What Exactly Is the Sexual Response Cycle?

Originally created by pioneer researchers in human sexuality, William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, in 1996, the sexual response cycle is an attempt to chart out the general phases pleasure-seekers experience during a sexual encounter.

You can think of it as the MapQuest of orgasms.

Since it was first created, other sexuality researchers have suggested slightly different models.

But all available models aim to do the same thing: give a very general overview of what happens during sex — be it solo, partnered, or multi-partnered.

Understanding the sexual response cycle can give you a framework for a better understanding of how you go from zero to orgasm. Or, why you’re able to experience pleasure but not orgasm.

It can also help you and your partner(s) better understand how you can sync your cycles for more pleasurable sex, says Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, author of “Sex Without Pain: A Self-Treatment Guide to the Sex Life You Deserve.”

If, for example, you know that you need to be aroused longer than your partner does to orgasm, and you want to achieve simultaneous orgasm, you’ll want to begin arousing earlier.

It also helps clinicians and researchers understand the usual and expected sexual response of humans, versus less usual response, adds Lyndsey Harper, OB-GYN, founder and CEO of Rosy, a sexual wellness platform.

Don’t worry, this will make more sense once you better understand the different stages of the sexual arousal cycle.

Ready to learn about the OG sexual response cycle by Masters and Johnson? Let’s get to it!

1. Anticipation

The anticipation phase is the point of time when you want to be touching, but haven’t started yet.

This phase could be as short lived as the moments your partner walks toward you before kissing you and laying you on the bed. Or, it could be as long as the dinner date you have before going to the hotel room.

2. Excitement

Sometimes considered phase one of the sexual response cycle, the excitement phase is farrr more active than the anticipation phase.

This is the time when hanky-panky has started.

Physical signs include:

• increased heart rate
• faster breathing
• spiked blood pressure
• harder nipples
• increased blood flow to your genitals (swollen labia, half or full erection, engorged clitoris, vaginal lubrication)
• flushed skin

3. Plateau

“Plateau” makes this phase sound boring — but this is the oh-so-pleasurable point in a sexperience when you’re experiencing sustained pleasure.

Usually, pleasure at the hands of repetitive motions.

If you’ve ever said, “There! There! There!” while your partner licks on your bits, or “Right there!” when they stroke just right, you’ve experienced the plateau phase.

During the plateau phase, you’ll experience the same physical signs you did during the excitement. But like, times ten.

4. Orgasm

With enough of the right kind of stimulation, the plateau could give way to a burst of pleasure: orgasm.

Orgasm is often accompanied by a series of physical reactions, including:

• an involuntary release of muscle tension, or a series of muscle contractions
• moans, groans, or shouts of pleasure
• an increased sense of closeness, due to the release of dopamine
• even higher heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure

5. Resolution

This is the comedown after the big release when your muscles relax and your heart rate, blood pressure, and breath all return to normal.

You may notice that your genitals are hella sensitive at this point.

As important as Masters and Johnson’s research was to the human sexuality field, it does have limitations.

Mainly: Their original model only factors in the physiologic phases of sex.

That’s why a number of other sexuality researchers — including Helen Singer-Kaplan, Harold Lief, Bernie Zilbergeld, and Carol Rinkleib Ellison —expanded on the original model.

You’ll notice that this expanded sexual response cycle (below) acknowledges that horniness doesn’t happen just in the body.

It happens in the brain, soul, mind, and heart, too.

1. Desire

Desire refers to the emotional state of, well, desiring sex!

This phase might start when you see an R-rated scene in a movie. Or, when you catch a glimpse of your partner changing into their jammies. Or, it could come seemingly out of nowhere.

This phase isn’t associated with any particular physical reaction, but it is with emotional ones!

(Yes, it’s possible to want sex without experiencing any physical arousal).

2. Arousal

Nearly identical to the excitement phase in the above model, the arousal phase is capital-P Pleasurable.

3. Orgasm

You guessed it: This is when orgasm happens — if it does at all.

4. Resolution

This is when the body comes down from orgasm and resets.

Part of the resolution phase, the refractory period is the time after one orgasm when it’s physiologically impossible to orgasm again.

“The length of the refractory period can vary between individuals,” explains Jeffcoat.

“Some folks have a short refractory period [and] can become aroused and achieve orgasm again rather quickly,” she says. Others may not have another orgasm for several hours or even until the next day.

Nope!

“The response will vary between individuals and can also vary within the person,” says Jeffcoat.

“Some folks have longer plateau phases, some folks can get aroused again after resolution and some can’t, or may require more time after resolution in order to re-initiate arousal and orgasm.”

In fact, while you’ll likely notice a general pattern in how your body responds to arousal, your sexual response cycle isn’t like your blood type.

Like your temperature or resting heart rate, “it varies within individuals a lot,” says Harper.

If you want to complete the cycle and don’t, you’ll probably feel frustrated.

But because arousal does lead to an increase in blood flow to the genitals, “a feeling of pelvic congestion or heaviness may also be present,” says Jeffcoat.

(For people with penises, this sensation is often known as “blue balls.” But it’s something anyone with any genital makeup can experience.)

FYI: Partnered sex, masturbation, and orgasm are *not* necessary to relieve any physical discomfort.

This uncomfortable sensation will subside as soon as the amount of blood flow in the area returns to normal, which usually happens within 30 to 60 minutes.

Trust, you’ll know.

Are you exploring edging?

Also known as orgasm control or orgasm denial, edging is a sexy way to intentionally explore delaying The Big Finish or keeping it from happening altogether (aka not completing the cycle).

Key word here: intentionally.

With edging, the goal is to make the climax even more climatic when it finally does happen — even if that’s hours later.

This kind of kinky play, however, isn’t something you decide to explore mid-action. Rather, it’s something you talk about and plan ahead.

So if you’re in the middle of a partnered sex session and not orgasming, it’s probably *not* because your partner is edging you.

Are you being physical, but not in a way that will bring you to orgasm?

It’s also possible that you and your partner are exploring physical intimacy, but aren’t doing so in a way that provides the specific kind of stimulation you need to orgasm.

For example, maybe you need direct clitoral stimulation to climax, but you and your partner are humping with your clothes on because your housemates are in the next room.

In this case, you k-n-o-w why you’re not climaxing.

Trying to orgasm but it’s not happening?

Want to orgasm and believe you’re receiving the type of physical stimulation you need to orgasm, yet it’s still not happening?

While that can be frustrating, it’s usually not a medical concern, says Jeffcoat.

(Though, that’s not to say a doctor may not be helpful. More on that below).

Having trouble completing the cycle (read: orgasming) is common. Harper notes that somewhere between 5 and 40 percent of people have trouble reaching climax.

But it’s only a medical concern if you’re feeling actively distressed about the fact that you’re not coming.

In which case, Harper says it’s a good idea to talk through it with a sexual health expert.

They’ll be able to help you figure what physically, psychologically, mentally, or emotionally is keeping you from orgasming.

Sometimes the inability to orgasm is a result of an underlying hormone imbalance or a side effect of the medication you’re taking.

The sexual response cycle puts scientific lingo to the general arousal process people go through during a sexual encounter, based on the current body of knowledge.

And for sex nerds and body knowledge lovers, it can be a fun way to explore more pleasurable sex.

If the whole thing feels a little too heady for you, that’s OK too, so long as your sex life isn’t bringing you distress.

Gabrielle Kassel is a New York-based sex and wellness writer and CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. She’s become a morning person, tested over 200 vibrators, and eaten, drunk, and brushed with charcoal — all in the name of journalism. In her free time, she can be found reading self-help books and romance novels, bench-pressing, or pole dancing. Follow her on Instagram.