"Total euphoria."
If your high school health class looked anything like mine, you sat in uncomfortable plastic chairs with post-pubescent boys and haphazardly learned about fallopian tubes. Although you may have learned the body parts and scientific angles of your reproductive system, you may have left the class still wondering, why do I feel like having sex? And more to the point: What does sex feel like for women and people with vaginas?
Dr. Adeeti Gupta, NYC-based OBGYN and founder of Walk IN GYN Care, explains that different kinds of sex can produce different physiological experiences. She says that oral sex is more likely to bring a person with a vagina to orgasm than penetrative sex alone for one very special reason: the clit. “The pleasurable sensation is mainly due to direct stimulation of the clitoris,” Dr. Gupta tells Elite Daily. “Increase of blood flow in the clitoral region is an extremely powerful precursor to female orgasm.”
Of course, as long as what you're doing is consensual and pleasurable to you and your partner, there is no wrong or right way to have sex. Whether you like it rough, soft, with penetration or without, or you like to have something fit in every orifice — sex can look like whatever you want it to. Moreover, sex can feel like whatever you want it to. Still, no matter how long you've been doing the dirty, or how many partners you've gotten frisky with, it's natural to wonder what getting physical feels like to other people. Talking openly about sex and hearing stories from the people around you can be a great way to feel less alone and more supported in your own sexual journey.
15 women and people with vaginas weighed in on what penetrative sex felt like for them, and their answers show just how different the experience can be.
With the right person, it feels like nothing you have ever experienced. Total euphoria, finger tips tingle, toes curl without a second thought. But only with the right person is it worth it.
Wrap your mouth gently but somewhat tightly around two of your fingers. Slide the fingers in and out. Now, pay attention to how that feels to your mouth, but imagine that your mouth is not only warm and wet but also filled with high pleasure nerve endings. And that's still probably not even close. It's amazing.
There's this really intense warmth. Literally, as in temperature warmth. It's a kind of hard question to answer physically — it's like asking what it feels like to kiss someone. It's warm and wet and a little squishy but it's so much more than that, just like a kiss, that you can't really out into words.
Emotionally, it feels like waking up on Christmas morning. You do all this waiting and waiting and waiting and thinking about it and teasing it and talking about with foreplay, so when it finally happens there is this overwhelming joy of, ‘OMG THIS IS FINALLY IT!!!’ Physically, the actual opening/penetration sensation isn't hugely different than it is with a toy if you're wearing a condom, as they unfortunately make things a bit rubbery. With no condoms there is wonderful warmth and smoothness. You know that feeling when you hover your hand above someone else's arm? The heat that radiates off and is trapped between you? Imagine that, in an extremely sensitive, enclosed space. Fingers of course bring a similar feeling, but they aren't smooth (joints, nails, etc.) so it's a bit more a feeling of insertion than filling up the space like you get with a penis.
I feel filled up and wonderful, like I'm warm all over. It just feels right.
The first time the head goes inside, it's really intense and kind of painful. But it's a good, sexy kind of pain. It feels like every nerve is just on fire, concentrated in that one spot. But then as he starts thrusting, the pain subsides and the heat spreads throughout my whole lower body.
It hurt a little bit being stretched, but you get used to it. Feels much better without a condom. It's just a feeling of being full. It's warm and just really nice, kinda comforting, especially if you're with someone you really care about.
It's a very intimate feeling of connection. It's like the closest you can possibly get to another person. I especially feel that the deeper it goes. Also, during foreplay, I feel like our bodies are in a disordered tangle, but during sex, it feels like everything fits properly finally. It's also a little bit like eating when you are very hungry. A feeling of physical satisfaction.
When the head first slides in, my whole body gets either cold or warm, spreading from my vagina outward. My [vagina] might tighten around the head without my tightening any muscles. Then you feel it slide all the way in and you can feel every inch expanding your [vagina]. It feels amazing, especially when it rubs against the inside top wall. Once it's in, I like to make him stop and let me tighten around him, getting a feel for being full. Then a slow thrust, all the way out then slooooowly all the way in feels like you were made for nothing else but to be filled up ... We can also feel if he gets harder or throbs, etc. It's amazing.
Like a really good massage in a place you don't often touch. Like... if someone were to massage my feet really well, but I never touched my own feet.
It really depends what kind of sex you're having, but really it feels all sorts of the following: warm, tingling, sharp, shivery, hot, waves of temperature, slowly building from toes to head orgasm or slap you in the face surprise orgasm, soft, wet, hard, sweaty, full, twisting, grinding, sensual... Now, if you're asking what actual penis-entering-vagina actually feels like... hard to explain, but when my husband's penis actually enters me it's like pop! Like if you make a popping noise with your finger in your mouth but backwards. I'm not sure if that makes sense. For me, the vagina isn't a void so when a penis goes from rubbing against my labia to actually entering it's just pop!, sigh and then the real fun begins. Seriously, this is hard to describe. It's just all sorts of awesome, I guess.
I feel stretched and filled. When I get horny, I feel sort of an aching desire to be filled up, and I desperately want pressure on the inside ... The thrusting is like applying pressure again and again exactly where I really want it, so every thrust feels... like relief? As he pulls out I feel myself gripping to pull him back in. For me there is also an intense emotional component, at least with my current SO. I feel really close to him emotionally, and we tend to do it in missionary a lot of the time because we like to kiss during, which is possibly the most awesome thing ever.
It feels soooo incredibly good. Your whole body gets hot and waves of pleasure wash over you. It is amazing.
For me, it feels like a wave of full body tingles, gradually increasing in intensity. Then the wave crashes and recedes, then builds up again.
I get the sensation that I get when I want to pee.
As long as your sex is consensual, there's no right or wrong way to feel while going at it. From erotic to intimate to just feeling like you have to pee, getting frisky can really run the sexy gambit. At the end of the day, sex can feel different to everyone, which sounds pretty sexy to me.
Expert:
Dr. Adeeti Gupta, OBGYN and founder of Walk IN GYN Care
Editor's Note: This story has been updated by Elite Daily Staff.
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