Glossing

     What is there to say about a husband using his tongue on his wife's genitals -- glossing her -- in marital intercourse, as part of foreplay?   Frankly, I think it is wonderful.

      I don't think we know, or likely ever will know for sure, how many women DON'T regularly achieve orgasm in their marital lovemaking.  But the discussion of the issue over a long period of time, and the reported experiences of many women, suggest that orgasm-less sexual intercourse for women is, at the very least, not uncommon.  

      There is much (endless) debate about the reasons for this.  Sometimes it is simple male incompetence, as when a husband simply doesn't deliberately aim to provide enough time for his wife to be aroused before he reaches orgasm and ejaculation.  But some women say that, even with considerate and loving spouses, they are unable to achieve orgasm.  (In some cases they can't climax at all; more commonly they report not achieving climax regularly or consistently in their marital relations).  One claim is that ordinary sexual intercourse, for many women, doesn't provide sufficient direct stimulation to the clitoris to bring about an orgasm.  (There is an interesting discussion of scientific studies here.)

      This website is not going to describe and evaluate these arguments.  What I will do is simply repeat the basic point: it appears to be a fact that a significant number of married women, for whatever reason, don't consistently achieve climax in their marital relations -- the culmination of sexual intercourse, with its full sexual release.  This is unfortunate, since the ideal is that both husband and wife achieve complete sexual satisfaction (orgasm) in their marital lovemaking.  (Karol Wojtyla argued this in the "sexology" section of his book Love and Responsibility, and it is also discussed well here.)

      Glossing is often (usually, as long as there has been appropriate personal focus and foreplay before it is started) a wonderfully effective way of providing direct stimulation to the clitoris, which helps women to reach climax.  I think it is therefore a wonderful blessing.  Of course, as with all things sexual, not every women enjoys receiving oral foreplay -- it is not a "magic bullet" to resolve all problems of "anorgasmia."  But, as a general rule, glossing is a powerful means of arousing a woman and preparing her for sexual intercourse. (Again, keeping in mind that she needs the cultivation of emotional closeness and attention to the entire body prior to direct attention to the vulva and clitoris . . .)

      One practical concern about glossing is that the husband is focusing not on his wife's face, but on her vulva.  This might be thought to detract from the personal dimension and the intimacy of the act, since the face is the part of the body where we focus on the person. (If a person were talking to us, it would be a bit weird to focus on the person's arm or hand, rather than her face, and especially the eyes.)    And a too-exclusive focus on the genitals could encourage a de-personalized approach to sex.  

      But eye contact is possible in some glossing positions, and even when it is not (as when the husband's head is facing her feet during glossing), the husband's hands can caress his wife's body and face, in order to reinforce the personal dimension of the foreplay.   Moreover, there is sense that you are entering her "hidden depths," and that is very personal.  As with so much about sex, the attitude you carry into different aspects of it determines whether the act is personal union or merely physical mechanics to achieve sexual gratification.  

An Important Benefit of Glossing

     As I discuss elsewhere, while achieving simultaneous climax in the marital act is certainly not necessary, it is certainly very nice, very desirable.  But in the ordinary act of sexual intercourse, it is not always easy to "time" the orgasms of husband and wife to achieve simultaneous climax.  There is one relatively reliable way to achieve simultaneous orgasm, however.  

     Because a wife, unlike a husband, does not immediately enter the "resolution" stage after orgasm, but returns to a plateau, she may rise again to another orgasm soon after her first climax.  One of the great advantages of glossing is that, because it makes possible direct and comfortable (because the tongue is soft and moist) physical stimulation of the clitoris, it is very likely to bring a wife to a first orgasm. If a husband glosses his wife to climax, and then enters her (perhaps after a brief pause, because immediate re-stimulation after a female orgasm may be experienced by her as painful), it is very likely that during actual sexual union she will re-climax fairly quickly (perhaps several times), and ultimately climax simultaneously with her husband.