Positively sexy

Early in the first episode of “Masters of Sex,” Dr. William Masters is astonished to discover that women fake orgasms.

As the doctor sat there, aghast, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Of course women fake orgasms, and he calls himself a doctor?

To modern audiences, the characters seem incredibly naïve. The sex acts that some 1950s Americans didn’t dare try seemingly run on loop on 21st-century cable television.

The days are long passed when Fred and Wilma Flintstone were the only TV couple who shared a bed.

But however savvy we think we are when it comes to sex, we’re still having “women fake orgasms?” moments.

It was only in the last 15 years that we’ve truly come to understand the structure of the clitoris. It’s not just the little pleasure button above the urethra, but an organ that extends within the body and wraps around the vagina.

And still, most people don’t know about the clitoris’ extensive structure, let alone how to find it.

This is why sex researchers like Dr. Masters and Indiana University’s own Dr. Alfred Kinsey are so important.

Writing articles and publishing books on sex normalizes the taboo. Doctors study sex, just like they study the digestive system or the inner workings of the human brain.

It gives us language to talk about something paramount to the propagation of the human species and to understand human happiness.

Sometimes the end game of sex is a baby. More often, the goal is a little more fun.

Too many people are having bad sex. Especially in college.

We’re having bad sex because we’re afraid to talk about it for whatever reason: religion, society, fear of embarrassment.

Fear of embarrassment is particularly potent.

What if you’re not as experienced as your friends? What if they know some secret to sex you haven’t figured out yet? What if they find out you’ve never actually done it?

If we talked about sex more often, we’d know that everyone is an idiot when it comes to pleasure.

If we talked about sex with our sex partners more often, we’d know how to make our time between the sheets orgasmic for everyone.

Sex researchers are doing all of us a valuable service by redefining what “normal” sexual behavior is and bringing the true nature of sex into the public sphere.

But we have to do our part, too.

Take the steps to learn more about human sexuality.

Read a book. Take Google by storm. Figure out what you like. Ask your partner or partners what they’re into.

Having a conversation about your predilections in bed might be awkward, but so is faking an orgasm.