Sexual activity among American adolescents has increased significantly during the past 20 years. By age 19 years, most women and men will have had intercourse. Most young men and women in A survey of American men and women between the ages of 18 and 59 years revealed that since age 18, men had an average of six partners and women had an average of two. The most appealing sexual activity for both men and women is vaginal intercourse. The initial phase of the Desire Sexual desire is the motivation and the inclination to be sexual.
Sexual arousal increases blood flow to the vagina.
During the plateau phase, sexual tension, erotic feelings, and vasocongestion reach maximum intensity. The Orgasm Orgasm is a myotonic response mediated by the sympathetic nervous system and is experienced as a sudden release of the tension that has built up during the arousal and plateau stages. After the sudden release of sexual tension brought about by orgasm, women experience a feeling of relaxation and well-being. The physiologic changes that took place during arousal are reversed, and the body returns to a resting state. The way a couple functions sexually is often a good barometer of how things are going in the rest of the relationship.