When it comes to heterosexual sex, the orgasm gap is real and it is significant. Women are far less likely than men to say they orgasmed in their most recent sexual encounter, and the picture is especially bleak when it comes to casual hook-ups. The reasons behind the discrepancy are complex and wide-ranging, but there is no denying that living in a culture that has long associated women's sexual pleasure with shame and judgement bears a whole lot of the blame.
Which is why, without getting too earnest about it, it is a big deal when well-known women publicly embrace their sexuality and insist on not settling for not getting-off -- no matter how long it takes, or how much instruction they have to provide.
Here are 11 celebs who remind us all that a) orgasms are awesome, and b) women should feel way more empowered to get theirs.
1. Amy Schumer:
"Don't be self-conscious," she told Glamour magazine. And "don't not have an orgasm."
2. Nicki Minaj:
"I have a friend who's never had an orgasm in her life. In her life!" she told Cosmo. "That hurts my heart."
3. Amy Poehler
"Try not to fake it," she wrote in her book, "Yes, Please".
4. Margaret Cho:
"Sex can be amazingly great -- if you are turned on, and gross and terrible if you are not, so trust what is exciting to you," the comedian wrote on her site.
5. Rashida Jones:
Jones has been vocal in her criticism of male-centric pornography.
6. Kim Cattrall:
Cattrall wrote all about getting off in her 2002 book, "Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm".
7. Halle Berry:
"In my case, that makes me responsible for pretty damned good orgasms these days. Much better orgasms than when I was 22," the actress told Esquire.
8. Lizzy Caplan:
She also takes issue with Freud's views on female sexuality, telling GQ that because of him, "millions of women took all of the blame for all the problems in the bedroom."
9. Beyonce:
"Women should own their sexuality," she told OUT magazine.
10. Zoe Saldana:
The actress discussed the power of banishing sexual insecurity with Cosmo for Latinas.
11. Eva Longoria:
In an interview with SELF magazine, the actress lamented the fact that she had not found vibrators earlier in her life.
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