“Cum pariter victi faemina virque jacent.”
At this period, even if the man would be in a position ad pergendam commixtionem (e. c. eunuches and in priapism), further permulsiones are not wanted and their discontinuance is demanded by the normal woman.
“Aspiciem dominae victos amantis ocellos
“Langueat et tangi se vetet illa diu.”
A woman desiring the continuance of uninterrupted penetrations, or who even allows them, plainly shows that, while she may have felt ant-orgastic libido, she has surely not experienced the supreme gratification which is found in the state of orgasm. Except in early youth, and then only after a protracted continence, it is impossible even for a woman to experience further libido immediately after the orgasm. The general notions about the great feminine potency are erroneous. They are based upon the confusion of the potency of cohabitation with the potency of experiencing the orgasm, which is not one and the same even in the male. So far as cohabitation is concerned it is true that the weakest, most delicate woman, is able to tire out the strongest man. Playing the passive part, she could stand concarnatio continua for a long time, in fact, as long as the mucous membrane of the vagina will last, and the vaginal pavement epithelia are by nature very strong. Even Ovid knew this fact. He says in his “Ars Amoris”:
“Conteritur ferrum, silices teneantur ab usu
“Sufficit et damni pars caret illa metu.”
But in regard to the potency of experiencing libido the woman is generally inferior to the man. After three complete orgasms in one night even a young, strong woman will be completely enervated during the following day, and the woman who regularly experiences a daily orgasm, for a protracted period, will, no less than her active partner, fall a victim to neurasthenia after some time.
Intensity of libido.—The intensity of the pleasure varies in different individuals. With some the intensity reaches a very high degree. There are those who cry and bite at the height of orgasm.[N] On the other hand, there are individuals who scarcely have any lustful feelings, or, if capable of experiencing ant-orgastic libido, are lacking in the feeling of orgasm. Normally the intensity of libido and orgasm increases with the number and dignity of the points which produce the pleasure.
The source of any kind of pleasure lies in the five senses. Of these the sense of touch is best adapted to provoke sexual pleasure. The tactile sense is the fundamental and generic sense from which all others take their rise, and by which they are verified. All the perceptions of our senses have to be supplemented by our tactile sense. The foetus, within the uterus, receives the first knowledge of its own individuality, of its own ego, by the tactile sense. In touching with its body the wall of the womb, it receives one impression, while in touching one part of its body with another part, it receives two impressions, at both points of contact. In this way it learns by repeated experience of the existence of bodies outside of his own. Thus it differentiates its own ego from the outside world by the sense of touch, at a time when the other senses could not as yet functionate. Touch is, therefore, the primary sense. The other senses are only modified tactile senses. Waves of sound touch the tympanic membrane of the ear: rays of light touch the retina in the eye; odors touch the nerve-endings of the olfactory nerve, and food the taste-papillae.