Brain changes were observed and compared between states of rest, sexual stimulation, faked orgasm, and actual orgasm. Differences were reported in the brains of men and women during stimulation. However, changes in brain activity were observed in both sexes in which the brain regions associated with behavioral control, fear and anxiety shut down. Regarding these changes, Gert Holstege said in an interview with The Times, "What this means is that deactivation, letting go of all fear and anxiety, might be the most important thing, even necessary, to have an orgasm. "While stroking the clitoris, the parts of the female brain responsible for processing fear, anxiety and behavioral control start to diminish in activity. This reaches a peak at orgasm when the female brains emotion centers are effectively closed down to produce an almost trance-like state. Holstege is quoted as saying, at the 2005 meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development: "At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings. "However, a subsequent report by Rudie Kortekaas, et al. stated, "Gender commonalities were most evident during orgasm... From these results, we conclude that during the sexual act, differential brain responses across genders are principally related to the stimulatory (plateau) phase and not to the orgasmic phase itself. "Research has shown that as in women, the emotional centers of a mans brain also become deactivated during orgasm but to a lesser extent than in women.
Anorgasmia is significantly more common in women than in men, which has been attributed to the lack of sex education with regard to womens bodies, especially in sex-negative cultures, such as clitoral stimulation usually being key for women to orgasm.Approximately 25% of women report difficulties with orgasm, 10% of women have never had an orgasm, and 40% or 40–50% have either complained about sexual dissatisfaction or experienced difficulty becoming sexually aroused at some point in their lives. A 1994 study by Laumann et al. found that 75.0% of men and 28.6% of women always had orgasms with their spouse, while 40.2% of men and 79.7% of women thought their spouse always orgasmed during sex. These rates were different in non-marital straight relationships (cohabitational, long-term and short-term heterosexual relationships), with rates increasing to 80.5% for men and 43.0% for women orgasming during sex with their short-term partners, and 69.3% for men and 82.6% for women thinking their short-term partners always orgasmed. Women are much more likely to be nearly always or always orgasmic when alone than with a partner. However, in a 1996 study by Davis et al., 62% of women in a partnered relationship said they were satisfied with the frequency/consistency of their orgasms.