THE EXPERIENCE OF MATURATION: ORGASM
BY EDWARD BRONGERSMA

“Orgasm” is the fourth of the five parts of “The Experience of Maturation”, the third section of “Boys and their Sexuality”, the third chapter of Loving Boys, the encyclopaedic study of Greek love by the eminent Dutch lawyer, Edward Brongersma, of which the first volume (including this) was published by Global Academic Publishers in New York in 1986.

As we have already seen, most boys are able to attain orgasm long before they mature. Among the male subjects of the Yankowski investigation, 3.5% had experienced their first orgasm at ten years of age or younger, 77.5% did so between the ages of eleven and thirteen.^[1]

After puberty orgasm is reached more quickly, as the penis now becomes considerably more sensitive. Orgasm can often be produced by rather incidental events, for example the physical exertions of sports.

70  An eleven-year-old tells about climbing exercises in the school gym: “When you are high up on the pole and shut your eyes because you’re so tired, suddenly something starts to throb between your legs. This goes on for quite a while; you can’t resist it, it’s so pleasant and tickling. For those seconds while it’s happening you just can’t move; you have to wait until it’s over. When everybody’s climbed down again you can immediately pick out the kids this same thing has happened to: they have a wet spot on the front of their shorts – only a little spot usually, but you can see it.^[2] 

71  ”I had my first orgasm before I was aware of sex in any form (I led a very sheltered life) at about age twelve as I was climbing a tree. For almost two years I ‘made love to trees’ in that I would climb trees just to get that good feeling. I was about thirteen before any juice would come out. To keep from staining my pants, I would go into the woods where no one was around and take off my clothes and climb around trees until the juice came. I didn’t know what the juice was, but I knew that I wasn’t just leaking pee. In the wintertime, I would go into the bathroom, take off my clothes, and pretend that I was climbing a tree by hanging on the closet door and pressing my penis against the edge. I would juice within several minutes of this activity and would experience a delightful sensation all over my body.^[3]

It seems that after puberty orgasm is a more overpowering experience than before. A few boys even faint for a moment when it grips them at its peak. With other boys the whole body is seized by spasmodic twitching, all muscles knotted in tension. Belly muscles are contracted, as the stomach is drawn deeply in; this is most pronounced as climax is approached. The scrotum on the other hand loses its spontaneous movements; its wrinkles disappear and the testicles are pulled upward towards the abdomen. The nipples of some boys erect and grow hard. The heart pounds heavily, its beat accelerating sharply.^[4] Breathing turns into panting, at times spasmodically interrupted. Increased saliva production necessitates swallowing of the salivary flood. Especially striking at this time is the facial expression: eyes become glazed with an absent look as the lust feelings increase and overwhelm all outside perception. The mouth falls open or is, on the contrary, so tightly shut that the teeth may gnash together. Every bodily sensation seems to be concentrated in the penis. During some people’s climax the face may be twisted in tension, as though its owner was writhing in agony: a number of photos in the Brongersma Foundation collection clearly illustrate this phenomenon. The cries uttered by males at this moment may also resemble the cries of pain.^[5] (Borneman 1978, 1443).

On the other hand, some males give little visible evidence that they are having a climax. They could win hands down at that party game English officers used to play in colonial India. At dinner they would sit around a table under which a native boy was hidden. The lad would creep around down there, open the trousers of one of the guests, pull out the penis and suck on it until it ejaculated. The man suffering – or enjoying – this attention had to behave in such a way that nobody could guess what was going on. Should he betray himself, however, by change of expression, bodily spasm or the lightest gasp, and he was found out, he had to pay for the next round of drinks.^[6]

The peak of orgasm usually lasts about eight or ten seconds, but this may be increased to 20 seconds or even a minute by expert manipulation.^[7]

Even when a boy is well practiced in attaining orgasm, so that the feelings are hardly new to him, the sensations which may sweep through him the first time he has complete intercourse – provided, of course, he does this with his own free will and is not subject to any kind of anxiety – may surpass everything he has felt before:

72  As a New Zealand boy said, “She helped me in and it wasn’t hard. I went in easy. I knew what to do and everything. I just moved in and out slowly until I came. When I came it hit me really hard. I mean, sometimes I used to get so carried away when I masturbated that I’d get cramps in my legs at orgasm, but that was mild compared with this. When I came I sort of cried out…^[8]

Continue to The Experience of Maturation: The Bloom of Youth

^[1] Yankowski, J. S., Sex vor der Ehe. München: Lichtenberg, 1965, 81. [Author’s reference]

^[2] Stieber, H., Verführt… Bonn: Europäische Bücherei, 1971, 81. [Author’s reference]

^[3] Hite, Sh., The Hite Report on Male Sexuality. New York: Ballantine, 1981, 602. [Author’s reference]

^[4] Verveen, A. A., Seksuele aktiviteit van de mens. In: Intern Rapport 1977 Laboratorium voor Fysiologie. Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit, 1977, 21-22. [Author’s reference]

^[5] Borneman, E., E., Lexikon der Liebe, Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1978, 1443 [Author’s reference]

^[6] Peyrefitte, R., Les Américains. Paris: J‘ai Lu, 1968, 290. [Author’s reference]

^[7] Verveen, A. A., Seksuele aktiviteit van de mens. In: Intern Rapport 1977 Laboratorium voor Fysiologie. Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit, 1977, 20. [Author’s reference]

^[8] Tuohy, F. & Murphy, M., Down Under the Plum Trees. Waiura (New Zealand): Alister Taylor, 1976, 190-191. [Author’s reference]