Recently, newcomer sex toy brand Arcwave released the Ion – a product that claims to bring men closer to the female orgasm experience. The O*Diaries team get to the investigates to see what all the hype is about.
This is a bold claim and inspired us to take another look at what orgasms are and to do a deep dive on the different orgasms experiences.
What is an orgasm?
There is no scientific agreement on what an orgasm is. It is generally accepted to describe when someone climaxes during sexual activity. There are different types, G-spot, clitoral, penile, prostate just to name a few. Usually, the type of orgasm is defined by the area that is stimulated to induce it. So a G-spot orgasm would be triggered by G-spot stimulation.
Are male and female orgasms different?
There is not a huge body of research on orgasms. The little that is out there would suggest that female orgasms do last longer and can be more intense than male orgasms. But according to most studies, there is no clear difference between male and female orgasms.
Yet when asking people to describe their orgasmic experiences there are clear differences:
Many women describe an orgasm as a sensation similar to waves gradually spreading out over their whole body. A gradual build to a powerful climax. Asked how long this sensation lasted it was not uncommon for it to be around 30 seconds or more.
Men in comparison did not typically describe their orgasmic sensation as a whole-body experience.
Each orgasm experience is unique and these are clearly generalizations, but listening to the feedback, men typically do experience shorter and less full-bodied orgasms.
Can a sex toy really change male orgasms?
This begs the question: why are male and female experiences different? While creating the Ion, Arcwave looked into this exact question.
Speaking with Arcwave, the team stated that “ typically the female orgasms are longer and more powerful and we wanted to explore how it works and whether men could experience something similar. We found that stimulating the Pacinian pleasure receptors in the penis could heighten sensation in male orgasms.”
Based on existing research Arcwave knew that the Pacinian pleasure receptors found in the penis are very similar to those found in the clitoris. To be exact these receptors are found in the frenulum – the patch of skin attaching the foreskin to the head of the penis. But why aren’t these cells stimulated during regular masturbation?
Why doesn’t regular male masturbation stimulate these cells?
Arcwave believes that masturbation can stimulate these cells but not enough to heighten the male orgasm experience. In order to stimulate these cells, the Arcwave R & D team created what they call Pleasure Air technology that sucks these pleasure receptors. They found these cells respond very well to airwave stimulated. And hey presto the Ion was born.
The big question: does it work?
We have done a deep dive reviewing the Arcwave Ion that answers this question.
Spoiler alert: Whether Ion replicates a female orgasm remains to be seen, but based on feedback from our testers it seems to have created a brand new sensation.
Check out the full Ion review here.
