When a star as strait-laced as Emma Watson raves about a website that teaches you how to orgasm, you know a sex trend has gone mainstream. The Harry Potter star enthused about OMGYes.com last week, saying, ‘It’s a pretty cool website... I wish it had been around longer. It’s an expensive subscription but it’s worth it.’
Obviously I was intrigued – who doesn’t wonder if their orgasms could be better? – so I paid the one-off fee of £40 to sign up. It’s very comprehensive. You could spend whole hours on there and wonder where the time went. It’s like Facebook but with fannies, featuring ‘touchable’ tutorials (interactive vaginas that tell you where you need to put your finger, how hard, for how long, and in what direction) and instructional videos with women demoing various techniques such as ‘orbiting’ (circular sweeping motions on the clitoris) and ‘rhythm’ (a ‘musical loop of motion’). Based on research involving 2,000 women aged 18 to 95, it’s extensive and almost overwhelming.
But if the DIY approach isn’t enough, you might be one of a growing number of young women getting into the OM scene. OM stands for Orgasmic Meditation. The trend started in a San Francisco commune but has now gone global and appeals to ‘free, hip, powerful women’, according to its own website. OM happens in pairs and involves a man (if you’re single, a stranger) stroking the upper-left hand quadrant of your clitoris for 15 minutes (this area has the most nerve endings). ‘If you’re not in a couple, people pick their partner on the evening, and of course there are strict rules of conduct and etiquette’, says Rachel Tayeb from TurnON Britain, the UK arm of OM.
Women strip off from the waist down, but men remain fully clothed and pairs make themselves comfortable on ‘nests’
of bean bags and pillows. Complimentary towels and gloves are provided, but participants are invited to ‘bring a bottle’. Of lube, that is. It costs £147 for the first session. ‘It’s not just about the moment of climax,’ says Rachel. ‘It’s
that feeling of being so completely absorbed in an experience that there is no psychic chatter; a falling away of the ego. OM regularly increases energy, reduces stress and improves concentration in other areas of life.’
Amanda Pearce*, 36, an artist from London, has attended several OM parties. ‘For me, it was magical to be in a space that felt safe, where I could surrender to sensations and not feel the pressure to please or perform.’
This year’s most-talked-about book, Maestra, taps into the trend for women knowing how to get themselves off. Its heroine, Judith Rashleigh, goes to sex parties and is all about her own pleasure. Written by historian Lisa Hilton, it’s been dubbed ‘the thinking woman’s 50 Shades’, and might be just the thing to read before your first visit to OMGYes.com.
Considering only 57% of women regularly experience orgasm, maybe it’s about time women and men got some hands-on skills.
For more information about OM, visit turnonbritain.co.uk