is definitely the kind of orgasm I want to have. You could have a squirter in 1688 (and yes, squirting is real). Lovers might let go or go off in 1748, which feel like they’re very different types of orgasms.
In the 1800s, a person could dub up (1836), which has a different meaning all together today, or give one’s gravy (1880). An orgasm was called a spunk in 1889 and shoot one’s wad was introduced all the way back in 1890.
People stated to get off in 1905. They started to cream in 1915. In 1920, get someone’s gun off was the orgasmic euphemism that must have been inspired by World War I. In 1920, you could give someone a thrill and in 1938 you could bust a nut.
Cum was finally introduced in1961, bringing things full circle. Since then, you can get your kicks or your cookies. You can bust someone out or have the Big O. There’s still a few hours left today, so I’ll leave you to it.
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Enjoy your break. Don’t fake it.
We will catch up when you return.
A lot of good stories to come .