THE GUARDIAN – My friend Alex had her first nipple orgasm in her mid-20s.
Alex, who requested to withhold her last name for reasons of privacy, said the orgasm occurred during oral stimulation of her nipple.
The feeling brought to mind an audiovisual exhibition about the human nervous system where illuminated nerves “spangle across the body, and emanate outwards, like a lightning flash”, she says, but “very warm and sustained”.
When we think of orgasms, we typically think of ejaculation, vaginal orgasms and clitoral orgasms.
But there are about 15 different kinds of orgasms, depending on an individual’s body and how it reacts to stimulation, says Tuğçe Balik, a tantric practitioner and sexologist in the process of getting her PhD in human sexuality.
These other types include orgasms based in certain parts of the body, such as the prostate, cervix and nipples.
It also includes what Balik called “energetic” orgasms, which can result from meditation and fantasy, without any touch involved, and sleep orgasms, which an estimated 37% of women and 83% of men have experienced.
When Alex had her first nipplegasm, it was totally spontaneous. Now, she knows she can have orgasms in which the nipple is the key site of climax – alone, or with a partner. Still, they’re somewhat elusive: “It doesn’t happen all the time,” she says.
How do nipple orgasms happen?
Nipples have long been considered an erogenous zone. Although there’s no data estimating what proportion of people have experienced climax from nipple play, a 2006 study found that 82% of women and 52% of men find nipple stimulation arousing.
It wasn’t until 2011 that Dr Nan Wise – a New Jersey-based psychotherapist, sex therapist and neuroscientist – conducted a study revealing how nipple stimulation actually affects the brain …
