Page:The Power of Sexual Surrender.pdf/105

 *chiatry's viewpoint, many of its basic findings about orgasm.

The sad thing, however, is that the Kinsey report is often used to bolster the neurotically defensive attitude of women who are able to achieve only clitoral orgasm. They can say to themselves that their method of gratification is perfectly normal; do they not have a tremendous body of "scientific" data to support their view? And somehow or other women with this difficulty do get hold of the Kinsey "results." I myself have had several women suffering from the kind of problem I have just described quote Kinsey to me at some length in defense of their method of gratification. And, having checked with several of my colleagues, I find that they all report many similar experiences.

This is unfortunate. Women who suffer from any other form of frigidity are frequently motivated to face up to their problem by feelings of sexual frustration. Sooner or later, driven by natural hungers, they will take steps to throw off the yoke of their difficulty.

The woman who is able to have a clitoral orgasm, however, has no such strong motivation. She can ruin her life and never be the wiser, never realize the reason why.

I strongly advise, therefore, that such women be more than usually wary about their tendency to be complacent, more than usually insistent about finding a way out of their dilemma; above all, they must recognize their life situation as a dilemma, a serious one that can far too easily be rationalized.

At this point, then, I wish to emphasize once more the role of woman's responsibility in this matter of sexual response. There is often a stronger-than-usual underlying irrational fear in clitoridal women which makes them hesitate, even when they have admitted their problem, to face up to it in any effective way. I wish therefore to reiterate the point that nobody who suffers from this problem should feel shame