TLDR: As a very staunch feminist I believe in women coming during sex every time. It has become nonnegotiable for me but now I'm afraid its disrupting the intimacy with my partner. Should I forgo orgasms for the sake of increasing our connection in sex? How can I increase our presence and connection in sex?
Hey everyone,
I want to start this by saying that I have neither known, nor heard of, any other woman that has had a problem at all similar to this one. I am posting on here because I feel genuinely lost and would like to hear everyone's diverse perspective. This is NOT the typical "my boyfriend can't/doesn't make me come and I don't know how to talk to him about that/fix that" question. I actually have somewhat of an opposite problem. I genuinely feel like I'm in the first generation of women that could have this problem, or at least discuss it with other women, and because of that I feel very alone and my question carries a lot of baggage.
My entire life, I have been staunchly pro-female sex empowerment. I began masturbating at a very young age, had a couple of very healthy conversations with my mother about it. I have never felt shame about masturbating. I have even gone out of my way to advocate learning self pleasure to a myriad of female friends who had never experienced any pleasure/orgasm before. I've given instructions, references to sources, sex toy recommendations, etc. I truly believe that this is something all women deserve to have access to and thinking about how many sexually unfulfilling marriages/relationships there are because men are pigs is a topic that could bring me to tears if I thought about it too hard.
As a result of all this: I've really figured out how to make myself orgasm. I have my couple of techniques down PAT and taught myself how to expertly communicate them to men via trial and error. This was really empowering in previous, less serious relationships: if he couldn't make me come, I sure could. I even felt morally righteous/vindicated in humiliating inept men by doing it myself / taking over for them / ending the encounter/date if they were not interested in making me come. This isn't a kink of mine, I'm just a really passionate feminist and see any individual action I take as potentially impactful on the men in my life. I know, I am a sort of intense person, that's an important part of this problem.
I have been privileged enough that orgasms are now NON-NEGOTIABLE for me in sexual encounters (which, granted, I haven't had THAT many of). The only time I don't come in a sexual encounter is when I have gone out of my way to decide that for myself, usually in circumstances when I wasn't comfortable with the man touching me at all for whatever reason. In these situations, I usually didn't even let myself get turned on: I basically went into a sort of "work mode" (I'm not a sex worker I just mean I get intensely focused on the act with a real emotional detachment) and preform the blowjob (emphasis on performance). In college, this was actually how I first got into having sex because it made me feel so in control and so safe. Again, I found this to be incredibly empowering, and to this day I am deeply grateful for even having had the opportunity to be so fully in control of my initial sexual experiences. I know the majority of women do not have this privilege and can end up having terrible experiences because of it.
But now: I'm in THE serious relationship. We've been together for almost 2 years. I mean, I know he's bought a ring and we're starting to talk specific about wedding/children, etc. Important context: we are religious, but we do participate in intimacy together more than you'd expect, we've never had intercourse. That being said, both of us have had intercourse with other partners when we were younger, we've just become more religious since then and want to save it to be special with each other on the wedding night. I am positive he is my soulmate in all of the ways. We have never had sex during which he did not make sure I came, or I did not chip in at the end to help him get me there. He understands and respects the importance of my position and has gone out of his way to demonstrate his commitment to my feminist beliefs in sex. When we first started being intimate with one another, it was three months of him ONLY pleasing me; he never even asked me to touch him. Even when he inadvertently comes first, he'll lay with me until he recovers enough to ensure I come too. Whenever I try to help him out and do it myself, he even finds a way to make it "sexy" (talking me through it, touching me, etc.)
However, I'm genuinely starting to feel like this is interrupting our intimacy. Our sex follows a very similar pattern every time; he always immediately resorts to the tried and true methods I communicated. I've also noticed him slip into a sort of "work mode," and he has admitted that he gets mechanical because he knows what needs to happen. This takes us both out of the moment; I feel him disconnect, he is not trying anything new for fear of failing. I feel bad that he doesn't find any pleasure or creativity in going down on me. It has honestly only felt like we are TRULY connecting and fully present with each other once or twice, because of this looming expectation. If I get scared that he's not going to make me come, then I have a bad habit of immediately stepping in. Which, yes, obviously I'm still orgasming, and he is helping, but it doesn't feel nearly as good and it doesn't feel like its bringing us closer as a couple.
But here's the problem: I know in order for our sex life to improve and be as mind blowing as I know it can be, I need to relinquish control. And that's so difficult for me because its something I have been so proud and appreciative of. I am a control freak and a very intense person in other parts of my life. When I was younger, I was into submissive / BDSM dynamics (likely because it seemed like a way to relinquish control) - but every time we've tried to play out anything in real life with bondage or the like, it always fizzles out and I get too distracted focusing on the performance and become more dissociative, too.
I want him to touch me in new ways; I want us to properly explore each other and make surprising and enjoyable discoveries. I want us to connect in a way that I just can't when I'm masturbating, or helping him. I want to feel surprised by the way he touches me sometimes, like he has cracked some code that I haven't. Obviously, these weren't desirable with the partners I didn't properly trust, or whom I doubted, but now, things are different.
I'm anxious that if I tell him, "That's alright, you don't have to make me come anymore," then I will be taking the pressure off so we can more present, yes, but also that he will never try to make me come ever again. It also feels like compromising on my feminist beliefs: if he's going to come every time, I want to come every time. I don't want him to think its somehow less important than his coming, or not relevant to the main act of sex. When I think about having intercourse with him in our marriage, I also fret: ideally, the first time at least, I'd like to come at or around the same time he does. I know that's a bit unrealistic, but as a feminist I HATE that that's unrealistic. In my religion, intercourse/conception is a really intimate big deal, and I resent that he'll be feeling ecstasy in that moment and I'll either feel like my orgasm is ruined/denied, or exhausted and overstimulated because I already came from oral 5 minutes ago. I hate that women just say "thats how it goes" and have accepted lackluster sexual experiences and I want to defy that/avenge them. But then again, by putting so much pressure on this moment and hanging on to my orgasm expectations/precedence so strongly practically ensures that I'll be so obsessed with trying to control the moment perfectly that I won't be present, or emotionally connected with him the way I want to be.
I've talked about this some with him but he doesn't fully understand the feminist link because he is a man and obviously orgasms and sex have always been intrinsically tied for him. So what do you guys think I should do? Should I stop offering him any help?
Should I accept having sex without orgasms, where he isn't overly focusing on making me come so that we can just enjoy each other? Is accepting that a critical error/a feminist failing? How can I better connect with my partner?